Contents:
(1) Important Information about Procedures for Opening a New Account
To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account.
What this means for you: When you open an account, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth, and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask to see your driver's license or other identifying documents.
(2) Agreement
This document, along with any other documents we give you pertaining to your account(s), is a contract (also referred to as "this agreement") that establishes rules which control your account(s) with us. Please read this carefully and retain it for future reference. If you open the account (whether in-person, electronically, or by any other method permitted by us) or continue to use the account after receiving a notice of change or amendment, you agree to these rules. You will receive a separate schedule of rates, qualifying balances, and fees if they are not included in this agreement. If you have any questions, please ask us.
This agreement is subject to applicable federal laws, the laws of the state of North Carolina and other applicable rules such as the operating letters of the Federal Reserve Banks and payment processing system rules (except to the extent that this agreement can and does vary such rules or laws). The body of state and federal law that governs our relationship with you, however, is too large and complex to be reproduced here. The purpose of this agreement is to:
If any provision of this agreement is found to be unenforceable according to its terms, all remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect. We may permit some variations from our standard agreement, but we must agree to any variation in writing either on the signature card for your account or in some other document. Nothing in this agreement is intended to vary our duty to act in good faith and with ordinary care when required by law.
As used in this agreement the words "we," "our," and "us" mean the financial institution and the words "you" and "your" mean the account holder(s) and anyone else with the authority to deposit, withdraw, or exercise control over the funds in the account. However, this agreement does not intend, and the terms "you" and "your" should not be interpreted, to expand an individual's responsibility for an organization's liability. If this account is owned by a corporation, partnership or other organization, individual liability is determined by the laws generally applicable to that type of organization. The headings in this agreement are for convenience or reference only and will not govern the interpretation of the provisions. Unless it would be inconsistent to do so, words and phrases used in this agreement should be construed so the singular includes the plural and the plural includes the singular.
(3) Liability
You agree, for yourself (and the person or entity you represent if you sign as a representative of another) to the terms of this account and the schedule of charges. You authorize us to deduct these charges, without notice to you, directly from the account balance as accrued. You will pay any additional reasonable charges for services you request which are not covered by this agreement.
Each of you also agrees to be jointly and severally (individually) liable for any account shortage resulting from charges or overdrafts, whether caused by you or another with access to this account. This liability is due immediately, and we can deduct any amounts deposited into the account and apply those amounts to the shortage. You have no right to defer payment of this liability, and you are liable regardless of whether you signed the item or benefited from the charge or overdraft.
You will be liable for our costs as well as for our reasonable attorneys' fees, to the extent permitted by law, whether incurred as a result of collection or in any other dispute involving your account. This includes, but is not limited to, disputes between you and another joint owner; you and an authorized signer or similar party; or a third party claiming an interest in your account. This also includes any action that you or a third party takes regarding the account that causes us, in good faith, to seek the advice of an attorney, whether or not we become involved in the dispute. All costs and attorneys' fees can be deducted from your account when they are incurred, without notice to you.
(4) Deposits
We will give only provisional credit until collection is final for any items, other than cash, we accept for deposit (including items drawn "on us"). Before settlement of any item becomes final, we act only as your agent, regardless of the form of indorsement or lack of indorsement on the item and even though we provide you provisional credit for the item. We may reverse any provisional credit for items that are lost, stolen, or returned. Unless prohibited by law, we also reserve the right to charge back to your account the amount of any item deposited to your account or cashed for you which was initially paid by the payor bank and which is later returned to us due to an allegedly forged, unauthorized or missing indorsement, claim of alteration, encoding error, counterfeit cashier's check or other problem which in our judgment justifies reversal of credit. You authorize us to attempt to collect previously returned items without giving you notice, and in attempting to collect we may permit the payor bank to hold an item beyond the midnight deadline. Actual credit for deposits of, or payable in, foreign currency will be at the exchange rate in effect on final collection in U.S. dollars. We are not responsible for transactions by mail or outside depository until we actually record them. We will treat and record all transactions received after our "daily cutoff time" on a business day we are open, or received on a day we are not open for business, as if initiated on the next business day that we are open. At our option, we may take an item for collection rather than for deposit. If we accept a third-party check or draft for deposit, we may require any third-party indorsers to verify or guarantee their indorsements, or indorse in our presence.
(5) Withdrawals
Important Terms for Accounts Where More Than One Person Can Withdraw. Unless clearly indicated otherwise on the account records, any of you, acting alone, who signs to open the account or has authority to make withdrawals may withdraw or transfer all or any part of the account balance at any time. Each of you (until we receive written notice to the contrary) authorizes each other person who signs or has authority to make withdrawals to indorse any item payable to you or your order for deposit to this account or any other transaction with us.
