FUNDS AVAILABILITY POLICY
Updated August 16, 2016
This disclosure describes your ability to withdraw funds at Wichita Falls Federal Credit Union.
General Policy
Our policy is to make funds from your deposits available to you on the same day we receive your deposit. At that time, you can withdraw the funds in cash and we will use the funds to pay checks that you have written. Longer delays may apply.*
Please remember that even after we have made funds available to you, and you have withdrawn the funds, you are still responsible for checks you deposit that are returned to us unpaid and for any other problems involving your deposit.
For determining the availability of your deposits, every day is a business day, except Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays. If you make a deposit before closing on a business day that we are open, we will consider that day to be the day of your deposit. However, if you make a deposit after closing or on a day we are not open, we will consider that the deposit was made on the next business day we are open.
If we cash check(s) or deposit check(s) for you that are drawn on another bank, we may withhold the availability of a corresponding amount of funds (pledge funds) that are already in your account. Those funds will be available at the time funds from the check we cashed or deposited would have been available if you had deposited it.
Longer Delays May Apply
In some cases, we will not make all of the funds that you deposit by check available to you on the same day we receive your deposit. Depending on the type of check that you deposit, funds may not be available until the third, fifth, seventh or eleventh business day after the day of your deposit. However, we may make the first $200.00 of your deposit available to you on the same day we receive your deposit.
If we are not going to make all of the funds from your deposit available on the same day we receive your deposit, we will notify you at the time you make your deposit. We will also tell you when the funds will be available. If your deposit is not made directly with one of our employees, or if we decide to take this action after you have left the premises, we will mail you the notice by the day after we receive your deposit.
If you will need the funds from a deposit right away, you should ask when the funds will be available before you begin the transaction. You should not write a check on funds that are not already deposited. If you choose to write checks on funds not previously deposited, you agree to not hold us responsible if we return checks on “uncollected funds.”
In addition, funds you deposit by check may be delayed for a longer period (five, seven or eleven days) if one or more of the following circumstances occurs:
The account is open for less than 90 days.
We believe a check you deposit will not be paid.
You deposit checks totaling more than $5,000.00 on any one day.
You redeposit a check that was returned unpaid.
You have overdrawn your account repeatedly in the last six months.
There is an emergency, such as failure of communications or computer equipment.
We will notify you if we delay your ability to withdraw funds for any of these reasons, and we will tell you when the funds will be available. Funds will generally be available no later than the eleventh business day after the day of your deposit.
Check 21 Act Notice
Technology permits businesses to be more efficient in conducting business. Effective October 2004 a new law, Check 21, permits financial institutions, including WFFCU, to process checks electronically by authorizing “substitute checks” to foster innovation in the check collection system. This “substitute check” has the same legal standing as the original check. In such cases we will stamp the substitute check “This is a legal copy of your check. You can use it in the same way you would use the original check.” If you believe in good faith that a substitute check was not properly charged to your account let us know within sixty (60) days of receiving the statement showing the error, and we will properly credit the substitute check.
The purpose of the Check 21 Act is to improve the overall efficiency of the nation’s payment system. Information on the physical paper check is converted to electronic data and the check is retained (called “truncated”) at the point of presentment. The data is transmitted electronically to the payee bank immediately, instead of taking several days to process, thus eliminating the “float.” Checks may clear as quickly as the same day the check is deposited.
You agree that the credit union may use a substitute check, truncate checks and not retain the physical check. Further, you understand that the “float” time is significantly reduced or totally eliminated.