Fixed Saver Terms and Conditions

General info

Our agreement

Banking with Atom is straightforward, so we give you information when it’s relevant to you. At this point, our contract with you consists of our:

Please ensure you read them, so you understand the terms of our agreement with you. If there’s any conflicting information, these Fixed Saver T&Cs take priority.

These T&Cs detail the agreement between you and Atom (‘we’/ ‘us’) when you have a Fixed Saver account with us.

Each condition of these T&Cs operates separately. If any court or competent authority decides that any of them are unlawful or unenforceable, the other conditions will remain in full force and effect.

Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and a UK resident to open a Fixed Saver account.

Alternative format

Please let us know if you need these T&Cs supplied in another format, or if we can help you to use our service in any other way. Get in touch with us via the Help & Support button in the app, call us on 0333 399 0050 or email customersupport@atombank.co.uk.

Your data

Protecting your data

The only additional information we’ll collect when you open a Fixed Saver is your bank or building society details. We will keep details of every account used to make payments in and out of your account. We will hold this data in a secure environment. We will only use it to validate your identity or make future payments out of your account, in line with any instructions you give us.

Take a look at our Privacy Policy for more information about how we protect your data.

Your account

Opening a Fixed Saver

Once you’ve downloaded the app, registered Your ID and verified your identity, you can open a Fixed Saver account in the app.

Your product term starts from the day you open your account. You’ll receive a fixed rate of interest from the day you fund your account. You can see the term and rate that apply to your product in the account view in the app.

Fixed Savers don’t have a ‘cooling off’ period (a reflection time when you have the option to change your mind and close the account). Please make sure this product is right for you before you open an account and pay money into it.

Account holders

Currently, you can only open a Fixed Saver as a sole account (just you). There’s no limit to the number of accounts you can hold. But you need to make sure the total amount deposited in your combined accounts doesn’t exceed the Maximum Balance Limit (see ‘Balance Limits’).

If you need someone else to operate your Fixed Saver, we may be able to register a Power of Attorney (POA) for it. If we do this, your Attorney will be able to access information about your account. In some circumstances, we may restrict what you’re able to do.

For security reasons, POA administration of an account is managed via our Customer Support team (rather than in the app). So, please call us on 0333 399 0050 to discuss setting up a POA.

At your request, we may be able to add a named third party to your account(s) to support you by providing account information to the named third party. Please note the named third party will not be able to take any actions in relation to any of your account(s).

Interest

You will earn interest on the money in your Fixed Saver as soon as we receive payment into your account. We calculate interest on your balance daily. We will pay interest at the rate stated in your Fixed Saver Summary Box (based on the number of actual days in the relevant period and a year of 365 days).

We pay all interest gross, in line with the Personal Savings Allowance (PSA). Find more about paying tax on your savings interest at https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings.

At the point you open your account, you can choose when you want us to pay interest on your balance:

Monthly interest

We will pay your interest on the day of the month you open the account. For example, if you open it on the 16th, we will pay your interest on the 16th every month. Once your account is open, you can choose to receive your interest on an alternative day of the month.

If your interest is usually paid on the 29th, 30th or 31st and that date doesn’t appear in a month, we will pay it on the last day of that month.

Annual interest (when your term is 1 year or more)

Where the product term is a multiple of 12 months, we’ll pay interest annually on the date of the account opening.

Where the term is not a multiple of 12 months, we’ll pay interest on the date of account opening when this occurs, and then when the account matures. For example, this would apply to an 18 month Fixed Saver.

If you open your account on 29th February, we will pay your interest on 28th February in non-leap years.

Annual interest (when your term is less than 1 year)

We will pay your interest at the end of the product term, on the day of the month you open the account.

If your interest is due to be paid on the 29th, 30th or 31st, and that date doesn’t appear in the final month of your term, we will pay it on the last day of that month.

Choosing interest paid in or out

You can also choose how we pay interest on your balance. You can update this at any time from the app.

You may choose to have interest added to your account (‘paid in’).

Or, you can have it paid into a nominated account (‘paid out’). This means we will pay it into another bank or building society account in your name.

If you have interest paid out, then close your nominated account and don’t tell us, your interest payment will automatically be returned to us. If this happens, we’ll pay it into your Fixed Saver account and change your preference to ‘pay in’. You’ll be able to change it back to ‘paid out’ at a later date by updating your nominated account details in the app and changing your preference back to ‘pay out’.

Charges

There are no charges applied to your Fixed Saver account.

Statements

You can access your account and check your balance at any time in the app.

We will put a statement in your Vault within a few days of your account opening anniversary and/or at the end of your product term. We’ll let you know when any statement is ready.

If you need a statement for a specific reason, get in touch and we can discuss it. Contact us via:

Maturity

When your account reaches maturity (i.e. when the fixed product term ends), you’ll need to decide what to do with your money.

We’ll contact you before your maturity date with your available options. At this point you can log into the app and tell us what you want to do with your money. We’ll complete your instructions on the maturity date and tell you what we’ve done.

