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A Guide to Overdraft Fees

Learn how you can protect your account from Overdraft Fees

What You Need to Know About Overdrafts and Overdraft Fees

An overdraft occurs when the available balance in your account is insufficient to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway.

  • What Can We Do About An Overdraft?

    We can cover your overdrafts in two ways:

    We have standard overdraft practices that come with most checking accounts.

    We also offer overdraft protection plans, such as a link to a savings account, which may be less expensive than our standard overdraft practices. To learn more, ask us about these plans.

  • What are the standard overdraft practices that come with my account?

    We do authorize and pay overdrafts up to a preset amount for the following types of transactions:

    Checks and other transactions made using your checking account number

    Automatic bill payments

  • We DO NOT authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions, unless you ask us to do so:

    ATM transactions

    Everyday debit card transactions

    We pay overdrafts at our discretion, which means that 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.

  • What fees will I be charged if Notre Dame Federal Credit Union pays my overdraft?

    Under our standard overdraft practices: We will charge you a fee of $27 each time we pay an overdraft

    There is no limit on the total fees we can charge you for overdrawing your account.

  • What if I want Notre Dame FCU to authorize and pay overdrafts on my everyday debit card transactions?

    If you want us to authorize and pay overdrafts on ATM and everyday debit card transactions, simply complete the form below or call 800-522-6611.

    There is no fee to activate your coverage and no fee if you never use it.

How Do We Determine When to Charge an Overdraft Fee?

We use the available balance in your account to determine whether your account has sufficient available funds to pay a transaction or item and for determining whether a transaction or item will incur an overdraft fee or NSF fee.

How Do We Determine Your Account’s Available Balance?

We use the “available balance” method to determine whether your account is overdrawn, that is, whether there are sufficient available funds 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.

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.

Your account’s actual 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 available balance does not reflect every transaction you have initiated or we previously authorized. For example, your available balance may not include the following:

Outstanding checks and authorized withdrawals (such as recurring debit card transactions and ACH transactions that we have not received for payment)

The final amount of a debit card purchase. For example, we may authorize a purchase amount prior to a tip that you add

Debit card transactions that have been previously authorized but not sent to us for final payment

The balance on your periodic statement is the actual balance for your account as of the statement date.

How Do I Find My Available Balance?

Keeping track of your available balance is important. You can review your available balance in a number of ways including reviewing your periodic statement, reviewing your available balance online, accessing your account information by phone, or coming into one of our branches.

Learn More About Ways to Bank

Other Frequently Asked Questions

  • What Happens if I Don't Opt-In?

    If you don’t opt-in and you try to conduct an everyday debit transaction that would exceed your available balance, the transaction will be declined.

  • How long do I have to bring my account positive?

    Should the credit union cover a transaction that causes your account to go negative, you have 30 days to bring the account to a positive balance.

  • When does Notre Dame FCU not cover overdrafts?

    Whether your overdrafts will be paid is discretionary and we reserve the right not to pay.

    For example, we typically do not pay overdrafts if your account is not in good standing, or you are not making regular deposits, or you have too many overdrafts.

  • Can I revoke authorization to pay overdrafts?

    You reserve the right to revoke the payment of overdrafts for ATM and everyday debit card transactions at any time by contacting us either in person, by mail (P.O. Box 7878, Notre Dame, IN 46556) or by phone (800-522-6611).

Fill out your information below if you wish to opt-in for debit card overdraft coverage.

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