Consumer Terms and Conditions

Consumer Terms and Conditions

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF YOUR ACCOUNT


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.

AGREEMENT - This document, along with any other documents we give you pertaining to your account(s), is a contract that establishes rules which control your account(s) with us. Please read this carefully and retain it for future reference. If you sign the signature card or open or continue to use the account, you agree to these rules. You will receive a separate schedule of rates, qualifying balances, and fees if they are not included in this document. If you have any questions, please call us.

This agreement is subject to applicable federal laws, the laws of the state of Massachusetts 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 document is to:

(1) summarize some laws that apply to common transactions;
(2) establish rules to cover transactions or events which the law does not regulate;
(3) establish rules for certain transactions or events which the law regulates but permits variation by agreement; and
(4) give you disclosures of some of our policies to which you may be entitled or in which you may be interested.

If any provision of this document 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 document is intended to vary our duty to act in good faith and with ordinary care when required by law. As used in this document 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 document 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 document should be construed so the singular includes the plural and the plural includes the singular.

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.

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. If you deliver a deposit to us and you will not be present when the deposit is counted, you must provide us an itemized list of the deposit (deposit slip). To process the deposit, we will verify and record the deposit, and credit the deposit to the account. If there are any discrepancies between the amounts shown on the itemized list of the deposit and the amount we determine to be the actual deposit, we will notify you of the discrepancy. You will be entitled to credit only for the actual deposit as determined by us, regardless of what is stated on the itemized deposit slip. 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.

WITHDRAWALS - Generally - 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 notice of penalty for early withdrawal.UNDERSTANDING AND AVOIDING OVERDRAFT AND

NONSUFFICIENT FUNDS (NSF) FEES –

Generally - The information in this section is being provided to help you understand what happens if your account is overdrawn. Understanding the concepts of overdrafts and nonsufficient funds (NSF) is important and can help you avoid being assessed fees or charges. This section also provides contractual terms relating to overdrafts and NSF transactions.

An overdrawn account will typically result in you being charged an overdraft fee or an NSF fee. Generally, an overdraft occurs when there is not enough money in your account to pay for a transaction, but we pay (or cover) the transaction anyway. An NSF transaction is slightly different. In an NSF transaction, we do not cover the transaction. Instead, the transaction is rejected and the item or requested payment is returned. In either situation, we can charge you a fee.

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. For more information on how holds placed on funds in your account can impact your available balance, read the subsection titled “A temporary debit authorization hold affects your account balance.”

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 one-time debit card transactions if you have not opted-in to that service. We may use subsequent deposits, including direct deposits of social security or other government benefits, to cover such overdrafts and overdraft 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 the amount of money available in your account, and we decide not to pay the item or transaction, you agree that we can charge you an NSF fee for returning the payment. Be aware that such an item or payment 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 amount of money available in your account is not sufficient to cover the payment, regardless of the number of times the payment is presented. 

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. For information about how and when we process these different payment types, see the “Payment order of items” subsection below.

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, reviewing your balance on our mobile app, accessing your account information by phone, or coming into one of our banking centers. 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 policy 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 the item 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 amount 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 will be charged an NSF or overdraft fee according to our NSF or overdraft fee policy. You will 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 order of items - The order in which items are paid is important if there is not enough money in your account to pay all of the items that are presented. The payment order can affect the number of items overdrawn or returned unpaid and the amount of the fees you may have to pay. To assist you in managing your account, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process those items. Our policy is to process electronic transactions first - in the order in which they are received for the day on which they are processed. We process checks & similar items second - in the order in which they are received for the day on which they are processed.

If a check, item or transaction is presented without sufficient funds in your account to pay it, we may, at our discretion, pay the item (creating an overdraft) or return the item for insufficient funds (NSF). We will not charge you a fee for paying an overdraft of an ATM or everyday debit card transaction if this is a consumer account and you have not opted-in to that service. The amounts of the overdraft and NSF fees are disclosed elsewhere, as are your rights to opt in to overdraft services for ATM and everyday debit card transactions, if applicable. We encourage you to make careful records and practice good account management. This will help you to avoid creating items without sufficient funds and potentially incurring the resulting fees. 

CHAPTER 167D ACCOUNTS - Except as indicated below, we do not intend to subject your account to (i) a service, maintenance or similar charge, (ii) a minimum balance requirement, (iii) a charge for a check, deposit or withdrawal, or (iv) a fee for the initial order or subsequent refills of the basic line of checks offered by us if you qualify for the minor or senior citizen fee exemption under Chapter 167D of Massachusetts General Laws. You should notify us if you or your spouse qualify so that we may administer your account accordingly. Despite this exemption, we may assess a fee for certain services in accordance with our published service charge schedule, including stop payment orders, wire transfers, certified or bank checks, money orders and deposit items returned, transactions at electronic branches and through other electronic devices, and services not directly associated with the deposit, withdrawal or transfer of funds from any such account; and we may assess you a reasonable charge when payment has been refused because of insufficient funds on any check or other transaction on the account (as permitted by law).

