Card agreements

Between:

• us, first direct, (a division of HSBC Bank plc) 40 Wakefield Road, Leeds LS98 1FD and
• you, the Cardholder.

Key Financial Information

Credit Limit

Your credit limit will be the amount determined by us from time to time, and notified to you. We may limit the amount of Cash Advances, and if we do this we will notify you.

Repayments

You must repay us at least £5 or 3% (whichever is higher) of your Standard Balance, excluding any Balance Protector premium, plus £5 or 3% of any Special Balance Transfer balance, or, if less than £5, your statement balance, each month within 25 days of your statement date. The minimum repayment will be shown on your statement. We may allow you to pay a lesser sum. We will tell you when we do this.

Other Financial Information

In calculating the APR above no account has been taken of any variation which may occur under the Agreement of the interest rate or other item entering into that calculation.

Total Charge for Credit

See clause 3(e) of the credit card Terms which explains that the above illustrative figure assumes that you spend your whole credit limit (or, in some cases, an assumed credit limit of £1,500) on purchases at the start of the Agreement and repay it by 12 equal monthly instalments, paying interest at the simple annual rate for Purchases (ignoring Promotional Rates).

Interest Rates

All effective rates shown below are calculated on a similar basis to the APR, taking no account of any fees.

Introductory Rate

For agreements made on or after 23rd December 2009. If within two months of account opening you complete a Balance Transfer, your rate for Balance Transfers will be 0% per annum for 15 months, from the date of the first Balance Transfer. Any further Balance Transfers must be made within two months of account opening to qualify for this special rate. The introductory rate will not apply if you have held a credit card with first direct within the previous 6 months.

Your Introductory Rate is fixed for the promotional period, after which the applicable Standard Variable Rate will apply.

Standard Variable Rates

The following Standard Variable Annual Rates are applied upon account opening or if applicable upon expiry or withdrawal (as appropriate) of the Introductory Rate or any Promotional Rate.

Interest

Interest will be charged daily at the applicable simple rate (which is used for calculation purposes) from the date each transaction is applied to the Account. Interest will be charged until the balance outstanding has been repaid in full and interest will be added to the Account monthly on your statement date. However, we will not charge interest on Default Charges from 1 October 2008 and purchases if the balance outstanding shown on your statement is paid off by the payment due date. However interest will always be charged on Cash Advances and on Special Balance Transfers (see Clause 1, Definitions).

Except where any interest rates are stated to be fixed, all interest rates are variable.

We may vary (or introduce) any interest rates or fees at our discretion at any time in accordance with clause 8. In particular, we may vary the interest rate(s) and the APR depending on our assessment of your circumstances and conduct of the Account from time to time.

Application of payments

Payments received are applied to pay off the minimum payment shown on your statement, then the remaining balance on your statement, then any items not yet included in a statement. Within each of these categories we will pay off any Balance Protector premium first, then charges and interest followed by transactions in the following order:

• Special Balance Transfers
• Purchases and Balance Transfers (excluding Special Balance Transfers)
• Cash Advances.

In each category, transactions will be paid in the order that they were applied to your account.

Key Information

Default Charges:

• If you pay late £12
• If you exceed your credit limit £12
• If cheques or direct debits are unpaid £5.

You must also pay our costs of enforcing this Agreement as referred to in clause 3(a)(ii).

Other Charges:

• Cash Advance Fee - 2.99% of the amount advanced (minimum £3), see clause 3(b) for further details
• If applicable, Balance Transfer Fee - 2.9% of the amount transferred (minimum £5), see clause 3(b) for further details
• Commission on foreign currency transactions - 2.99%, see clause 3(c) for further details.

See Clause 3 (f) for reference to any charges we may make for services you request outside the Terms of this Agreement.

Missing Payments

Missing payments could have severe consequences and make obtaining credit more difficult.

Important - Read this carefully to find out about your rights

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 lays down certain requirements for your protection which should have been complied with when this Agreement was made. If they were not, the creditor cannot enforce this Agreement without getting a court order. The Act also gives you a number of rights:

1. You can settle this Agreement at any time by giving notice in writing and paying off the amount you owe under the Agreement
   
   
2. If you received unsatisfactory goods or services paid for under this Agreement, apart from any bought with a cash loan, you may have a right to sue the supplier, the creditor or both
   
   
3. If the contract is not fulfilled, perhaps because the supplier has gone out of business, you may still be able to sue the creditor.
   
   

If you would like to know more about your rights under the Act, contact either your local Trading Standards Department or your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau.

Theft, Loss or Misuse of card

If your Card is lost, stolen or misused by someone without your permission, you may have to pay up to £50 of any loss to the creditor. If it is misused with your permission you will probably be liable for ALL losses. You will not be liable to the creditor for losses which take place after you have told the creditor about the theft, etc.

This Agreement is also subject to the Credit Card Terms which will accompany it and references to clauses in this Agreement are references to clauses in the credit card Terms.

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