Ensuring the Safety and Security of Your Accounts

CHAPTER 30 Ensuring the Safety and Security of Your Accounts We will inform you about protecting essential items 116. We will advise you to secure your payment documents, cards, and devices. We will also inform you when to notify us if any of these items are lost or misused. 117. Our terms and conditions specify when you should inform us if any payment documents, cards, or devices are lost or misused. 118. We will provide details on: a) how you can report the loss, theft, or misuse; and b) the consequences of failing to inform us about such incidents. CHAPTER 31 Statements We Will Provide When will you receive statements for your deposit account? 119. We will provide an account statement for a deposit account at least every six months — or more frequently upon request (unless it is a passbook account). When will you receive statements if you default on your loan account? 120. If you default on your loan account, we will provide a statement of account or an alternative (such as a transaction history) upon request. What if the National Credit Code's statement rules do not apply to your loan or credit account? 121. If you are a small business or an individual and the National Credit Code's statement rules do not apply to your loan or credit account, we will provide a statement of transactions as if those rules did apply. 122. However, we are not obligated to do so if the nature of the banking service makes it impractical. CHAPTER 32 Transaction Service Fees We will inform you about transaction service fees 123. If you are an individual who is not a business, we will inform you about a transaction service fee immediately before you incur it, if practical and reasonable. 124. However, this may not be feasible in certain situations, such as: a) dishonor fees; b) fees charged based on end-of-day balance, like an overdrawn fee; c) online purchases from third parties, using a merchant terminal, or another bank's ATM; or d) break costs incurred by prepaying a fixed-rate loan. CHAPTER 33 Managing Credit and Debit Cards We will prioritize paying off higher interest credit card debts 125. Payments made to your consumer credit card will first address amounts with the highest interest rate as of the last statement date. However, upon request, we may apply a repayment to a specific debt. Charging interest retrospectively on portions of credit card balance paid by the due date 126. If you have an interest-free period on a consumer credit card balance, we will not retrospectively charge interest for that period if the balance is not paid by the due date. We will notify you before an introductory balance transfer offer ends 127. For an introductory balance transfer offer on your consumer credit card, we will give you at least 30 days' notice before it ends. You may request a reduction in your credit card limit 128. If you request a reduction in your consumer credit card limit, we will allow this online or by contact, subject to product features (e.g., minimum limit requirements). You must first repay any amount above the new limit. Credit card limit increases 129. We will not offer to increase your credit limit unless you request it. Disputing transactions on your credit or debit card account 130. If you dispute a transaction within the time limit set by your card scheme rules, we will: a) reclaim the amount if incorrectly charged and you haven't contributed to the loss; or b) may accept the merchant's refusal to make a chargeback only if allowed by the scheme rules. 131. These rights apply even if the payment was part of a recurring arrangement. 132. You may also dispute unauthorized transactions under the ePayments Code or your terms and conditions. 133. We will provide general information about disputed transactions and notify you of its availability annually. CHAPTER 34 Direct Debits and Recurring Payments We will provide a list of your direct debits and recurring payments 134. Upon request, we will provide a list of direct debits and recurring payments for the past 13 months, based on our transaction information. Regular payments from: a) your deposit account are 'direct debits', where account details are given for regular debits; b) your credit or debit card are 'recurring payments', where card details are given for regular charges. Handling direct debit cancellations or issues 135. You can request to cancel a direct debit, and we will promptly process it. 136. You can ask us to investigate unauthorized direct debits, and we will assist promptly. 137. We will not instruct you to first contact the merchant for cancellations or complaints, though we may suggest it. CHAPTER 35 Joint Accounts Using a joint account 138. We will inform you on how to use a joint account. Stopping withdrawals 139. If you have a joint account allowing individual withdrawals, you can request all account holders approve future withdrawals. This may be relevant if you are vulnerable (see chapter 14). 140. This does not apply to company directors signing on behalf of the company. CHAPTER 36 Closing Banking Services Information on closing your accounts 141. We will provide accessible information on closing your account. Closing your accounts 142. We will facilitate quick and easy account closure upon request, though some products may require a notice period. Closing an account in credit 143. We may close a credit account under its terms, providing reasonable notice and paying the credit balance, possibly charging a reasonable closure cost. Notification of credit card cancellation 144. We will inform you if we cancel your credit card and provide general reasons when appropriate. Cancelling your consumer credit card 145. We will provide options to cancel your consumer credit card online or by phone, and offer information on recurring payments and outstanding balance upon request. CHAPTER 37 Access to Documents Providing requested documents 146. We will provide copies of your documents, such as contracts, security documents, account statements, and relevant notices, upon request. 147. We are not required to provide: a) a notice for action more than two years after contract discharge; or b) a statement of account within three months of providing the same statement. Timing for document provision 148. Requested documents will be provided within 30 days. Waiving or refunding document fees 149. We may charge a reasonable fee for providing document copies, but may waive or refund it in certain cases. 150. Fees for hard copy statements not being repeats may be charged, but waived if electronic access is unavailable. CHAPTER 38 Changes to Arrangements Changing banking service terms 151. Terms may allow changes without agreement where permissible under unfair contract terms laws. Notification of changes to terms 152. We will notify you of changes to terms, including fees and interest rates, as soon as possible. 153. Interest rate changes will be communicated by the change date, unless rates are externally referenced or variable. 154. For unfavourable changes, we will provide at least 30 days' prior notice, subject to paragraph 155.