OVERDRAFT POLICY
We understand that unexpected overdrafts occur from time to time. We offer a variety of Overdraft Protection Plans that can help. The choice is yours. Consider these ways to cover overdrafts.
| OVERDRAFT PROTECTION PLAN OPTION | AVAILABLE FOR | NOT AVAILABLE FOR | TRANSACTION COVERED | COST* |
| Courtesy Pay 1 | Tailormade Checking, Free Checking | StepOne Checking, Opportunity Checking, Opportunity Checking II, STL Youth Jobs Checking, Work 1st Checking | Checks, ACH Automated Debit,
Bill Pay |
$29.50 per overdraft
|
| Debit Card Courtesy Pay 1, 2 | Tailormade Checking, Free Checking, Opportunity Checking 6 | StepOne Checking, Opportunity Checking II, STL Youth Jobs Checking, Work 1st Checking | One-Time Debit Card Transactions; ATM Transactions5 | $29.50 per overdraft |
| Overdraft Transfer Plan 1, | Basic Checking, Tailormade Checking, Free Checking, StepOne Checking, Opportunity Checking, Opportunity Checking II, STL Youth Jobs Checking, Work 1st Checking 4 | N/A | Checks, ACH Automated Debit,
Bill Pay, ATM Transactions, Debit Card Transactions of Any Type |
$0
|
| Overdraft Transfers from Line of Credit 1, 3 | Basic Checking, Tailormade Checking, Free Checking, Opportunity Checking, Opportunity Checking II, Work 1st Checking 4 | Checks, ACH Automated Debit,
Bill Pay, ATM Transactions, Debit Card Transactions of Any Type |
Per transfer, plus interest accrued on any associated Line of Credit. Transfers are subject to remaining available Line of Credit and/or funds available in transferring account.
Line of Credit accounts are not subject to the 6 transfer per month limitation. |
1. You must meet the eligibility requirements. (See below)
2. As detailed in this agreement, these services are only available to members who have opted in. Call us at 636-916-8300 or stop by a branch to sign up or apply for these services or mail in the enclosed consent form to 1232 Wentzville Parkway, Wentzville, Missouri 63385.
3. Subject to credit approval.
4. You are automatically eligible to have this service on your account when you open any of these accounts.
5. As detailed in this agreement, we will not pay one-time (non-recurring) debit card transactions or ATM transactions resulting in an overdraft on your consumer checking account unless you have opted in to Debit Card Courtesy Pay. If you do so, you will be charged a fee for each overdraft we pay resulting from a one-time debit card transaction.
6. While the Courtesy Pay program is not available for Opportunity Checking accounts, members with Opportunity Checking accounts may opt in to have certain overdrafts resulting from one-time debit card transactions paid. The only overdrafts we will pay with regard to Opportunity Checking accounts are those that occur when the overdraft has resulted from a one-time debit card transaction that, when posted for payment, exceeds the amount of the hold a merchant has placed on your account for the transaction. If you have opted-in to have these overdrafts paid, you will be charged a fee of $29.50 per overdraft that we pay.
The Courtesy Pay and Debit Card Courtesy Pay programs allow you to overdraw your consumer checking account up to a disclosed limit for a fee in order for us to pay a transaction. Even if you have the Overdraft Transfer Plan, the Courtesy Pay or Debit Card Courtesy Pay programs are still available as secondary coverage if the other protection is exhausted. If you meet the eligibility requirements, Courtesy Pay protection will automatically be added to your account as follows:
- If your account has been open for at least 90 days and you meet the eligibility requirements, you will receive Courtesy Pay coverage for items that result in overdrafts of up to $700.00;
- If your account has been open for at least 30 days, you meet the eligibility requirements, and a minimum of $1,000.00 in ACH deposits have posted to your account within any 35-day period, you will receive Courtesy Pay coverage for items that result in overdrafts of up to $1,200.00.
The maximum coverage amounts described above apply cumulatively to Courtesy Pay and Debit Card Courtesy Pay plans. There is not a separate maximum coverage amount for each plan. When you are charged a fee for the payment of an overdraft, as described below, that fee is subtracted from your coverage limit in addition to the amount of the transaction resulting in the overdraft. The maximum coverage amounts are the only limitation on your ability to overdraw your account with the Courtesy Pay and Debit Card Courtesy Pay plans. There is no separate limitation on the number of overdraft transactions we will pay in any one day under these plans.