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 on any or all of our accounts. 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.

Individual Account - is an account in the name of one person.

Joint Account - With Survivorship (And Not As Tenants In Common) - is an account in the name of two or more persons. Each of you intend that when you die the balance in the account (subject to any previous pledge to which we have agreed) will belong to the survivor(s). If two or more of you survive, you will own the balance in the account as joint tenants with survivorship and not as tenants in common.

Revocable Trust Account - One or two of you (called trustees) may create such an account in trust for other persons. Payments may be made to the trustee, or if there are two trustees, to either or both of the trustees or the survivor. Upon the death of the trustee or the death of both trustees, payment may be made to the person or persons who survive the death of the last surviving trustee in an equal portion of the funds for whom the trust was made, or that person’s legal representative.

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.

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 stop-payment orders are handled by computers, to be effective, your stoppayment 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.

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. 

AMENDMENTS AND TERMINATION - We may change any term of this agreement. Rules governing changes in interest rates are provided separately in the Truth-inSavings disclosure or in another document. For other changes, we will give you reasonable notice in writing or by any other method permitted by law. We may also close this account at any time upon reasonable notice to you and tender of the account balance personally or by mail. Items presented for payment after the account is closed may be dishonored. 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. 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 term(s).

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 it in time to have a reasonable opportunity to act on it. If the 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. Written notice we give you is effective when it is deposited in the United States Mail with proper postage and addressed to your mailing address we have on file. Notice to any of you is notice to all of you. 

STATEMENTS - Your duty to report unauthorized signatures, alterations and forgeries - You must examine your statement of account with “reasonable promptness.” If you discover (or reasonably should have discovered) any unauthorized signatures 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, alterations or forgeries 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, alterations and forgeries, 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 information on errors relating to electronic fund transfers (e.g., on-line, 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.

ACCOUNT TRANSFER - This account may not be transferred or assigned without our prior written consent.

DIRECT DEPOSITS - 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.

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. 

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.

CHECK PROCESSING - We process items mechanically by relying solely 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.

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 such 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.

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.

INTERNATIONAL ACH TRANSACTIONS - Financial institutions are required by law to scrutinize or verify any international ACH transaction (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.

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.

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 11 /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 11 /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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Or, in our discretion, we may freeze the assets in the account and not allow any payments out of the account until 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. 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. The list of fees applicable to your account(s) provided elsewhere may specify additional fees that we may charge for certain legal actions.

ACCOUNT SECURITY –

Duty to protect account information and methods of access - It is your responsibility to protect the account numbers and electronic access devices (e.g., an ATM card) we provide you for your account(s). Do not discuss, compare, or share information about your account number(s) 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 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.

TRANSACTIONS BY MAIL - You may deposit checks by mail. You should indorse the check being sent through the mail with the words “For Deposit Only” and should include your correct account number underneath to ensure the check is credited to the correct account. You should use the pre-encoded checking deposit slips found behind your checks in your checkbook. If you do not use your deposit slip or provide us with instructions indicating how or where the check should be credited, we may apply it to any account or any loan balance you have with us or we may return the check to you. 

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. 

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.

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 automatic 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.

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 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.

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 notice of penalty for early withdrawals for additional information.

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.

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) by 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.

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.

FUNDS TRANSFERS - The terms used in this section have the meaning given to them in Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code - Funds Transfers (UCC 4A). This section will generally not apply to you if you are a consumer. However, even if you are a consumer, this section will apply to that part of any funds transfer that is conducted by Fedwire. This section is subject to UCC 4A as adopted in the state in which you have your deposit with us. This agreement is also subject to all clearing house association rules, rules of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and their operating circulars. If any part of this agreement is determined to be unenforceable, the rest of the agreement remains effective. This agreement controls funds transfers unless supplemented or amended in a separate written agreement signed by us. This agreement does not apply to a funds transfer if any part of the transfer is governed by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978 (EFTA), except this agreement does apply to a funds transfer that is a remittance transfer as defined in EFTA unless the remittance transfer is an electronic fund transfer as defined in EFTA.

Funds transfer - A funds transfer is the transaction or series of transactions that begin with the originator’s payment order, made for the purpose of making payment to the beneficiary of the order. A funds transfer is completed by the acceptance by the beneficiary’s bank of a payment order for the benefit of the beneficiary of the originator’s order. You may give us a payment order orally, electronically, or in writing, but your order cannot state any condition to payment to the beneficiary other than the time of payment. Credit entries may be made by ACH.

