Be Careful About Overdrawing Your Account
Worcester Credit Union understands that we all have our moments in life. The overdraft protection services that we offer below are intended to help our members navigate those moments and avoid inadvertently overdrawing their accounts. If Worcester Credit Union does not authorize and pay an overdraft, the transaction will be declined.
Beware, however, that these overdraft protection services are not intended to encourage intentional or repeated overdrafts. In fact, that is precisely why Worcester Credit Union assesses fees for these services: to dissuade members from becoming habitual over-drafters. Further, abusing overdraft services can result in account closure, and accounts closed with negative balances can be subject to collections. Accounts not returned to a positive balance within 45 days will generally be closed out.
Automatic Account Transfer
With our automatic account transfer service, you can arrange to have funds automatically transfer from a savings account or line of credit (credit approval required) in order to prevent an overdraft. The fee for this transfer service is $3.00 per transfer and is automatically assessed whenever an overdraft scenario triggers an automatic transfer. If the available balance to transfer is not enough to prevent the account from being overdrawn, the transfer will still occur. If that happens, the overdrawn account will be subject to a $30.00 overdraft fee, and the $3.00 transfer fee will be waived.
Note that the $3.00 transfer fee currently appears on statements as "Overdraft Transfer Fee," and the $30 overdraft fee (in this context and for Courtesy Pay below) appears on statements as "NSF Fee."
Courtesy Pay
Courtesy Pay is another option for overdraft protection. With Courtesy Pay, your checking account is linked to an overdraft privilege limit that is drawn upon instead of bringing your checking account negative. Each overdraft payment through Courtesy Pay incurs a $30 fee. Courtesy Pay limits must be repaid within 30 days to remain in good standing. Regarding eligibility, checking accounts must be in good standing, and a member is ineligible during their first 30 days of membership. Good standing generally means that the account has been open for at least 30 days and has deposits that equal or exceed the amount of discretionary overdraft extended within each 30 day period, any use of Courtesy Pay is repaid within 30 days, the member is not delinquent on any amounts due Worcester Credit Union, the member is not subject to any legal/administrative orders or levies, and the account is not inactive or dormant. If the Courtesy Pay limit has been reached, the credit union will not pay any further overdrafts.
Overdrafts are generally paid at our discretion, and that means we cannot guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of overdraft transaction. We do not authorize and pay overdrafts for ATM and everyday Debit Card transactions unless a member opts in to receive that protection.