The Overdraft Transfer Plan described above may help prevent overdrafts by automatically transferring funds to your consumer checking account from another checking, savings, or money market account or a Line of Credit you have at the Credit Union. Please note that any Lines of Credit are subject to credit approval. These services may cost less than Courtesy Pay or Debit Card Courtesy Pay.
Additional information about overdraft protection follows
a. Overdraft Eligibility Requirements
Courtesy Pay, Debit Card Courtesy Pay, and Overdraft Transfer Plan programs are available on consumer checking accounts that are in good standing. The Overdraft Policy set forth herein does not apply to business checking accounts, which are subject to their own separate account terms. To be in good standing requires at a minimum:
- You do not have any other loan or other obligation to the Credit Union that is delinquent by more than 30 days;
- Your consumer checking account has not had a negative balance for more than 30 consecutive days;
- You are not the subject of any active fraud investigation by the Credit Union;
- The Credit Union has not determined, in our sole discretion, that you have engaged in account abuse with regard to your consumer checking account.
b. Payment of Overdrafts
(1) An “overdraft” occurs if, on any day, the available balance in your consumer checking account is not sufficient to pay the full amount of a check, draft, transaction, or other item, plus any applicable fee that is posted to your account. If a check, draft, transaction, or other item results in an overdraft of your available account balance, we may return the item or pay it, in accordance with our overdraft policy. We do not have to notify you if your account does not have sufficient available funds in order to pay an item. Your account may be subject to a charge for each item regardless of whether we pay or return the item. You may also incur multiple returned item fees for the same presented check, draft or item. For additional information see paragraph (h) concerning Dishonoring and Returning Checks, Drafts or Items.
(2) Our Courtesy Pay program and Overdraft Transfer Plan allows us to authorize payment for the following types of transactions regardless of whether your consumer checking account has sufficient funds:
(a) checks and other transactions made using your consumer checking account, except as otherwise described below;
(b) automatic bill payments;
(c) ACH Automated Debit transactions;
(d) ATM Transactions (Overdraft Transfer Plan Only); and
(e) debit card transactions of any type (Overdraft Transfer Plan Only)
If you have established an Overdraft Transfer Plan service linking your consumer checking account with other individual or joint accounts, you authorize us to transfer funds from other accounts of yours to cover an insufficient item, including transfers from a deposit account, a Line of Credit, or other accounts you so designate. If you have a primary share savings account with us, we will automatically transfer funds from that account first to cover overdrafts unless you instruct us to transfer funds from a different account. If the transfer of funds from a linked account would result in a zero or negative balance in such linked account or would result in an overdraft in such linked account, we may not transfer funds to your consumer checking account. If your Line of Credit has reached its maximum limit, we will not exceed the limit on the line. We reserve the right to terminate this Overdraft Transfer Plan at our discretion.
(3) You agree that we may apply funds deposited to your account(s) to your outstanding overdrafts and fees, regardless of the source, which specifically includes directly deposited government entitlements or benefits such as social security deposits.
(4) Except as otherwise agreed in writing, if we exercise our right to use our discretion to pay such items that result in an insufficiency of funds in your account, we do not agree to pay them in the future and may discontinue coverage at any time without notice to you. You should note the Courtesy Pay privilege is not a Line of Credit; it is a discretionary overdraft service that can be withdrawn at any time without prior notice. With Courtesy Pay, we pay overdrafts at our discretion, which means we do not guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of transaction. If we pay these items or impose a fee that results in insufficient funds in your account, you agree to pay the insufficient amount, including the fee assessed by us, in accordance with our standard overdraft services or any other service you may have authorized with us, or if you do not have such protection with us, in accordance with any overdraft payment policy we have. Courtesy Pay, Debit Card Courtesy Pay and Overdraft Transfer Plans may be suspended until your account is brought back in good standing.
c. Special Consent Required for One-Time Debit Card Transactions
For Courtesy Pay coverage for one-time (non-recurring) Debit Card transactions (referred to in this Agreement as “Debit Card Courtesy Pay”), you must affirmatively consent to such coverage. Your consent is also required for Courtesy Pay coverage for overdrafts occurring at ATMs when such overdrafts are caused by use of your debit card. To consent to such coverage, you can complete the consent document entitled “What You Need to Know about Overdrafts and Overdraft Fees.” Without your express consent we may not authorize and pay any one-time Debit Card transactions that result in insufficient funds in your consumer checking account pursuant to the Courtesy Pay Program. If you desire this service for more than one account number, you will need to provide us with a separate consent for each additional account number.
d. Charges and Fees
Our current service charge is $29.50 for each overdraft.