Authorized account - An authorized account is a deposit account you have with us that you have designated as a source of payment of payment orders you issue to us. If you have not designated an authorized account, any account you have with us is an authorized account to the extent that payment of the payment order is not inconsistent with the use of the account.

Acceptance of your payment order - We are not obligated to accept any payment order that you give us, although we normally will accept your payment order if you have a withdrawable credit in an authorized account sufficient to cover the order. If we do not execute your payment order, but give you notice of our rejection of your payment order after the execution date or give you no notice, we are not liable to pay you as restitution any interest on a withdrawable credit in a non-interest-bearing account.

Cutoff time - If we do not receive your payment order or communication canceling or amending a payment order before our cutoff time on a funds transfer day for that type of order or communication, the order or communication will be deemed to be received at the opening of our next funds transfer business day.

Payment of your order - If we accept a payment order you give us, we may receive payment by automatically deducting from any authorized account the amount of the payment order plus the amount of any expenses and charges for our services in execution of your payment order. We are entitled to payment on the payment or execution date. Unless your payment order specifies otherwise, the payment or execution date is the funds transfer date we receive the payment order. The funds transfer is completed upon acceptance by the beneficiary’s bank. Your obligation to pay your payment order is excused if the funds transfer is not completed, but you are still responsible to pay us any expenses and charges for our services. However, if you told us to route the funds transfer through an intermediate bank, and we are unable to obtain a refund because the intermediate bank that you designated has suspended payments, then you are still obligated to pay us for the payment order. You will not be entitled to interest on any refund you receive because the beneficiary’s bank does not accept the payment order. 

Security procedure - As described more fully in a separate writing, the authenticity of a payment order or communication canceling or amending a payment order issued in your name as sender may be verified by a security procedure. You affirm that you have no circumstances which are relevant to the determination of a commercially reasonable security procedure unless those circumstances are expressly contained in a separate writing signed by us. You may choose from one or more security procedures that we have developed, or you may develop your own security procedure if it is acceptable to us. If you refuse a commercially reasonable security procedure that we have offered you, you agree that you will be bound by any payment order issued in your name, whether or not authorized, that we accept in good faith and in compliance with the security procedure you have chosen. 

Duty to report unauthorized or erroneous payment - You must exercise ordinary care to determine that all payment orders or amendments to payment orders that we accept that are issued in your name are authorized, enforceable, in the correct amount, to the correct beneficiary, and not otherwise erroneous. If you discover (or with reasonable care should have discovered) an unauthorized, unenforceable, or erroneously executed payment order or amendment, you must exercise ordinary care to notify us of the relevant facts. The time you have to notify us will depend on the circumstances, but that time will not in any circumstance exceed 14 days from when you are notified of our acceptance or execution of the payment order or amendment or that your account was debited with respect to the order or amendment. If you do not provide us with timely notice you will not be entitled to interest on any refundable amount. If we can prove that you failed to perform either of these duties with respect to an erroneous payment and that we incurred a loss as a result of the failure, you are liable to us for the amount of the loss not exceeding the amount of your order. 

Identifying number - If your payment order identifies an intermediate bank, beneficiary bank, or beneficiary by name and number, we and every receiving or beneficiary bank may rely upon the identifying number rather than the name to make payment, even if the number identifies an intermediate bank or person different than the bank or beneficiary identified by name. Neither we nor any receiving or beneficiary bank have any responsibility to determine whether the name and identifying number refer to the same financial institution or person.

Record of oral or telephone orders - You agree that we may, if we choose, record any oral or telephone payment order or communication of amendment or cancelation.

Notice of credit - If we receive a payment order to credit an account you have with us, we are not required to provide you with any notice of the payment order or the credit.

Provisional credit - You agree to be bound by the automated clearing house association operating rules that provide that payments made to you or originated by you by funds transfer through the automated clearing house system are provisional until final settlement is made through a Federal Reserve Bank or otherwise payment is made as provided in Article 4A-403(a) of the Uniform Commercial Code.

Refund of credit - You agree that if we do not receive payment of an amount credited to your account, we are entitled to a refund from you in the amount credited and the party originating such payment will not be considered to have paid the amount so credited.

Amendment of funds transfer agreement - From time to time we may amend any term of this agreement by giving you reasonable notice in writing. We may give notice to anyone who is authorized to send payment orders to us in your name, or to anyone who is authorized to accept service. 

Cancelation or amendment of payment order - You may cancel or amend a payment order you give us only if we receive the communication of cancelation or amendment before our cutoff time and in time to have a reasonable opportunity to act on it before we accept the payment order. The communication of cancelation or amendment must be presented in conformity with the same security procedure that has been agreed to for payment orders.