Postdated Checks. A postdated check is one which bears a date later than the date on which the check is written. We may properly pay and charge your account for a postdated check even though payment was made before the date of the check, unless we have received written notice of the postdating in time to have a reasonable opportunity to act. Because we process checks mechanically, your notice will not be effective and we will not be liable for failing to honor your notice unless it precisely identifies the number, date, amount and payee of the item.
Checks and Withdrawal Rules. If you do not purchase your check blanks from us, you must be certain that we approve the check blanks you purchase. We may refuse any withdrawal or transfer request which you attempt on forms not approved by us or by any method we do not specifically permit. We may refuse any withdrawal or transfer request which is greater in number than the frequency permitted by our policy, or which is for an amount greater or less than any withdrawal limitations. We will use the date the transaction is completed by us (as opposed to the date you initiate it) to apply any frequency limitations. In addition, we may place limitations on the account until your identity is verified.
Even if we honor a nonconforming request, we are not required to do so later. If you violate the stated transaction limitations (if any), in our discretion we may close your account or reclassify your account as another type of account. If we reclassify your account, your account will be subject to the fees and earnings rules of the new account classification.
If we are presented with an item drawn against your account that would be a "substitute check," as defined by law, but for an error or defect in the item introduced in the substitute check creation process, you agree that we may pay such item.
Cash Withdrawals. We recommend you take care when making large cash withdrawals because carrying large amounts of cash may pose a danger to your personal safety. As an alternative to making a large cash withdrawal, you may want to consider a cashier's check or similar instrument. You assume full responsibility of any loss in the event the cash you withdraw is lost, stolen, or destroyed. You agree to hold us harmless from any loss you incur as a result of your decision to withdraw funds in the form of cash.
Multiple Signatures, Electronic Check Conversion, and Similar Transactions. An electronic check conversion transaction is a transaction where a check or similar item is converted into an electronic fund transfer as defined in the Electronic Fund Transfers regulation. In these types of transactions the check or similar item is either removed from circulation (truncated) or given back to you. As a result, we have no opportunity to review the signatures or otherwise examine the original check or item. You agree that, as to these or any items as to which we have no opportunity to examine the signatures, you waive any requirement of multiple signatures,
Notice of Withdrawal. We reserve the right to require not less than 7 days' notice in writing before each withdrawal from an interest-bearing account, other than a time deposit or demand deposit, or from any other savings deposit as defined by Regulation D. (The law requires us to reserve this right, but it is not our general policy to use it.) Withdrawals from a time account prior to maturity or prior to any notice period may be restricted and may be subject to penalty. See your separately provided notice of penalty for early withdrawal.
(6) Ownership of Account and Beneficiary Designation
These rules apply to this account depending on the form of ownership and beneficiary designation, if any, specified on the account records. We reserve the right to refuse some forms of ownership and beneficiary designations on any or all of our accounts unless otherwise prohibited by law. We make no representations as to the appropriateness or effect of the ownership and beneficiary designations, except as they determine to whom we pay the account funds.
(7) Business, Organization, and Association Accounts
Earnings in the form of interest, dividends, or credits will be paid only on collected funds, unless otherwise provided by law or our policy. You represent that you have the authority to open and conduct business on this account on behalf of the entity. We may require the governing body of the entity opening the account to give us a separate authorization telling us who is authorized to act on its behalf. We will honor the authorization until we actually receive written notice of a change from the governing body of the entity.
(8) Stop Payments
The rules in this section cover stopping payment of items such as checks and drafts. Rules for stopping payment of other types of transfers of funds, such as consumer electronic fund transfers, may be established by law or our policy. If we have not disclosed these rules to you elsewhere, you may ask us about those rules.
We may accept an order to stop payment on any item from any one of you. You must make any stop-payment order in the manner required by law and we must receive it in time to give us a reasonable opportunity to act on it before our stop-payment cutoff time. Because the most effective way for us to execute a stop-payment order is by using an automated process, to be effective, your stop-payment order must precisely identify the number, date, and amount of the item, and the payee.
You may stop payment on any item drawn on your account whether you sign the item or not. Generally, if your stop-payment order is given to us in writing it is effective for six months. Your order will lapse after that time if you do not renew the order in writing before the end of the six-month period. If the original stop-payment order was oral your stop-payment order will lapse after 14 calendar days if you do not confirm your order in writing within that time period. We are not obligated to notify you when a stop-payment order expires.
If you stop payment on an item and we incur any damages or expenses because of the stop payment, you agree to indemnify us for those damages or expenses, including attorneys' fees. You assign to us all rights against the payee or any other holder of the item. You agree to cooperate with us in any legal actions that we may take against such persons. You should be aware that anyone holding the item may be entitled to enforce payment against you despite the stop-payment order.