If you are enrolled in the Overdraft Transfer Plan and have linked your consumer checking account with other individual or joint accounts, you will not be charged a fee per overdraft, subject to available Line of Credit and/or funds available in a linked account. If your consumer checking account is linked to a Line of Credit, you will be charged interest on the Line of Credit in accordance with the terms of your Credit Line Account Agreement and Federal Disclosure Statement. If funds are not available in your linked account(s), you will be charged an overdraft fee of $29.50 per item.
If you affirmatively consent for Debit Card Courtesy pay you will be charged $29.50 for each overdraft resulting from both one-time Debit Card transactions and recurring Debit Card transactions.
e. Order of Payment
Checks, drafts, transactions, and other items may not be processed in the order that you make them. The order in which we process checks, drafts, or items, and execute other transactions on your account may affect the total amount of overdraft fees that may be charged to your consumer checking account. The determination of whether a particular check, draft, transaction or other item results in an overdraft or a dishonor and return of the check, draft, transaction or item is made only once at the time the particular check, draft, transaction or item posts to your account.
f. Our General Rules on How Transactions Are Posted to Your Account
As noted above, checks and transactions may not be processed in the order that you make them. Below is a general guideline on how we process transactions to your consumer checking account. You should read this disclosure carefully. If you have questions, please call us at 636-916-8300 or visit any branch.
Checks – Each business day we receive a file of checks for your accounts from our service provider. The file is posted the following morning. Checks received in the same file are posted in order of draft number. Check deposits are posted as they are received and are subject to the Credit Union’s Funds Availability Policy.
ACH – We download ACH files from the Federal Reserve Bank, via Corporate America Credit Union, four times during each business day, and the transactions for that settlement date post when they are received. Future-dated transactions are warehoused and post on their settlement date. Credits post first, then debits. Unless a particular ACH debit requires additional review, ACH debits post in order from the smallest debit to the largest debit.
Debit PIN/Point of Sale (POS) Transactions – Debit PIN-based POS transactions are transactions where you use your Debit Card and enter a PIN number at the time of sale. PIN-based transactions post in real time and are debited from the checking account balance almost immediately. In rare circumstances, these transactions may post later than the time of the transaction if our debit card processing systems are offline at the time of the transaction for reasons beyond our control. In such circumstances, the transaction will post to your account as soon as our processing systems come back online.
Debit Signature-Based Transactions – Debit Signature-Based Transactions are transactions where you make a purchase with your Debit Card but instead of using a PIN, you are asked to sign or authorize that transaction. Each transaction is authorized when the card is swiped (or when you submit your debit card number as part of an online purchase transaction) and an authorization hold is placed on your account for the amount of the purchase. The duration of the hold is 3 days. Funds are released and debited from the checking account when the merchant settles the transaction through the card issuing network, usually within 3-5 days. Merchants have up to 6 months to debit the checking account after a transaction authorization has been received.
ATM Transactions – Cash withdrawals taken at an ATM are processed immediately. Deposits made at an ATM are processed on the next business day. ATM deposits are subject to the Credit Union’s Funds Availability Policy. In rare circumstances, these transactions may post later than the time of the transaction if our ATM processing systems are offline at the time of the transaction for reasons beyond our control. In such circumstances, the transaction will post to your account as soon as our processing systems come back online.
g. Your Consumer Checking Account Balance
Your consumer checking account has two kinds of balances: the “actual” balance and the “available” balance. Both can be checked when you review your account online, by calling the Credit Union, or by visiting a branch. It is important to understand how the two balances work so that you know how much money is in your account at any given time.
Your actual balance is the amount of money that is actually in your account at any given time based on transactions that have “posted” to your account. The “actual” balance does not include transactions that have been authorized and are pending. The “actual” balance does not reflect any holds that have been placed on your account and does not reflect the amount in your account that is available to pay items presented against the account. Any purchases, holds, fees, other charges, or deposits made on your account that have not yet posted will not appear on your actual balance, For example, if you have a $50.00 actual balance, but you just wrote a check for $40.00 that has not yet been paid, then your actual balance will show as $50.00 but it does not reflect a deduction for the check that has not yet been paid.
