Savings FAQ

Interest on a deposit is calculated at the prevailing rate, from the day of receipt to the last day of the current charging period. If you make a withdrawal, then an adjustment is calculated from the date of withdrawal to the last day of the current charging period. If interest rates change during a charging period, then an adjustment is made from the date of change to the last day of the current charging period.

If you change your mind within 14 days of opening your savings account, you can either choose to switch to another account or close the account entirely without notice or charge.

No, all savings and amendment forms must be received by post.

Stafford Railway isn’t a member of APACS and isn’t a clearing bank, which means it takes longer for your funds to be available for withdrawal through us than it does through a clearing bank (see ‘Savings Terms and Conditions paragraph 7’). Although we make funds available to allow you to withdraw against, your cheque still needs to clear.

When you write a cheque it will help prevent fraud if you write the name of the payee clearly. You should also draw a line through any unused space on the cheque to avoid any unauthorised addition being made.

If you’re paying a cheque to a financial organisation like Stafford Railway, write the payee as ‘Stafford Railway account Fred Smith number 4561201’.

There is an internal procedure for dealing with complaints which can be found here.

You have a right to see any personal information about you which The Stafford holds. We don’t currently charge a fee for this, but the legislation permits a fee. If we decide to charge a fee in the future, you’ll find out about it from the current edition of the savings tariff. Up-to-date copies are available on request.

To request the information we hold, please complete our Subject Access Request.

If you have a joint account and instruct us to accept one signature only, either party can withdraw the entire balance or close the account without the other knowing. If the relationship between joint account holders breaks down for any reason, you must inform us in writing that the ‘single signature instruction’ is cancelled immediately. Once you’ve done this, further withdrawals will only be allowed against both signatures.

The interest rate applied to your account may change from time to time. When we change the interest rate we will, within three working days of the change:

(a) place a notice in our banking hall
(b) notify holders of postal accounts of the changes using a notice sent to the current address in our records.

All savers with more than £100 in their account will be advised in advance by letter of any single downward movement in their interest rate of more than 0.25% OR when any single movement of 0.25% or less results in a cumulative downward movement of 0.5% or more over the preceding 12 months.

Financial institutions clear cheques through APACS and normally funds are available in three working days. The Stafford Building Society is not a member of APACS and is not a clearing bank which means that it takes longer for your funds to be available for withdrawal through us than it does through a clearing bank. Although the Society makes funds available to allow you to withdraw against, this does not mean that the cheque has cleared.

When you write a cheque it will help prevent fraud if you write the name of the payee clearly. You should also draw a line through any unused space on the cheque to prevent any unauthorised addition being made.

If you are paying a cheque to a financial organisation like The Stafford Building Society you might write the payee as ‘TSBS account Fred Smith number 4561201’.

The Stafford Building Societies business year starts on November 1st and runs until October 31st the following year.