Our stop-payment cutoff time is one hour after the opening of the next banking day after the banking day on which we receive the item. Additional limitations on our obligation to stop payment are provided by law (e.g., we paid the item in cash or we certified the item).
(9) Telephone Transfers
A telephone transfer of funds from this account to another account with us, if otherwise arranged for or permitted, may be made by the same persons and under the same conditions generally applicable to withdrawals made in writing. Limitations on the number of telephonic transfers from a savings account, if any, are described elsewhere.
(10) Amendments and Termination
We may change any term of this agreement. For such changes, we will give you reasonable notice in writing or by any other method permitted by law. We may also suspend or terminate a service or close this account at any time upon reasonable notice to you and, if we close the account, tender of the account balance personally or by mail. Reasonable notice depends on the circumstances, and in some cases, such as when we cannot verify your identity or we suspect fraud, it might be reasonable for us to give you notice after the change or account closure becomes effective. For instance, if we suspect fraudulent activity with respect to your account, we might immediately freeze or close your account and then give you notice. If we have notified you of a change in any term of your account and you continue to have your account after the effective date of the change, you have agreed to the new terms.
When you close your account, you are responsible for leaving enough money in the account to cover any outstanding items to be paid from the account.
Items presented for payment after the account is closed may be dishonored.
Note: Rules governing changes in interest rates are provided separately in the Truth-in-Savings disclosure or in another document. In addition, for changes governed by a specific law or regulation, we will follow the specific timing and format notice requirements of those laws or regulations.
(11) Correction of Clerical Errors
Unless otherwise prohibited by law, you agree, if determined necessary in our reasonable discretion, to allow us to correct clerical errors, such as obtaining your missing signature, on any account documents or disclosures that are part of our agreement with you. For errors on your periodic statement, please refer to the Statements section.
(12) Notices
Any written notice you give us is effective when we actually receive it, and it must be given to us according to the specific delivery instructions provided elsewhere, if any. We must receive any notice in time to have a reasonable opportunity to act on it. If a notice is regarding a check or other item, you must give us sufficient information to be able to identify the check or item, including the precise check or item number, amount, date and payee. Notice we give you via the United States Mail is when it is deposited in the United States Mail with proper postage and addressed to your mailing address we currently have on file. Notice we give you through your email of record, or other electronic method to which you agreed, will be treated as delivered to you when sent. Notice to any of you is notice to all of you.
(13) Statements
Your Duty to Report Unauthorized Signatures (Including Forgeries and Counterfeit Checks) and Alterations on Checks and Other Items. You must examine your statement of account with "reasonable promptness." If you discover (or reasonably should have discovered) any unauthorized signatures (including forgeries and counterfeit checks) or alterations, you must promptly notify us of the relevant facts. As between you and us, if you fail to do either of these duties, you will have to either share the loss with us, or bear the loss entirely yourself (depending on whether we used ordinary care and, if not, whether we substantially contributed to the loss). The loss could be not only with respect to items on the statement but other items with unauthorized signatures or alterations by the same wrongdoer.
You agree that the time you have to examine your statement and report to us will depend on the circumstances, but will not, in any circumstance, exceed a total of 30 days from when the statement is first sent or made available to you.
You further agree that if you fail to report any unauthorized signatures or alterations in your account within 60 days of when we first send or make the statement available, you cannot assert a claim against us on any items in that statement, and as between you and us the loss will be entirely yours. This 60-day limitation is without regard to whether we used ordinary care. The limitation in this paragraph is in addition to that contained in the first paragraph of this section.
Your Duty to Report Other Errors or Problems. In addition to your duty to review your statements for unauthorized signatures and alterations, you agree to examine your statement with reasonable promptness for any other error or problem - such as an encoding error or an unexpected deposit amount. Also, if you receive or we make available either your items or images of your items, you must examine them for any unauthorized or missing indorsements or any other problems. You agree that the time you have to examine your statement and items and report to us will depend on the circumstances. However, this time period shall not exceed 60 days. Failure to examine your statement and items and report any errors to us within 60 days of when we first send or make the statement available precludes you from asserting a claim against us for any errors on items identified in that statement and as between you and us the loss will be entirely yours.
Errors Relating to Electronic Fund Transfers or Substitute Checks (For consumer accounts only). For information on errors relating to electronic fund transfers (e.g., online, mobile, debit card or ATM transactions) refer to your Electronic Fund Transfers disclosure and the sections on consumer liability and error resolution. For information on errors relating to a substitute check you received, refer to your disclosure entitled Substitute Checks and Your Rights.
Duty to Notify if Statement Not Received. You agree to immediately notify us if you do not receive your statement by the date you normally expect to receive it. Not receiving your statement in a timely manner is a sign that there may be an issue with your account, such as possible fraud or identity theft. Absent a lack of ordinary care by us, a failure to receive your statement in a timely manner does not extend the time you have to conduct your review under this agreement.
