Overdraft/Courtesy Pay/NSF/Returned Deposit Item Fees

Overdraft Fee

An overdraft fee of $30 is charged when transactions go through that would otherwise have overdrawn your account. It can be viewed as a temporary loan from the credit union, with the member expected to pay back the amount the bank covered as well as the overdraft fee. Overdraft fees can apply on certain types of transactions that the credit union cannot decline or reject – such as pre-authorized subscriptions, products, and services. Examples are things like Netflix and getting gas.

Courtesy Pay and Fees

Courtesy Pay is a service you opt-in for that will let you go up to $400 negative in the checking account over a 30-day period. Each time a transaction is covered a $30 fee is charged that would otherwise be returned. By agreeing to the service, you consent to the fees charged. Eligibility requirements apply and must continue to be met to have the service.

Overdraft and Courtesy Pay fees can be significant, but some members prefer them over the embarrassment of having a check bounce or debit transactions declined.

NSF Fee

An NSF fee of $30 is charged when an account lacks the funds needed to cover a transaction, and we do not allow the transaction to go through. The result may be in the form of bounced checks or denied electronic bill payments. In addition to an NSF fee from us, having bounced checks and rejected electronic payments can cause you to receive returned check fees, late fees or interest charges from the service provider or credit card company you were attempting to pay.

RETURNED DEPOSIT ITEM Fee

A Returned Deposited Item fee of $15.00 is charged when you deposit a check into your account that is returned because the check could not be processed against the check originator’s account. In these instances, the amount of the deposited check will be reversed from your account balance and may bring your account balance negative.

HOW TO AVOID OVERDRAFT/COURTESY PAY, NSF, and Returned Deposit Item FEES:

  1. Enroll in online banking and download our mobile app. These two platforms are key to seeing everything that is happening with your account and allow you to have control over it.

  2. Know your available checking account balance. The available balance is what you should be looking at as this shows what funds are available minus any recent pending charges. Pending charges are purchases you have made but are on hold/pledged until they post.

  3. Set up balance/transaction alerts. You can set up low balance alerts, transaction alerts, pending charge alerts, and other alerts to help warn you about what is happening with your account balance. We offer these alerts free of charge.

  4. Maintain funds in your savings account. Every member has a savings account. Funds in your savings account can be set up to automatically move to cover a transaction on your checking account. This is called overdraft protection. There is no cost or fee for this.

  5. Remember to account for automatic payments and written checks. Forgetting about an upcoming automatic bill payment or a check you wrote when glancing at your balance online before stopping at Mickey D’s can cost you.

  6. Be mindful of merchant processing times. Transactions are posted by the actual posting date, NOT the transaction date. When you physically swipe your card at a merchant (or restaurant) or make a purchase online the processing time it takes for that transaction to debit your account varies greatly. Some are instantaneous, some can take three days or longer. In the case of an Amazon purchase your account is not charged until the item ships. We have no control over this.

  7. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) credits. Payments made to you through a P2P channel such as Zelle, Venmo, CashApp, Paypal and others all have various posting times. These posting times vary depending on how the sender has set up sending you the money and how you have set up receiving it. The credit union has no control over this. Please check your account balance and history to ensure the deposit has been made into your account before relying on the funds to cover another transaction.

  8. Check your transaction history. If you know you have a low balance in checking, make sure everything recently purchased has been posted and all deposits have been received before making additional purchases.

Fee waiver policy

The credit union understands that mistakes happen or there are circumstances beyond your control. The credit union has a fee waiver policy where we will waive a total of three fees per calendar year per account - no questions asked, and no supervisor or manager approval required. The calendar year runs January 1 through December 31.

Examples of how and why you get charged:

Example 1

Courtesy Pay is active, nothing in savings. You look at your current balance of $100 and then make a $40 debit card purchase online. The merchant sends us an authorization for the $40 purchase. This action is referred to as a “hold” and we lower the account’s available balance to $60. Later the same day you send the gas company an electronic payment of $90 – forgetting to look at your available balance. The electronic $90 payment gets posted right away and the $40 posts two days later. The result is you are charged two $30 fees. Why?

The first $30 courtesy pay fee is for the $90 payment that posted right way. You are charged the courtesy pay fee because the available balance was only $60 because of the $40 authorization hold. Courtesy Pay covered the $90 and charged a $30 fee.

The second $30 courtesy pay fee is for the $40 purchase. The $90 payment was posted right away - before the $40 purchase. When the $40 was posted the account was negative $20 ($10 positive balance minus the first $30 fee). After the $40 posts and the second courtesy pay fee is applied the account is now negative $90.

Example 2

Courtesy Pay is active, $50 in savings. Husband and wife each have a debit card. There is $150 in the account and tomorrow is payday. He buys a case of oil for $40 and sends his mom flowers for her birthday at a cost of $75. He knows he spent $115 but knows he did not overdraw the account. She gets breakfast and coffee for $10.00. She stops for a few groceries and spends $100.00. She knows she spent $110 but knows she did not overdraw the account.

The $100 and the $75 both posted immediately. Overdraft protection pulls money from savings to cover the negative $25. The $10 posts next and is also covered by overdraft protection. The $40 posts last, but there is not enough left in savings (only $15) to cover it. Courtesy pay covered $40, but a $30 fee is charged. The checking account is negative $70.

Example 3

No Courtesy Pay, nothing in savings. There is $50 available in checking today. You go to a gas station to fill up and use your debit card at the pump. Note: Gas stations only pre-authorize $1. You pump $70 of gas. Because you have received the gas we are required to pay the gas station the full $70. We must cover the $20 shortage and we charge an overdraft fee of $30 for doing so. Your account is now negative $50.

Example 4

No Courtesy Pay, nothing in savings. Your account available balance is $10, and your monthly subscription for Netflix gets charged the same day for $21.99. As the subscription was pre-authorized by you your account will be overdrawn by the $11.99 shortage, and a $30.00 fee will be charged. Your account is now negative $41.99.

Example 5

No Courtesy Pay, nothing in savings. There is $5 in checking today. You forgot you wrote a check for $100 three weeks ago for the band fundraiser. The check was presented but then returned for non-sufficient funds (NSF). You will be charged an NSF fee of $30 from us. The band will also suffer a returned check fee from their bank. Your account is negative $25.

Example 6

No Courtesy Pay, nothing in savings. There is $500 in checking today. You deposit a check from a friend for $100, bringing your available balance to $600. The check was presented but then returned for non-sufficient funds (NSF) from your friend’s bank. You will be charged a Returned Deposit Item fee of $15 from us, and the $100 deposit is reversed from the account balance. Your account balance is $485. Your friend now owes you $115.