Overdraft Protection Options
We offer multiple options of overdraft privileges at our discretion to protect you from situations when your available balance may not cover a transaction. The options we may be able to offer you are: Overdraft protection express loan, a link to your savings account, CU*Advance, and protection for ATM withdrawals and everyday debit card transactions. You must opt in to receive protection for ATM withdrawals and everyday debit card transactions. For each item, the fee is $30 per each occurrence. Overdraft protection can help you avoid Non-Sufficient Funds incidents and merchant fees that you may acquire if your account is overdrawn.
Overdraft Protection Express (OPE) Loan
An Overdraft protection express loan is attached to your checking account to borrow from when your account is overdrawn. You must apply and be approved for an OPE loan. This line of credit is typically less expensive than our other options and will be the first place that your funds pull from, unless you instruct us otherwise.
Overdraft Protection with CU*Advance
Checking account transactions may be approved over-and-above the available balance for certain types of items: checks, ACH withdrawals, recurring debit card transactions (i.e. subscriptions), and scheduled bill payments with CU*Advance commonly known as Courtesy Pay. This program may be given to members in good standing at WMCU’s discretion. You may choose to opt out of this program at any time. If you choose to opt out, transactions that are presented without enough funds in your account will be returned Non-Sufficient Funds and you will be charged $30, and you may be subject to additional fees from the merchant. The fee for each item paid with this service is $30.
ATM Withdrawals and Everyday Debit Card Transactions
We may not cover these transactions unless you opt in. If you choose not to opt-in, your ATM withdrawals and everyday debit card transactions may be declined.
Click here to opt in for ATM withdrawals and everyday debit card transactions.
Available vs. Actual Balance
Your actual and available balance can be viewed on Its Me 247, by text, phone, ATM, or at a branch. These terms can be tricky, so please review the following breakdown.
Actual Balance:
Your actual balance can be misunderstood to mean the balance you have available to spend. This is NOT true. Your actual balance shows the funds in your account with transactions that have been posted, but not pending transactions. Although times have changed and you may not keep a checkbook register anymore, it’s important to keep track of your purchases to understand your available balance.
Available Balance:
Your available balance reflects authorized, pending, and posted transactions. This is the amount of funds that is available for you to use without your account being overdrawn (and acquiring Non-Sufficient Funds or CU*Advance fees). Please note: available balance will not show checks you have written that haven’t been cashed or cleared. Also, paying at the pump or prepaying for gas is sometimes handled differently than most transactions. In some instances, only $1 of your purchase will be held. Other times, it will not show your purchase in your history until the transaction clears.
Example of available and actual balance: If you have an actual and available balance of $200 and bought groceries for $150 on your debit card, your actual balance while you are leaving the store would be $200 (your grocery store transaction will be authorized and pending) but your available balance is really $50. On your way home, an ACH payment of $55 you had set up clears. Because you have already committed to paying $150 for your groceries, your account will now be overdrawn $5. We may pay your $55 bill, but you may be charged a $30 CU*Advance fee. Your actual and available balance will then be -$35 after all transactions have cleared. If you chose not to use our overdraft options, the ACH would be returned and you would be charged the Non-Sufficient Funds fee of $30 and subject to additional fees from the merchant.
If you would like clarification on the types of overdraft protection options that we can offer you or need help understanding available and actual funds, please call us at 1.800.442.4576 or stop by your local branch.
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