(14) Reimbursement of Federal Benefit Payments
If we are required for any reason to reimburse the federal government for all or any portion of a benefit payment that was directly deposited into your account, you authorize us to deduct the amount of our liability to the federal government from the account or from any other account you have with us, without prior notice and at any time, except as prohibited by law. We may also use any other legal remedy to recover the amount of our liability.
(15) Temporary Account Agreement
If the account documentation indicates that this is a temporary account agreement, each person who signs to open the account or has authority to make withdrawals (except as indicated to the contrary) may transact business on this account. However, we may at some time in the future restrict or prohibit further use of this account if you fail to comply with the requirements we have imposed within a reasonable time.
(16) Setoff
We may (without prior notice and when permitted by law) set off the funds in this account against any due and payable debt any of you owe us now or in the future. If this account is owned by one or more of you as individuals, we may set off any funds in the account against a due and payable debt a partnership owes us now or in the future, to the extent of your liability as a partner for the partnership debt. If your debt arises from a promissory note, then the amount of the due and payable debt will be the full amount we have demanded, as entitled under the terms of the note, and this amount may include any portion of the balance for which we have properly accelerated the due date.
This right of setoff does not apply to this account if prohibited by law. For example, the right of setoff does not apply to this account if: (a) it is an Individual Retirement Account or similar tax-deferred account, or (b) the debt is created by a consumer credit transaction under a credit card plan (but this does not affect our rights under any consensual security interest), or (c) the debtor's right of withdrawal only arises in a representative capacity. We will not be liable for the dishonor of any check when the dishonor occurs because we set off a debt against this account. You agree to hold us harmless from any claim arising as a result of our exercise of our right of setoff.
(17) Check Processing
We process items mechanically by relying almost exclusively on the information encoded in magnetic ink along the bottom of the items. This means that we do not individually examine all of your items to determine if the item is properly completed, signed and indorsed or to determine if it contains any information other than what is encoded in magnetic ink. You agree that we have exercised ordinary care if our automated processing is consistent with general banking practice, even though we do not inspect each item. Because we do not inspect each item, if you write a check to multiple payees, we can properly pay the check regardless of the number of indorsements unless you notify us in writing that the check requires multiple indorsements. We must receive the notice in time for us to have a reasonable opportunity to act on it, and you must tell us the precise date of the check, amount, check number and payee. We are not responsible for any unauthorized signature or alteration that would not be identified by a reasonable inspection of the item. Using an automated process helps us keep costs down for you and all account holders.
(18) Check Cashing
We may charge a fee for anyone that does not have an account with us who is cashing a check, draft or other instrument written on your account. We may also require reasonable identification to cash a check, draft or other instrument. We can decide what identification is reasonable under the circumstances and such identification may be documentary or physical and may include collecting a thumbprint or fingerprint.
(19) Truncation, Substitute Checks, and Other Check Images
If you truncate an original check and create a substitute check, or other paper or electronic image of the original check, you warrant that no one will be asked to make payment on the original check, a substitute check or any other electronic or paper image, if the payment obligation relating to the original check has already been paid. You also warrant that any substitute check you create conforms to the legal requirements and generally accepted specifications for substitute checks. You agree to retain the original check in conformance with our policy for retaining original checks. You agree to indemnify us for any loss we may incur as a result of any truncated check transaction you initiate. We can refuse to accept substitute checks that have not previously been warranted by a bank or other financial institution in conformance with the Check 21 Act. Unless specifically stated in a separate agreement between you and us, we do not have to accept any other electronic or paper image of an original check.
(20) Remotely Created Checks
Like any standard check or draft, a remotely created check (sometimes called a telecheck, preauthorized draft or demand draft) is a check or draft that can be used to withdraw money from an account. Unlike a typical check or draft, however, a remotely created check is not issued by the paying bank and does not contain the signature of the account owner (or a signature purported to be the signature of the account owner). In place of a signature, the check usually has a statement that the owner authorized the check or has the owner's name typed or printed on the signature line.
You warrant and agree to the following for every remotely created check we receive from you for deposit or collection: (1) you have received express and verifiable authorization to create the check in the amount and to the payee that appears on the check; (2) you will maintain proof of the authorization for at least 2 years from the date of the authorization, and supply us the proof if we ask; and (3) if a check is returned you owe us the amount of the check, regardless of when the check is returned. We may take funds from your account to pay the amount you owe us, and if there are insufficient funds in your account, you still owe us the remaining balance.
