White Eagle™ Prepaid Maestro® Card Terms and Conditions
These Terms and Conditions apply to your Prepaid Card so you must read them carefully. By activating the Prepaid Card you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. In these Terms and Conditions "you" means the Primary Prepaid Cardholder and Companion Prepaid Cardholders. "We", "us" or "our" means Newcastle Building Society or White Eagle (Europe) Plc (White Eagle) acting on its behalf. The Primary Prepaid Card is the Prepaid Card initially applied for and the only one which can have funds directly loaded onto it. The Primary Prepaid Cardholder must be at least 18 years of age and resident in the United Kingdom. The Companion Prepaid Card can only be applied for by the Primary Cardholder and can only have funds transferred onto it from the Primary Card. The Companion Cardholder must be at least 13 years of age and can be resident anywhere in the world. The Primary Cardholder is responsible for all transactions made using the Companion Card. You will be issued with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) which will be required to authorise most transactions. You must immediately memorise your PIN and destroy the notification. You must keep your PIN secret at all times. Do not write it down or reveal it to anyone.
1. Your Prepaid Maestro® Card.
You can use the Prepaid Card at any location that displays the Maestro® acceptance mark, including shops, restaurants, online, or on the telephone. You can use your Prepaid Card and PIN to withdraw cash from cash machines. You can also use your Prepaid Card overseas. Before using the Prepaid Card you need to make sure there are enough funds loaded on it to pay for the specific transaction including any Fees that relate to that specific transaction.
You will not be able to use your Prepaid Card after its expiry date. However we will issue you with a new Card prior to expiry.
Your Prepaid Card is not a credit Card and is not in any way connected to your bank account. You will not earn any interest on any funds loaded on your Prepaid Card. 2. Applying for and activating your Prepaid Card.
To apply for our Primary Prepaid Card you must be at least 18 years old and a UK resident. We will require evidence of who you are and your address. We may ask you to provide some documentary evidence to prove this and/or we may carry out checks on you electronically. All purchasers must complete identification and verification checks.
Companion Cardholders can be registered by the Primary Cardholder, either at point of purchase, on-line or via the Customer Helpline. Funds must first be loaded onto the Primary Card and subsequently transferred to the Companion Card or Cards.
Additional Companion Cards can be applied for by contacting customer services through the website (www.white-eagle.com) or by telephoning 08448 115 115.
You must sign the Prepaid Card as soon as it is received. You must then activate it before the Prepaid Cardholder can use the Card to make purchases or to withdraw funds. To activate your Card, contact our customer services team on 08448 115 115. You will need to have your White Eagle Card to hand. Alternatively you can visit www.white-eagle.com/activate.
We reserve the right to refuse to activate a Prepaid Card for good reason.
3. Loading your Prepaid Card.
Funds can be loaded onto your Prepaid Card in a number of ways: BACS (Payroll), standing order or by using cash at a PayPoint – Simply follow the instructions on the website. Companion Cards can only be loaded from the related Primary Card by calling the Customer Helpline on 08448 115 115 or visiting the members area of the website.
The minimum load value is £10 and the maximum in one transaction is £500 at a PayPoint and £2,500 using a standing order or via BACS. Unless we advise you otherwise, the maximum number of loads per month is 15 – with a maximum of 8 loads per week or 2 per day. The aggregate balance on your Primary Card and Companion Cards combined can never exceed £5,000 at any time. We reserve the right to refuse to accept any particular loading transaction.
Funds loaded via PayPoint will be available for use on your Primary Card immediately. Whilst funds loaded via a Standing Order or Payroll transfer will take 3-5 days to clear. Once cleared, such funds will normally be available for use on the Prepaid Card within a few hours.
A load / reload fee shall apply for each load / reload that you make, as outlined in our Fee Summary below. 4. Using your Prepaid Card.
Detailed instructions on how to use your Prepaid Card are found on the Website (www.white-eagle.com). You will need to follow these instructions when using your Prepaid Card. If you have a general enquiry about your Card, contact our Customer Helpline on 08448 115 115.
You can use your card to make withdrawals at cash machines bearing the Maestro acceptyance mark and to make cashback withdrawals at participating Merchants within the UK. (certain fees may apply, refer to the Fee section for further information) You can withdraw up to £250 a day, with a maximum of 5 withdrawals in any one day. Note that some Merchants or cash machines may have lower limits.
We will deduct the value of your transactions from the balance on your Prepaid Card as soon as they are made. We will also deduct any applicable fees as soon as they become payable by you, see our Fees section below for details of our fees. If sufficient funds are not loaded on your Prepaid Card at the time of a transaction to cover the amount of the transaction and the fees, the transaction will be declined.