Your available balance is the amount of money in your account that is available to pay items presented against the account without incurring an overdraft or non-sufficient funds fee. The available balance is generally equal to the actual balance, less the amount of any holds placed on recent deposits, holds for other reasons, and holds for pending transactions (such as pending Debit Card purchases) that we authorized but that have not yet posted to your account. For example, assume you have an actual balance of $50 and an available balance of $50. If you were to use your Debit Card at a restaurant to buy lunch for $20 (without a tip), then that merchant could ask us to pre-authorize the payment. In that case, we will put a “hold” on our account for $20. Your actual balance would still be $50.00 because this transaction has not yet posted, but your available balance would be $30 because we have been notified that there will be a $20 charge to the restaurant. When the restaurant submits its charge for payment (which could be a few days later and then include a tip), we will post the transaction to your account and your actual balance will be reduced by the amount of the charge to the restaurant ($20 plus any tip). The $20 hold will be released around the same time, but not necessarily at exactly the same time.
Your available balance is used to determine when there are insufficient funds to pay an item presented for payment from your consumer checking account.
An overdraft occurs when you do not have enough money in your consumer checking account to cover a transaction, and we pay the transaction anyway. If your available balance is not sufficient to cover a transaction, we may pay the item and charge you an overdraft fee, as explained in our Account Agreement and the Overdraft Policy. It is important that you understand that a transaction could still result in an overdraft even if your available balance appears sufficient for the transaction at the time you make it. This is because your available balance as it appears at a particular moment may not reflect transactions that you have authorized but that have not yet been paid. If, at the time a transaction is posted, your available balance is not sufficient to cover the transaction, the transaction will result in an overdraft regardless of whether your available balance appeared sufficient at the time you made the transaction.
Your available balance may not reflect all your outstanding checks, bill payments, or other transactions that you have authorized but have not yet been paid (or pre-authorized) from the account. In the example above, the outstanding check will not reduce your actual balance until it is presented to us and paid from your account.
In addition, your available balance may not reflect all of your Debit Card transactions. For example, if a merchant obtains our prior authorization but does not submit a one-time Debit Card transaction for payment within three (3) business days of authorization (or for up to thirty (30) business days for certain types of Debit Card transactions), we must release the authorization hold on the transaction. The available balance would not be reduced by the amount of this transaction from the time the hold has been released until the transaction has been received by us and paid from your account.
The best way to avoid overdraft is to record and track all of your transactions at close of each day.
h. Dishonoring and Return Checks
Should we dishonor and return a check, draft or item drawn on an account with insufficient funds, your consumer checking account will be charged a fee for the dishonored and returned check, draft or item as stated in the Truth-In-Savings and Fee Schedule disclosures. The current fee for a dishonored and returned check, draft or item in $29.50. You understand that we may be presented with a particular check, draft or item multiple times as the presenting party attempts to have the check, draft or item paid. You further understand that we are unable to control how many times a payee may present the same check, draft or item to us. If we are presented with a check, draft or item that we have already dishonored and returned and your account still lacks the funds to pay such check, draft or item, you will again be charged a fee for the dishonored and returned check, draft or item. This could result in multiple returned item or overdraft fees being assessed to your account for the same check, draft or item. You also understand and agree that we are not liable if we refused to pay a check, draft or item drawn on your consumer checking account and return it when non-payment occurs as a result of our charging your account for any obligation you owe us. Finally, we are repeatedly presented with checks, drafts, items or transfers drawn on your consumer checking account for insufficient funds, we may consider that account abuse and may close your account under this Agreement.
i. Opting out of Courtesy Pay, Debit Card Courtesy Pay or Overdraft Transfer Plan
You can opt out of the Courtesy Pay, Debit Card Courtesy Pay or Overdraft Transfer Plan for any consumer checking account at any time by calling 636-916-8300 or visiting a branch. If you cancel or opt out of your Overdraft Transfer Plan and you have linked your consumer checking account to a Line of Credit, you are still obligated to repay any obligation under your Line of Credit. Opt-out may take up to three (3) business days to become effective. If you have both Courtesy Pay and Debit Card Courtesy Pay and elect to opt out of Debit Card Courtesy Pay, you will continue to have Courtesy Pay coverage unless you specifically notify us of your intention to opt out of both Courtesy Pay and Debit Card Courtesy Pay coverage. Similarly, if you have both Courtesy Pay and Debit Card Courtesy Pay and elect to opt out of Courtesy Pay, you will continue to have Debit Card Courtesy Pay coverage unless you specifically notify us of your intention to opt out of both Courtesy Pay and Debit Card Courtesy Pay coverage. If you opt out of Courtesy Pay or Debit Card Courtesy Pay coverage, you may “opt back in” at any time.
j. Questions
If you have questions about Courtesy Pay, Debit Card Courtesy Pay or Overdraft Transfer Plan programs, contact us at 636-916-8300 or stop by any branch.