(21) Unlawful Internet Gambling Notice
Restricted transactions as defined in Federal Reserve Regulation GG are prohibited from being processed through this account or relationship. Restricted transactions generally include, but are not limited to, those in which credit, electronic fund transfers, checks, or drafts are knowingly accepted by gambling businesses in connection with the participation by others in unlawful Internet gambling.
(22) ACH and Wire Transfers
This agreement is subject to Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code - Fund Transfers as adopted in the state in which you have your account with us. If you originate a fund transfer and you identify by name and number a beneficiary financial institution, an intermediary financial institution or a beneficiary, we and every receiving or beneficiary financial institution may rely on the identifying number to make payment. We may rely on the number even if it identifies a financial institution, person or account other than the one named. You agree to be bound by automated clearing house association rules. These rules provide, among other things, that payments made to you, or originated by you, are provisional until final settlement is made through a Federal Reserve Bank or payment is otherwise made as provided in Article 4A-403(a) of the Uniform Commercial Code. If we do not receive such payment, we are entitled to a refund from you in the amount credited to your account and the party originating such payment will not be considered to have paid the amount so credited. Credit entries may be made by ACH. If we receive a payment order to credit an account you have with us by wire or ACH, we are not required to give you any notice of the payment order or credit.
(23) International ACH Transactions
Financial institutions are required by law to scrutinize or verify any international ACH transactions (IAT) that they receive against the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This action may, from time to time, cause us to temporarily suspend processing of an IAT and potentially affect the settlement and/or availability of such payments.
(24) Facsimile Signatures
Unless you make advance arrangements with us, we have no obligation to honor facsimile signatures on your checks or other orders. If we do agree to honor items containing facsimile signatures, you authorize us, at any time, to charge you for all checks, drafts, or other orders, for the payment of money, that are drawn on us. You give us this authority regardless of by whom or by what means the facsimile signature(s) may have been affixed so long as they resemble the facsimile signature specimen filed with us, and contain the required number of signatures for this purpose. You must notify us at once if you suspect that your facsimile signature is being or has been misused.
(25) Restrictive Legends or Indorsements
The automated processing of the large volume of checks we receive prevents us from inspecting or looking for restrictive legends, restrictive indorsements or other special instructions on every check. For this reason, we are not required to honor any restrictive legend or indorsement or other special instruction placed on checks you write unless we have agreed in writing to the restriction or instruction. Unless we have agreed in writing, we are not responsible for any losses, claims, damages, or expenses that result from your placement of these restrictions or instructions on your checks. Examples of restrictive legends placed on checks are "must be presented within 90 days" or "not valid for more than $1,000.00." The payee's signature accompanied by the words "for deposit only" is an example of a restrictive indorsement.
(26) Account Transfer
This account may not be transferred or assigned without our prior written consent.
(27) Indorsements
We may accept for deposit any item payable to you or your order, even if they are not indorsed by you. We may give cash back to any one of you. We may supply any missing indorsement(s) for any item we accept for deposit or collection, and you warrant that all indorsements are genuine.
To ensure that your check or share draft is processed without delay, you must indorse it (sign it on the back) in a specific area. Your entire indorsement (whether a signature or a stamp) along with any other indorsement information (e.g., additional indorsements, ID information, driver's license number, etc,) must fall within 1 1/2" of the "trailing edge" of a check. Indorsements must be made in blue or black ink, so that they are readable by automated check processing equipment.
As you look at the front of a check, the "trailing edge" is the left edge. When you flip the check over, be sure to keep all indorsement information within 1 1/2" of that edge.
It is important that you confine the indorsement information to this area since the remaining blank space will be used by others in the processing of the check to place additional needed indorsements and information. You agree that you will indemnify, defend, and hold us harmless for any loss, liability, damage or expense that occurs because your indorsement, another indorsement, or information you have printed on the back of the check obscures our indorsement. These indorsement guidelines apply to both personal and business checks.
(28) Death or Incompetence
You agree to notify us promptly if any person with a right to withdraw funds from your account(s) dies or is adjudicated (determined by the appropriate official) incompetent. We may continue to honor your checks, items, and instructions until: (a) we know of your death or adjudication of incompetence, and (b) we have had a reasonable opportunity to act on that knowledge. You agree that we may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death or adjudication of incompetence for up to ten (10) days after your death or adjudication of incompetence unless ordered to stop payment by someone claiming an interest in the account.
(29) Fiduciary Accounts
Accounts may be opened by a person acting in a fiduciary capacity. A fiduciary is someone who is appointed to act on behalf of and for the benefit of another. We are not responsible for the actions of a fiduciary, including the misuse of funds. This account may be opened and maintained by a person or persons named as a trustee under a written trust agreement, or as executors, administrators, or conservators under court orders. You understand that by merely opening such an account, we are not acting in the capacity of a trustee in connection with the trust nor do we undertake any obligation to monitor or enforce the terms of the trust or letters.
