The terms and conditions of permanent tsb Visa credit cards, Current Accounts and Savings & Investment accounts will be changing in a number of ways effective from midnight on 30 October 2009.
The changes are required with the introduction of the Payment Services Directive 2007/64/EC (PSD) which primarily seeks to ensure that electronic payments in Euro, or the currency of a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA), within the EEA become as easy, efficient and secure as domestic payments. The types of payment that will be covered by the PSD include:
The PSD establishes a framework for enforcing the rights and protection of all users of payment services including, to the extent that it is actually applied to them, consumers, retailers, large and small companies and public authorities. Those protections include:
In addition to the amendments required by the PSD, customers are also notified that with effect from midnight on 30 October 2009 account terms & conditions will be restructured so that each product or service will be covered by a set of general terms & conditions and a set of terms & conditions specific to the product or service.
A copy of the relevant Terms & Conditions booklet is available in any permanent tsb branch
The following provides a summary of the Payment Services Directive (PSD) changes that will be reflected in the relevant account Terms & Conditions booklet, effective from midnight on 30 October 2009. Please note it is not to be viewed as the complete listing of the changes to account conditions – see attached links for full conditions.
| What does it cover? |
The PSD covers Euro and national currency payments of EEA member states within the EEA. It applies primarily to electronic payments including the following:
The PSD aims to improve consumer protection and increase transparency in respect of charges, interest and exchange rates. In certain circumstances, these protections may also be extended to small enterprises called micro-enterprises and to larger companies. |
| What does it not cover? | Paper transactions, e.g. cheques, except where the electronic payment is initiated by paper, e.g. credit transfer. |
| Type of accounts | All account types are covered by the PSD including current accounts and deposit accounts, however, the EU commission has indicated that accounts which are for the repayment of loans or where the funds are fixed are deemed to be excluded. This means that the PSD will not apply to mortgage and term loan accounts. |
The Payment Services Directive outlines the information that must be made available to the customer in respect of the payments it covers.
The required disclosure obligations include the following:
The PSD requires banks to provide the customer with the following:
Changes in the interest or exchange rates may be applied immediately and without notice, provided that such a right is agreed upon in the framework contract (i.e Terms & Conditions) and that the changes are based on the reference interest or exchange rates agreed. Changes in the interest or exchange rate used in payment transactions shall be implemented and calculated in a neutral manner that does not discriminate against customers.
Any changes in the framework contract must be notified to the customer not later than 2 months before the proposed implementation date. Customers will be deemed to have accepted the change after this period has passed.
The PSD imposes obligations on customers in respect of how they use and keep safe security features such as cards, PINs and passwords.
The customer must
While the customer has obligations to abide by the terms & conditions of use, including safeguarding and reporting loss/stolen cards and payment instruments as well as reporting unauthorised use, permanent tsb has the following obligations:
The PSD outlines the obligations on parties to the handling of unauthorised or incorrectly executed payments. It provides that the customer is entitled to a refund for an unauthorised withdrawal only if he notifies permanent tsb without undue delay on becoming aware of the payment. Undue delay in this regard would be considered to have failed to notify permanent tsb within 30 days after receipt by the customer of a statement of account showing the relevant debit. In any event a failure to notify permanent tsb within 13 months of the payment being debited will always amount to undue delay.
Where a customer states that a transaction was unauthorised or incorrectly executed it is permanent tsb’s responsibility to prove otherwise. Permanent tsb is obliged to refund the customer without undue delay.
Currently permanent tsb specifies a maximum liability of €60 to the customer where the card has been lost or stolen unless the customer has acted fraudulently or has revealed his/her security details.
Under the PSD the customer may bear any losses relating to any unauthorised payment transactions (up to a maximum of €75) resulting from the use of a lost or stolen payment instrument or, if the customer has failed to keep the personalised security features safe, from the misappropriation of a payment instrument.
In some circumstances the €75 limit will not apply and the customer will be fully liable where they:
The customer is not liable where
Where there is an unauthorised payment on an account permanent tsb must refund to the customer immediately the amount of the unauthorised payment transaction and, where applicable, restore the account to the state in which it would have been had the unauthorised payment transaction not taken place.
permanent tsb is also responsible for:
While direct debits are not specifically specified in the Payment Services Directive (except where the transaction is initiated by the payee), the PSD will have an impact on unpaid direct debits.
The direct debit scheme currently allows for the returning of direct debits to the originators for an unlimited period of time under the scheme’s indemnity.
Customers will now only be able to return direct debits up to a maximum period of 13 months (see Unauthorised Payments). Normal cycle for the rejection/unpaying of direct debits remains in place.