5. Cancellation and expiry of your Prepaid Card.
You have a legal right to cancel your Prepaid Card up to 14 days from the date of activation, without being charged the Refund Fee – these 14 days are referred to as the ‘Cooling Off Period’. Under these Terms and Conditions, you also have the right to cancel your Prepaid Card at any time after this 14 day Cooling Off Period. If your Prepaid Card is cancelled, we will immediately block your Prepaid Card so it cannot be used. You will not be entitled to a refund of money you have already spent on transactions authorised, or pending or any fees for use of the Prepaid Card before the Prepaid Card is cancelled or expires. You can cancel your Prepaid Card by sending an email to us using the “contact us” function on the Website, and confirming that you have destroyed your Prepaid Card. If you cancel your Prepaid Card, once all transactions and fees have been deducted, we will arrange for any unused funds to be refunded to you, see "Your Right to a Refund" section below for further information. A Refund Fee will be charged (see Fees section below) unless you have arranged to transfer any unused funds to another Prepaid Card managed by us, or you cancel your Prepaid Card within 14 days of receiving it. We may also cancel your Primary and /or Companion Prepaid Card(s) immediately if we suspect fraud or misuse of your Prepaid Card(s), if we have any other security concerns we need to do so to comply with the law. If we do this, we will tell you as soon as we can or are permitted to do so after we have taken these steps. In these circumstances, if we cancel your Prepaid Card you must tell us what you want us to do with any unused funds within 3 months of the date we tell you your Prepaid Card is cancelled. Your Prepaid Card will be valid for 24 months. When it expires the Card will no longer be valid and you will no longer be able to use your Prepaid Card. We will arrange for the balance of funds to be transferred to a new Prepaid Card, after deducting any outstanding transactions and fees (including the replacement fee). However, we will not issue a new Prepaid Card if you tell us in writing at least 28 days before the date your Prepaid Card expires that you want a refund instead or if insufficient funds exists on the Primary and / or Companion Prepaid Card(s) to meet the replacement fee. Any value loaded onto the Card remains the property of the Prepaid Card Cardholder while the Card remains valid. If you have no funds on the Prepaid Card and cannot as a result pay the monthly fee, then White Eagle have the right to block the Card from use until it is reloaded with funds to pay the oustanding monthly fees, or after the first anniversary of issue, terminate the Card from future use. 6. Keeping your Prepaid Card secure.
You should treat your Prepaid Card like cash. If it is lost or stolen, you may lose some or all of your money on your Prepaid Card, in the same way as if you lost cash in your wallet or purse. As a result, you must keep your Prepaid Card safe and not let anyone else use it. You must immediately memorise your PIN and destroy the notification. You must keep your PIN secret at all times. Do not write it down or reveal it to anyone. We recommend that you check the balance on your Prepaid Card regularly online at the Website. (www.white-eagle.com). You can see your Prepaid Card balance and recent transactions online at any time. You will be required to register to do this and you should keep your login and password secret at all times. You can also request a balance via our SMS service by sending BALANCE followed by a space and then the last four digits of your card number to +44 7781 480 197. If you lose your Prepaid Card or it is stolen, or you suspect that your Prepaid Card has been used by someone other than you, you must tell us immediately by calling us on our 24 hour lost and stolen Card helpline 08448 115 115 so we can cancel your Prepaid Card. If you ask us to do so, we will investigate any disputed transaction or misuse of your Prepaid Card and we may need more information and assistance from you. We will refund the amount of any transactions which the investigations show are not authorised by you, provided you have kept your Prepaid Card and PIN secure, you have not acted fraudulently, or acted without reasonable care. However, if the investigations show that any disputed transaction was authorised by you, or you have not kept your Prepaid Card or PIN secure, we will not refund the transaction amount and will charge you an Administration Fee (A full list of the fees is available on www.white-eagle.com). 7. Our liability.
Like other payment cards, we cannot guarantee a retailer will accept your Prepaid Card, or that we will necessarily authorise any particular transaction. This may be because of a systems problem, something outside our reasonable control, or because we are concerned that your Prepaid Card is being misused. Accordingly, we shall not be liable in any event that a retailer refuses to accept your Prepaid Card, or if we do not authorise a transaction, or if we cancel or suspend use of your Prepaid Card. Unless otherwise required by law, we shall not be liable for any direct or indirect loss or damage you may suffer as a result of your total or partial use or inability to use your Prepaid Card, or the use of your Prepaid Card by any third party. In the event that you do not use your Prepaid Card in accordance with these Terms and Conditions or we find that you are using the Prepaid Card fraudulently, we reserve the right to charge you for any reasonable costs that we incur in taking action to stop you using this Prepaid Card and to recover any monies owed as a result of your activities. 8. Your right to a refund.