(30) Credit Verification
You agree that we may verify credit and employment history by any necessary means, including preparation of a credit report by a credit reporting agency.
(31) Legal Actions Affecting Your Account
If we are served with a subpoena, restraining order, writ of attachment or execution, levy, garnishment, search warrant, or similar order relating to your account (termed "legal action" in this section), we will comply with that legal action as required by applicable law. However, nothing in this agreement shall be construed as a waiver of any rights you may have under applicable law with regards to such legal action. Subject to applicable law, we may, in our sole discretion, choose to freeze the assets in the account and not allow any payments or transfers out of the account until there is a final court determination regarding the legal action. We may do these things even if the legal action involves less than all of you. In these cases, we will not have any liability to you if there are insufficient funds to pay your items because we have withdrawn funds from your account or in any way restricted access to your funds in accordance with the legal action and applicable law. Any fees or expenses we incur in responding to any legal action (including, without limitation, attorneys' fees, and our internal expenses) may be charged against your account, unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law. The list of fees applicable to your account(s) - provided elsewhere - may specify additional fees that we may charge for responding to certain legal actions.
(32) Account Security
Your Duty to Protect Account Information and Methods of Access. Our policy may require methods of verifying your identity before providing you with a service or allowing you access to your account. We can decide what identification is reasonable under the circumstances. For example, process and identification requirements may vary depending on whether they are online or in person. Identification may be documentary or physical and may include collecting a fingerprint, voiceprint, or other biometric information.
It is your responsibility to protect the account numbers and electronic access devices (e.g., an ATM card) we provide you for your accounts. You should also safeguard your username, password, and other access and identifying information when accessing your account through a computer or other electronic, audio, or mobile device or technology. If you give anyone authority to access the account on your behalf, you should exercise caution and ensure the trustworthiness of that agent. Do not discuss, compare, or share information about your account numbers with anyone unless you are willing to give them full use of your money. An account number can be used by thieves to issue an electronic debit or to encode your number on a false demand draft which looks like and functions like an authorized check. If you furnish your access device or information and grant actual authority to make transfers to another person (a family member or coworker, for example) who then exceeds that authority, you are liable for the transfers unless we have been notified that transfers by that person are no longer authorized. Your account number can also be used to electronically remove money from your account, and payment can be made from your account even though you did not contact us directly and order the payment.
You must also take precaution in safeguarding your blank checks. Notify us at once if you believe your checks have been lost or stolen. As between you and us, if you are negligent in safeguarding your checks, you must bear the loss entirely yourself or share the loss with us (we may have to share some of the loss if we failed to use ordinary care and if we substantially contributed to the loss).
Positive Pay and Other Fraud Prevention Services. Except for consumer electronic fund transfers subject to Regulation E, you agree that if we offer you services appropriate for your account to help identify and limit fraud or other unauthorized transactions against your account, and you reject those services, you will be responsible for any fraudulent or unauthorized transactions which could have been prevented by the services we offered. You will not be responsible for such transactions if we acted in bad faith or to the extent our negligence contributed to the loss. Such services include positive pay or commercially reasonable security procedures. If we offered you a commercially reasonable security procedure which you reject, you agree that you are responsible for any payment order, whether authorized or not, that we accept in compliance with an alternative security procedure that you have selected. The positive pay service can help detect and prevent check fraud and is appropriate for account holders that issue a high volume of checks, a lot of checks to the general public, or checks for large dollar amounts.
(33) Instructions From You
Unless required by law or we have agreed otherwise in writing, we are not required to act upon instructions you give us via facsimile transmission, email, voicemail, or phone call to a facsimile number, email address, or phone number not designated by us for a particular purpose or for a purpose that is unrelated to the request or instruction.
(34) Monitoring and Recording Telephone Calls and Account Communications
Subject to federal and state law, we may monitor or record phone calls for security reasons, to maintain a record, and to ensure that you receive courteous and efficient service. You consent in advance to any such recording.
To provide you with the best possible service in our ongoing business relationship for your account, we may need to contact you about your account from time to time by telephone, text messaging, or email. In contacting you about your account, we may use any telephone numbers or email addresses that you have previously provided to us by virtue of an existing business relationship or that you may subsequently provide to us.
You acknowledge that the number we use to contact you may be assigned to a landline, a paging service, a cellular wireless service, a specialized mobile radio service, other radio common carrier service, or any other service for which you may be charged for the call. You acknowledge that we may contact you by voice, voicemail, or text messaging. You further acknowledge that we may use pre-recorded voice messages, artificial voice messages or automated telephone dialing systems.
If necessary, you may change or remove any of the telephone numbers, email addresses or other methods of contacting you at any time using any reasonable means to notify us.
