Site terms

Your use of our website, that's all. All our products have their own terms and conditions. You will need to read both these Terms and those on any other pages of the site. If there is any conflict between the various terms, it's the ones applicable to the product that prevail.

We may change the information in the pages of the site at any time without letting you know in advance. We may also change these Terms at any time simply by updating this page. You should therefore visit these Terms regularly, particularly as we will presume that you agree to any changes if you continue to access the site.

Our site contains information and opinions. It should not be taken as advice or a recommendation to buy any particular securities or financial instruments.

The site is meant to be used by people resident in the UK. So we cannot guarantee that it is suitable for use by people resident elsewhere. (You are, of course, more than welcome to have a look).

As you are responsible for use of the site by any other person using your computer, it's down to you to make sure that they are aware of these conditions of use.

The following clauses exclude or limit our legal liability for the site, so you should read them carefully. They all apply only so far as the law allows. We will fulfil all our duties and liabilities under the FSMA 2000 Act, conduct our business according to its rules and regulations, and meet the rules of any self-regulating organisation to which we belong. We do not limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence and if you deal with us as a consumer any statutory rights you have are unaffected.

We have tried as hard as we possibly can to make sure that all the information on the site is accurate, complete, correct and current. However, 'what you see is what you get' (as they say in the computer world), so we cannot be held responsible for any errors. You use the site at your own risk. We are not liable for any loss or damage which you may incur as a result of you using the site.

We do not promise that the Site will always be available or will meet your requirements. We cannot guarantee that access will be uninterrupted or that there will be no failures, errors or omissions. We cannot promise that transmitted information will not be lost, that no viruses or other destructive nasties will be sent to you, or that your computer system will not be damaged. It is your responsibility to protect and back-up any data and equipment and to take reasonable precautions to scan for viruses.

We do not provide any guarantees about the accuracy, functionality or performance of any third party software used in connection with the site.

You'll find a number of hypertext links to other locations on the Internet from our site. These are for information purposes only. We are not responsible for the content of any other websites or pages linked to our site and have not verified the information on them. You follow links to other websites or pages at your own risk and we are not responsible for any damages which may arise from the link. Links to sites containing downloadable software are provided for your convenience. Again we are not responsible for any difficulties you may have downloading the software or the consequences of doing so. Please remember that use of any software which you download may be governed by a licence agreement.

None of the information on our site implies that we endorse or approve any third parties or the service they provide, although we always attempt to select reputable sites and sources of information.

Messages sent over the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure as they can be intercepted, lost or corrupted. We are therefore not responsible for the accuracy of any messages sent by email over the Internet - whether from us to you or from you to us.

The copyright for all the information on each screen and page of our site is owned by or licensed to HSBC Bank plc, unless we state that it belongs to someone else. You may copy, download or temporarily store extracts from our Site for your personal use or to help you use our products or services. You must not alter anything. You cannot use the information in any other way without our written permission. In particular, you cannot use a part of our site on any other website or provide a link to our site without our written permission.

If you apply for products or services on our site, we will obtain personal information about you. This could be used in a number of ways:

• to make lending decisions
• to provide you with the best possible levels of service
• for fraud prevention
• for audit and debt collection
• to identify products and services which may be relevant to you from us, other HSBC companies and selected third parties
• to evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing of the site
• for statistical analysis.

The particular uses of information will differ depending on the product applied for and you will be provided with more detail when you apply. We may pass this information to other members of the HSBC Group so that they may use the data in the ways described above and they may pass any information they hold about you to us. We will not disclose any information to any company outside the HSBC Group except to help prevent fraud, if asked to do so by law or a regulator, or under a strict code of secrecy to sub-contractors or persons acting as our agents.

We may also transfer your personal data to countries outside the European Economic Area which may not provide the same level of protection for personal data. However, all personal data held by the HSBC Group, its sub-contractors or agents will always be protected against any unauthorised or accidental disclosure, access or deletion. By agreeing to these Terms, you agree to your personal data being used and transmitted in this way.

Twitter

There are two official first direct Twitter streams:

• www.twitter.com/first_direct
• www.twitter.com/firstdirecthelp

By tweeting, personal data may be stored on Twitter's servers which may be in the US or elsewhere outside the EU.

We regularly update and monitor our Twitter streams and welcome feedback and ideas from all our followers. We endeavour to join the conversation whenever possible. However, we are not able to guarantee that we will reply individually to all the messages we receive via Twitter.

All tweets to our streams are read by us and any emerging themes or helpful suggestions are passed to the relevant people at first direct.

We do not automatically follow back new followers. If we do follow you back this does not imply endorsement of any kind.

Facebook

There is one official first direct Facebook page:

• www.facebook.com/firstdirect

When you visit our Facebook pages your personal data may be stored on Facebook's servers which may be in the US or elsewhere outside the EU.

To see the full terms of use relating to our Facebook pages please visit Facebook.

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts in England and Wales will have jurisdiction in respect of any dispute which may arise.

first direct is a division of HSBC Bank plc
Registered in England and Wales
Registered Number: 14259
Registered Office: 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ
We support the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Lending Code.