You may request a refund of the funds on your Prepaid Card provided you have more than £10 loaded on your Prepaid Card. To do so, send us an e-mail using the "contact us" facility on the Website requesting a refund and confirming that you have destroyed your Prepaid Card by cutting it up. When we process your refund, we will charge a Refund Fee (A full list of the fees is available on www.white-eagle.com). We will send a cheque to your last notified address or arrange an electronic transfer to a bank account nominated by you. However, to enable us to comply with our legal obligations, we may ask you to provide us with certain information before we can process your refund request. 9. Changes to these terms.
We may change these terms at any time. The up-to-date version of the Prepaid Card Terms and Conditions will always be available on the Website. If we think that a change is material we will send you an e-mail at least 15 days before making the change, unless a more immediate change is required by law or other valid reason. Otherwise we will notify you of any other changes within 15 days of making the change. If you are significantly disadvantaged by any such change that we make, you may cancel your Prepaid Card in accordance with our refund policy (see section 8 above). In such circumstances you will not be charged a Refund Fee. 10. The fees.
We do not charge you for checking your on-line balance and statements or for purchase transactions. The following fees do apply at the time of purchase, however we retain the right to alter these fees within 15 days of the revised fees being published on www.white-eagle.com
Fee Type |
Amount |
Primary Card Purchase Fee |
£9.95 |
Companion “Money Share” Card Purchase Fee - Optional |
£9.95 |
Monthly Management Fee (Primary Card) |
£3.95 |
Monthly Management Fee (Companion/Money Share Card) - Optional |
£0.95 |
Loading at Paypoint (maximum £500 per load) |
3% |
Loading via Payroll/standing order (maximum £2,500 per load) |
£1.00 |
Primary Card to Companion Card Transfer - by phone and online |
FREE |
Point of Sale purchase in the UK |
FREE |
Point of Sale purchase internationally |
FREE |
Cash back in selected shops in the UK |
FREE |
Cash machine withdrawal fee in the UK |
£0.95 |
Cash machine withdrawal fee internationally |
1.5 % (Min £2.00) |
Lost & Stolen Helpline (9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday) |
Lo-call rate £ 0.05 |
Customer Service telephone enquiries (9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday except bank holidays) |
Lo-call rate £ 0.05 |
Customer Services email enquiries |
FREE |
Account Management via Online - Check balance and Recent Transactions |
FREE |
Account Management via SMS - Check Balance and Recent Transactions |
£0.20 |
SMS card to card transfer (Money Share) |
£0.50 |
Foreign Exchange Uplift |
1.5% |
Replacement Card |
£9.95 |
Cancellation Charge |
£10.00 |
Replacement Pin |
£1.00 |
When you use your Prepaid Card at a cash machine, you may also be subject to applicable fees, surcharge rules and regulations of the relevant cash machine, or other financial institution or association. The monthly management fee for the Primary Card will be deducted from the Primary Card funds and the management fee for each Companion Card will be deducted from the Companion Card(s) funds. The initial fee will be deducted at the time of the initial load i.e. monthly in advance. Subsequent monthly fees will be deducted on the monthly anniversary date of the initial load. If we decide to change fees or introduce any new fees, we will tell you by e-mail, text, or post, at least 15 days before any changes take effect. In the unlikely event, for any reason whatsoever, a transaction is completed when there are insufficient funds on the Prepaid Card for that transaction (a "Shortfall"), the Shortfall shall be reimbursed by you unless it is due to an error on the part of the retailer where the Prepaid Card was presented, in this circumstance we may seek the Shortfall from the retailer. You agree that once we make this Shortfall known to you, we may charge you for the Shortfall amount. We may charge the amount of the shortfall from any other Prepaid Cards that you hold with us, to any other payment method which you may designate at that time, or against any funds which you may subsequently load onto your Prepaid Card or on any additional Prepaid Card ordered by you. Until we are reimbursed the Shortfall amount, we may suspend your Prepaid Card and any additional Prepaid Cards connected to you. In addition, we reserve the right to charge you an Administration Fee for each transaction that you make using your Prepaid Card that results in a Shortfall or increases the Shortfall amount on your Prepaid Card.