(35) Claim of Loss
The following rules do not apply to a transaction or claim related to a consumer electronic fund transfer governed by Regulation E (e.g., an everyday/one-time consumer debit card or ATM transaction). The error resolution procedures for consumer electronic fund transfers can be found in our initial Regulation E disclosure titled, "Electronic Fund Transfers." For other transactions or claims, if you claim a credit or refund because of a forgery, alteration, or any other unauthorized withdrawal, you agree to cooperate with us in the investigation of the loss, including giving us an affidavit containing whatever reasonable information we require concerning your account, the transaction, and the circumstances surrounding the loss. You will notify law enforcement authorities of any criminal act related to the claim of lost, missing, or stolen checks or unauthorized withdrawals. We will have a reasonable period of time to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding any claim of loss. Unless we have acted in bad faith, we will not be liable for special or consequential damages, including loss of profits or opportunity, or for attorneys' fees incurred by you. You agree that you will not waive any rights you have to recover your loss against anyone who is obligated to repay, insure, or otherwise reimburse you for your loss. You will pursue your rights or, at our option, assign them to us so that we may pursue them. Our liability will be reduced by the amount you recover or are entitled to recover from these other sources.
(36) Early Withdrawal Penalties (and involuntary withdrawals)
We may impose early withdrawal penalties on a withdrawal from a time account even if you don't initiate the withdrawal. For instance, the early withdrawal penalty may be imposed if the withdrawal is caused by our setoff against funds in the account or as a result of an attachment or other legal process. We may close your account and impose the early withdrawal penalty on the entire account balance in the event of a partial early withdrawal. See your separately provided notice of penalty for early withdrawal for additional information.
(37) Changes in Name and Contact Information
You are responsible for notifying us of any change in your name, address, or other information we use to communicate with you. Unless we agree otherwise, notice of such a change must be made in writing. Informing us of your address or name change on a check reorder form is not sufficient. We will attempt to communicate with you only by use of the most recent information you have provided to us. If provided elsewhere, we may impose a service fee if we attempt to locate you.
(38) Resolving Account Disputes
We may place an administrative hold on the funds in your account (refuse payment or withdrawal of the funds) if it becomes subject to a claim adverse to (1) your own interest; (2) others claiming an interest as survivors or beneficiaries of your account; or (3) a claim arising by operation of law. The hold may be placed for such period of time as we believe reasonably necessary to allow a legal proceeding to determine the merits of the claim or until we receive evidence satisfactory to us that the dispute has been resolved. We will not be liable for any items that are dishonored as a consequence of placing a hold on funds in your account for these reasons.
(39) Waiver of Notices
To the extent permitted by law, you waive any notice of non-payment, dishonor or protest regarding any items credited to or charged against your account. For example, if you deposit an item and it is returned unpaid or we receive a notice of nonpayment, we do not have to notify you unless required by federal Regulation CC or other law.
(40) Additional Terms
Account Organization - We may have organized your account in a non-traditional way. These accounts consist of two subaccounts. One of the subaccounts is a transaction subaccount (e.g., a checking subaccount). You will transact business on this subaccount. The other is a non-transaction subaccount (e.g., a savings account). You cannot directly access the non-transaction subaccount, but you agree that we may automatically, without a specific request from you, initiate individual transfers of funds between subaccounts from time to time at no cost to you. This account organization will not change the amount of federal deposit insurance available to you, your available balance, the information on your periodic statements, or the interest calculation, if this is an interest-bearing account. You will not see any difference between the way your account operates and the way a traditionally organized account operates, but this organization make us more efficient and keeps costs lower.
Beneficial Ownership - To help the government fight financial crime, we are required to collect information from our legal entity customers about any individual(s) that own or control a legal entity. This information is collected on a separate form at the time of account opening. For renewals, to the extent that the legal entity customers and the financial service or product (loan or CD) remains the same, the customer agrees to notify us of any changes in such information.
PeoplesTouch - This telephone banking service is available 24 hours a day and provides checking, savings and loan account information, allows you to initiate transfers between deposit and loan accounts, and allows for check verification for merchants. The transactions initiated through the system are governed by the Terms and Conditions document as well as the Electronic Funds Transfers Disclosure.
Generally
Understanding the concepts of overdrafts and nonsufficient funds fees (NSF) is important and can help you avoid being assessed fees or charges. An overdrawn account will typically result in you being charged NSF fees. Generally, an overdraft occurs when your account has insufficient, inadequate or unavailable funds to pay for a transaction. The transaction may be paid or returned and we may charge NSF fees in either situation. Please refer to the Standard Overdraft Coverage Policy Disclosure for more information.