If you don’t provide maturity instructions, or they’re incomplete, at the end of your product term, we’ll automatically transfer your funds out of your Fixed Saver in one of four ways, depending on whether you have an open Instant Saver or Instant Saver Reward:

  • If you only have an open Instant Saver, we’ll move your money into that account.
  • If you only have an open Instant Saver Reward, we’ll move your money into that account.
  • If you have both an open Instant Saver and Instant Saver Reward, we’ll move your money into the Instant Saver.
  • If you don’t have an open Instant Saver or Instant Saver Reward, we’ll move your money into a Holding Account with a variable interest rate. If this happens:
    • You’ll keep your Fixed Saver sort code and account number and we’ll provide you with new T&Cs for this account.
    • You won’t be able to make any more payments into this account.
    • You can only make a single withdrawal from it, to enable you to take all of your money out of the Holding Account in one go.

Payments

Deposit window

Once you’ve opened your account, you can only make payments into it for a specified period. We call this the ‘deposit window’. The deposit window starts as soon as you open your account and closes at a fixed point in the future. You can find details of the deposit window for your account in the app and your Fixed Saver Summary Box (in your Vault).

After you’ve made the minimum initial payment set out in your Fixed Saver Summary Box, you can make as many payments as you like into your Fixed Saver during the deposit window. You can do so up to the Maximum Balance Limit.

If you open an account and don’t pay anything into it during the deposit window, we will register the account as ‘unfunded’. We’ll then close it in due course. Please note: as we don’t class this as an open account, we won’t send you a statement when we close it.

Balance limits

When you open an account, your first payment into it must be more than the minimum initial payment set out in your Fixed Saver Summary Box.

The total funds held in your savings accounts can’t exceed our Maximum Balance Limit. This limit is currently £200,000. You can hold up to £100,000 in Fixed Savers and up to £100,000 in easy access accounts (Instant Saver, Instant Saver Reward and/or Holding Accounts). We may breach the limit in some circumstances — e.g. to add interest to your account.

If, for any reason, you breach your Maximum Balance Limit on your Instant Saver or Instant Saver Reward accounts when your Fixed Saver matures, we’ll automatically send the excess funds to your connected account.

Payments in and out

You can only make payments in and out of your Fixed Saver using the Faster Payment Service.

You can make payments into your account from another bank or building society during the deposit window. These inbound payments will usually show in the app immediately. However, we suggest checking with the other bank or building society to ensure they can transfer the funds before the window closes. We cannot accept liability for any payments from other institutions that we don’t receive during your deposit window. You’ll find more information about making payments in the General T&Cs.

In some circumstances, you will only be able to make payments into your account from a specified UK bank account in your name. An example of this could be if we use your bank account details to verify your identity.

Once you’ve paid money into your account, you can’t withdraw it until the end of your product term. The only exception is in cases of financial hardship. We will assess these on a case-by-case basis. It may result in us allowing you to withdraw some or all of the money from your account before the end of the term. If you ever need to tell us about financial hardship, please contact us via:

Our Fixed Saver is a non-transactional account, so you cannot use it to deposit income or pay bills. We monitor payments in and out, to keep your account safe. If we see unusual activity, we may contact you and there may be a delay in processing payments while we complete fraud prevention checks.

The legal stuff

Changes to these T&Cs

We’ll give you 30 days’ notice to consider any changes to these T&Cs, unless they’re to your advantage, when we’ll make them straight away.

In some circumstances, we may be required by regulation to give you more or less notice. In these cases, we’ll tell you how much time you have to review the changes.

You can object to the changes before they take effect, and, depending on the circumstances, you may be able to close an impacted account. Otherwise, you’ll be deemed to have accepted the changes from the date they take effect.

We’ll only make changes to these T&Cs to:

  • reflect developments in our app or proposition (including our products / services);
  • respond proportionately to changes in the law or decisions of the Financial Ombudsman Service;
  • meet regulatory requirements;
  • reflect new industry guidance or codes of practice which raise standards of consumer protection;
  • proportionately reflect other legitimate cost increases or reductions associated with providing the particular product or service you use;
  • ensure we are being fair to all our customers; and/or
  • respond to changes in general banking practice for the benefit of all consumers.

We’ll only do this if we reasonably expect to be affected by one of the above reasons.

Compensation

Atom is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to savers if a bank is unable to meet its financial obligations. Most savers — including individuals and small businesses — are covered by the scheme.

An eligible saver is entitled to claim up to £85,000. For joint accounts, each account holder can claim up to £85,000 (a total of £170,000 where there are two account holders). The £85,000 covers all the funds held in the eligible customer’s accounts with the bank, including their share of any joint accounts, and not to each separate account.

We’ll share detailed FSCS information with you when you apply for a Fixed Saver account. We’ll save this in your Vault once your account is open.

For more information about the FSCS (including amounts covered and eligibility to claim) visit http://fscs.org.uk/. You can contact the FSCS directly with any compensation-related queries on 0800 678 1100 or 020 7741 4100.

Applicable law

These T&Cs are governed by the laws of England and Wales and if there’s any disagreement about them, or between us about your account, we each agree that this’ll be dealt with by the Courts of England and Wales.

Fixed Saver T&Cs_v5.1. Effective from 25/09/2024.