11. Your details.
You must let us know as soon as possible if you change name, address, phone number or e-mail address. To change your details online, please log in to the members area on www.white-eagle.com/members or contact our Customer Helpdesk on 08448 115 115. In addition, you must confirm any such changes in writing to Customer Services, White Eagle (Europe) Plc, PO Box 1294, Loudwater, High Wycombe, HP10 9TG. If we contact you in relation to your Prepaid Card, for example, to notify you that we have cancelled your Prepaid Card or to send you a refund by cheque, we will use the most recent contact details you have provided to us. Any e-mail to you will be treated as being received as soon as it is sent by us. We will not be liable to you if your contact details have changed and you have not told us. 12. Data protection.
In purchasing the Prepaid Card, you agree that we can use your personal information in various ways. We are the data controller of personal data given to us in connection with your Prepaid Card. We will process personal data in order to open, administer and run your Prepaid Card and to deal with any enquiries you may have about transactions and funds on your Card. If we suspect that we have been given false or inaccurate information, we may record our suspicion together with any other relevant information. Personal data may also be transferred confidentially to other organisations involved in issuing or operating your Prepaid Card so that we can run your Card correctly. We may obtain information about you from credit reference agencies to verify your identity for fraud prevention and/or money laundering. Scoring methods may be used in the verification process. A record of this process may be kept and used to help other companies to verify your identity. All personal information given by you may be checked with fraud prevention agencies and other organisations involved in crime prevention and may be used for the investigation of fraudulent activity and crime prevention to meet our obligations under the Maestro® scheme regulations, and if you have given false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud we will record this. If you would like details of the third parties with which we share information about you please write to Customer Services White Eagle (Europe) Plc, PO Box 1294, Loudwater, High Wycombe, HP10 9TG. We may monitor and/or record telephone calls we have with you or your additional Cardholders to help us maintain and improve the quality of our Customer Service or as required by applicable law. WHITE EAGLE (Europe) Plc are committed to preserving your right of privacy, which includes giving you control of how we contact you. During the purchase process we allow you to choose your marketing preferences. You can change these settings at any time by clicking on “Your Details” on the Website. Please note, you must agree to receive Card related emails, confirmation messages and other important announcements from White Eagle (Europe) Ltd as part of the Terms and Conditions of this service. 13. Disputes with retailers.
If you have any disputes about purchases made using your Prepaid Card, you should settle these with the person you bought the goods or services from. We are not responsible for the quality, safety, legality or any other aspect of any goods or services purchased with your Prepaid Card. Remember that once you have used your Prepaid Card to make a purchase we cannot stop that transaction. 14. Communication.
If you have an enquiry relating to your Prepaid Card, you can use the "Contact Us" facility on the website. We will deal with your enquiry promptly. If you do not wish to enquire in this way you can alternatively call our Customer Helpline on 08448 115 115 which is a chargeable service as outlined in the Fee section of these Terms and Conditions. 15. Complaints.
The Prepaid Card programme is managed by White Eagle (Europe) Plc, PO Box 1294, Loudwater, High Wycombe, HP10 9TG (company number 6203814) who operate the Prepaid Card on behalf of Newcastle Building Society. If you are unhappy in any way with your Prepaid Card or the way it is managed, tell us by using the e-mail enquiry facility on the Website so we can investigate the circumstances for you. Any complaints you have will be dealt with quickly and fairly. You may be able to take unresolved complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR. Telephone: 0845 080 1800 and e-mail: enquiries@financial-ombudsman.org.uk 16. Compensation.
The Prepaid Card is an electronic money product and although it is a product regulated by the Financial Services Authority, it is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. No other compensation scheme exists to cover losses claimed in connection with the Prepaid Card. This means that in the unlikely event that Newcastle Building Society becomes insolvent your funds may become valueless and unusable and as a result you may lose your money. 17. Assignment
We may assign the benefit and burden of these Terms and Conditions to another company at any time, on giving you at least 15 days prior notice of this. If we do this, your rights will not be affected. 18. Transfer to a new Prepaid Card.
We may transfer your unused balance to a new Prepaid Card provided by a Prepaid Card issuer other than Newcastle Building Society at any time. Before we do this, we will give you at least 15 days notice of the new Prepaid Card arrangements and the new Prepaid Card Terms and Conditions. Unless you advise us within the 30 day period that you do not want a new Prepaid Card from the new Prepaid Card issuer, you agree that we can automatically transfer the unused balance on your Prepaid Card to a new Prepaid Card provided by the new Prepaid Card issuer. 19. Governing law.
These Terms and Conditions will be construed in accordance with English law. 20. Prepaid Card issuer.
Your Prepaid Card is issued by Newcastle Building Society, Portland House, New Bridge Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE1 8AL, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (registered number 156058) as a building society and an issuer of e-money. Your Prepaid Card is the property of Newcastle Building Society and is not transferable to anyone else.