Overdrafts
You understand that we may, at our discretion, honor withdrawal requests that overdraw your account. However, the fact that we may honor withdrawal requests that overdraw the account balance does not obligate us to do so later. So you can NOT rely on us to pay overdrafts on your account regardless of how frequently or under what circumstances we have paid overdrafts on your account in the past. We can change our practice of paying, or not paying, discretionary overdrafts on your account without notice to you. You can ask us if we have other account services that might be available to you where we commit to paying overdrafts under certain circumstances, such as an overdraft protection line-of-credit or a plan to sweep funds from another account you have with us. You agree that we may charge fees for overdrafts. For consumer accounts, we will not charge fees for overdrafts caused by ATM withdrawals or everyday debit card transactions absent your affirmative consent or opt-in to that service. We may use subsequent deposits, including direct deposits of social security or other government benefits, to cover such overdrafts and related fees.
Nonsufficient Funds (NSF) Fees
If an item drafted by you (such as a check) or a transaction you set up (such as a preauthorized transfer) is presented for payment in an amount that is more than your available balance, you agree that we can charge you an NSF fee whether the transaction is paid or returned. Be aware that if an item or payment is returned, it may be presented multiple times and that we do not monitor or control the number of times a transaction is presented for payment. You agree that we may charge you an NSF fee each time a payment is presented if the available balance in your account is insufficient to cover the payment, regardless of the number of times the payment is presented.
Balance Information
Keeping track of your balance is important. You can review your balance in a number of ways including reviewing your periodic statement, reviewing your balance online, accessing your account information by phone, or coming into one of our business centers.
Determining Your Available Balance
We use the “available balance” method to determine whether your account is overdrawn, that is, whether there is enough money in your account to pay for a transaction. Importantly, your “available balance” may not be the same as your account’s “actual” balance. This means an overdraft or an NSF transaction could occur regardless of your account’s actual balance.
Your account’s actual balance (sometimes called the ledger balance) only includes transactions that have settled up to that point in time, that is, transactions (deposits and payments) that have posted to your account. The actual balance does not include outstanding transactions (such as checks that have not yet cleared and electronic transactions that have been authorized but which are still pending). The balance on your periodic statement is the ledger balance for your account as of the statement date.
As the name implies, your available balance is calculated based on the money “available” in your account to make payments. In other words, the available balance takes transactions that have been authorized, but not yet settled, and subtracts them from the actual balance. In addition, when calculating your available balance, any “holds” placed on deposits that have not yet cleared are also subtracted from the actual balance.
Funds Availability
Knowing when funds you deposit will be made available for withdrawal is another important concept that can help you avoid being assessed fees or charges. Please see our funds availability disclosure for information on when different types of deposits will be made available for withdrawal. For those accounts to which our funds availability disclosure does not apply, you can ask us when you make a deposit when those funds will be available for withdrawal. An item may be returned after the funds from the deposit of that item are made available for withdrawal. In that case, we will reverse the credit of the item. We may determine the amount of available funds in your account for the purpose of deciding whether to return an item for insufficient funds at any time between the times we receive the item and when we return or send a notice in lieu of return. We need only make one determination, but if we choose to make a subsequent determination, the account balance at the subsequent time will determine whether there are insufficient available funds.
A Temporary Debit Authorization Hold Affects Your Account Balance
On debit card purchases, merchants may request a temporary hold on your account for a specified sum of money when the merchant does not know the exact amounts of the purchase at the time the card is authorized. The amount of the temporary hold may be more than the actual amount of your purchase. Some common transactions where this occurs involve purchases of gasoline, hotel rooms, or meals at restaurants. When this happens, our processing system cannot determine that the amount of the hold exceeds the actual amount of your purchase. This temporary hold, and the amount charged to your account, will eventually be adjusted to the actual amount of your purchase, but it could be three calendar days, or even longer in some cases, before the adjustment is made. Until the adjustment is made, the amount of funds in your account available for other transactions will be reduced by the amount of the temporary hold. If another transaction is presented for payment in an amount greater than the funds left after the deduction of the temporary hold amount, you may be charged an NSF fee according to our policy. You may be charged the fee even if you would have had sufficient funds in your account if the amount of the hold had been equal to the amount of your purchase.
Payment Types
Some, but not necessarily all, of the ways you can access the funds in your account include debit card transactions, automated clearing house (ACH) transactions, and check transactions. All these payment types can use different processing systems and some may take more or less time to post. This information is important for a number of reasons. For example, keeping track of the checks you write and the timing of the preauthorized payments you set up will help you to know what other transactions might still post against your account.
Payment Order of Items
The law permits us to pay items (such as checks or draft(s) drawn on your account in any order. To assist you in handling your account with us, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process the items that you write or initiate. When processing items drawn on your account we pay ATM and Debit Card transactions first in chronological order, checks that you have written are paid in check number order, and all other transactions are paid from the lowest amount to the highest amount.
Revised 9/01/2022