Overdraft Protection and Courtesy Pay
Everyone makes a mistake once in a while. For those "Ooops" moments, 1st Community Credit Union provides Overdraft Services to help you in cases of unintentional overdrafts. Overdraft Service options include:
Overdraft Protection
Overdraft protection is available by linking multiple accounts together. This allows automatic transfers to cover overdrafts for a small fee per transfer (Some limitations apply). You may link one or more of your accounts to pull money from in order to cover transactions that would overdraft your checking account.
- If you have set up Overdraft Protection automatic transfers on your account, which may be less expensive than our standard overdraft practices, the system will always default to using the Overdraft Protection transfers first.
- Overdraft Protection Transfers are subject to a small Overdraft Transfer Fee.
- Overdraft Protection Transfers, when sufficient funds are available in your linked account, may help prevent a check, ACH, or automatic Bill Payment from being returned. It can also prevent your debit card purchase or ATM transaction from being declined. The system will pull funds from your linked account to cover the check, payment, debit card purchase, or ATM withdrawal.
- Contact 1st CCU at 888-706-1228 if you would like information on how you can set up or revise Overdraft Protection transfers.
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Example 1: You have set up Overdraft Protection Transfers on your checking account, designating your savings account as your first overdraft transfer source. A $50 check is trying to clear and you have an available balance of $10 in checking, but you have $100 available in your savings. $42 would be transferred ($40 to cover the remaining amount and $2 for the transfer fee) into your checking from your savings, leaving your checking account balance at $0.
Example 2: In the above example, let's say that you are using your debit card rather than a check to make a $50 purchase. Rather than declining your card, 1st CCU's system will transfer $42 from your savings into your checking to cover the debit card purchase and the $2 transfer fee, leaving you with a checking balance of $0. In this scenario you would avoid the embarrassment of having your debit card declined at the checkout.
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Standard Courtesy Pay/Overdraft Practices
1st CCU's Courtesy Pay service may authorize and pay overdrafts, for qualifying account holders, for the following types of transactions:
- Checks and other transactions made using your checking account number
- Automatic bill payments
- ACH (Automated Clearing House) transactions
1st CCU's Courtesy Pay service may NOT authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions unless you ask us to:
- ATM Transactions
- One-time debit card transactions
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 DO NOT authorize and pay an overdraft, your transaction will be declined.
When your account has an insufficient available balance to cover a transaction and you do NOT have Overdraft Protection Transfers linked to another account (or your overdraft protection accounts have insufficient funds to cover your transaction), then 1st CCU's Standard Courtesy Pay/Overdraft Practices may cover the transaction and allow your account to go negative (up to a certain dollar limit defined by the credit union).
When Courtesy Pay covers a transaction and allows your account to go negative, a Courtesy Pay Fee is charged directly to the account for each overdraft. The account holder has two weeks to cover the overdraft and the Courtesy Pay Fee and bring the account back to positive.
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Example 3: In the example shown above, if your checking account has an available balance of $10 and you haven't linked your accounts for Overdraft Protection Transfers (OR, if you don't have sufficient available funds in your savings to cover the check), then the system will look to see if you qualify for Courtesy Pay. If you qualify for Courtesy Pay then the $50 check would be covered by 1st CCU, leaving you with a balance of -$40 in your checking account. In addition, you would be charged a $20 Courtesy Pay Fee, bringing your checking account balance to -$60. You would then have up to two weeks to bring your checking account balance back to positive.
In comparison, this is a much less costly option than the check being returned. The store would have charged you a fee of $20-$40 for writing a bad check in addition to the NSF Fee charged by 1st CCU.
Please note that NSF fees and Courtesy Pay fees are charged per item/transaction that overdrafts the account. If several overdrafts occur in a day you will be charged the NSF fee for each of them.
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What if I want 1st Community Credit Union's Courtesy Pay service to also authorize and pay overdrafts on my ATM and one-time debit card transactions (if I don't have Overdraft Transfers set up or I don't have sufficient funds in my Overdraft-linked account)?
If you want us to authorize and pay overdrafts on ATM and one-time debit card transactions, you may Opt In within 1st CCU Anywhere Online Banking.
- Log into 1st CCU Anywhere Online Banking at 1stccu.com
- On the left-side menu, select 'Accounts'
- In the bottom right of the Account Listing screen find the white card and tap 'Overdraft Options'
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The system will tell you if you are already enrolled in the Overdraft services. If you wish to enroll, select the account and click the Next button, then follow the prompts and agree to the terms.
If you prefer to submit the paper form:
- Click Here for the Opt-In Form
- After completing the form, email to 1st CCU or submit it to a 1st CCU location in Sparta, West Salem or Tomah
- For security purposes if you are emailing the form you must use the ZIX secure portal. Please select the Bookkeeping Department from the drop down options within the ZIX secure email platform.
The Courtesy Pay for ATM and one-time debit card transactions protects you when you inadvertently attempt a card transaction when the available balance in your account isn't enough to cover the transaction (or if you have Overdraft Transfers set up but you don't have sufficient funds in your linked account). It allows the account to go into the negative when a debit card transaction would normally be declined for insufficient funds (up to the Courtesy Pay Overdraw Tolerance amount determined by the credit union).
Example 4: You forgot that your Insurance premium was coming out of your checking account today, so you are unaware that your available balance is now down to $10. On your way home you stop at your favorite gas station for a $30 fill-up and hand the clerk your debit card to pay.
If you have Overdraft Protection Transfers set up and there are available funds in your savings, the system will authorize the debit card transaction and transfer $22 dollars from your savings into your checking ($2 for the overdraft transfer fee and $20 to cover the remainder of the transaction). Your checking account balance is now $0.
If you do not have Overdraft Protection set up but you have opted into Courtesy Pay, the system will authorize the debit card transaction and charge your checking account a $20 Courtesy Pay Fee. Your account balance is now -$40. You have been spared the embarrassment of your debit card being declined at the gas station and you have two weeks to bring your account back into the positive.
Please note that NSF fees and Courtesy Pay Fees are charged per item/transaction that overdrafts the account. If several overdrafts occur in a day you will be charged the NSF fee and Courtesy Pay fee for each of them.
What fees will I be charged if 1st Community Credit Union pays my overdraft?
Under our Standard Courtesy Pay/Overdraft Practices you will be charged a fee of $20 each time we pay an overdraft. There is no limit on the total fees we can charge you for overdrawing your account.
When you have linked multiple accounts for Overdraft Protection Transfers you will be charged a fee of $2 each time a transfer is made from your designated account(s) to cover a transaction.
The fees shown in the examples above are current as of August 27, 2019. See a list of Current Fees here
Please note that you are responsible for managing your accounts and 1st CCU's Overdraft Services are a member service that may cover inadvertent overdrafts. Extensive and/or overly-frequent usage of Overdraft Services may result in your account being closed.
Transactions may not be processed in the order in which they occurred, rather they are charged in the order in which they are received by 1st Community Credit Union. This may affect the total amount of overdraft fees incurred.