Intermediaries - We are not liable for the actions of any intermediary, regardless of whether or not we selected the intermediary. We are not responsible for acts of God, outside agencies, or nonsalaried agents.

Limit on liability - You waive any claim you may have against us for consequential or special damages, including loss of profit arising out of a payment order or funds transfer, unless this waiver is prohibited by law. We are not responsible for attorney fees you might incur due to erroneous execution of payment order.

Erroneous execution - If we receive an order to pay you, and we erroneously pay you more than the amount of the payment order, we are entitled to recover from you the amount in excess of the amount of the payment order, regardless of whether you may have some claim to the excess amount against the originator of the order.

Objection to payment - If we give you a notice that reasonably identifies a payment order issued in your name as sender that we have accepted and received payment for, you cannot claim that we are not entitled to retain the payment unless you notify us of your objection to the payment within 60 days of our notice to you.
 

NOTICE OF NEGATIVE INFORMATION

Federal law requires us to provide the following notice to customers before any "negative information" may be furnished to a nationwide consumer reporting agency. "Negative information" includes information concerning delinquencies, overdrafts or any form of default. This notice does not mean that we will be reporting such information about you, only that we may report such information about customers that have not done what they are required to do under our agreement. After providing this notice, additional negative information may be submitted without providing another notice. We may report information about your account to credit bureaus. Late payments, missed payments or other defaults on your account may be reflected in your credit report.


ELECTRONIC FUND TRANSFERS YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Indicated below are types of Electronic Fund Transfers we are capable of handling, some of which may not apply to your account. Please read this disclosure carefully because it tells you your rights and obligations for the transactions listed. You should keep this notice for future reference. 

Electronic Fund Transfers Initiated By Third Parties. You may authorize a third party to initiate electronic fund transfers between your account and the third party’s account. These transfers to make or receive payment may be one-time occurrences or may recur as directed by you. These transfers may use the Automated Clearing House (ACH) or other payments network. Your authorization to the third party to make these transfers can occur in a number of ways. For example, your authorization to convert a check to an electronic fund transfer or to electronically pay a returned check charge can occur when a merchant provides you with notice and you go forward with the transaction (typically, at the point of purchase, a merchant will post a sign and print the notice on a receipt). In all cases, these third party transfers will require you to provide the third party with your account number and bank information. This information can be found on your check as well as on a deposit or withdrawal slip. Thus, you should only provide your bank and account information (whether over the phone, the Internet, or via some other method) to trusted third parties whom you have authorized to initiate these electronic fund transfers. Examples of these transfers include, but are not limited to:

  • Preauthorized credits. You may make arrangements for certain direct deposits to be accepted into your checking or savings account(s).
  • Preauthorized payments. You may make arrangements to pay certain recurring bills from your checking, money market, savings, and accounts other than passbook savings.
  • Electronic check conversion. You may authorize a merchant or other payee to make a one-time electronic payment from your checking account using information from your check to pay for purchases or pay bills.
  • Electronic returned check charge. You may authorize a merchant or other payee to initiate an electronic funds transfer to collect a charge in the event a check is returned for insufficient funds.

Please also see Limitations on frequency of transfers section regarding limitations that apply to savings accounts.

The Banking Connection Telephone Transfers - types of transfers and dollar limitations - You may access your account by telephone 24 hours a day at 1-800-869-3423 using your personal identification number, a touch tone phone, your account numbers, and social security number, to:

  • transfer funds from checking to checkingtransfer funds from checking to savings
  • transfer funds from savings to checking
  • transfer funds from savings to savings
    • you may transfer no more than $9,999.99 per transfer
  • make payments from checking to loan accounts with us
  • make payments from savings to loan accounts with us
  • get information about:
    • the account balance of checking accounts
    • the account balance of savings accounts

Please also see Limitations on frequency of transfers section regarding limitations that apply to telephone transfers.

ATM Transfers - types of transfers, dollar limitations, and charges - You may access your account(s) by ATM using your ATM card and personal identification number or debit card and personal identification number, to:

  • make deposits to checking or savings account(s) with an ATM card or debit card
    • there is a $2,500.00 deposit limit at ATMs we do not own or operate
  • get cash withdrawals from checking account(s) with an ATM card
    • you may withdraw no more than $500.00 per card, per day unless disclosed differently
  • get cash withdrawals from checking account(s) with a debit card
    • you may withdraw no more than $500.00 per card, per day unless disclosed differently
  • get cash withdrawals from savings account(s) with an ATM card
    • you may withdraw no more than $500.00 per card, per day unless disclosed differently
  • get cash withdrawals from savings account(s) with a debit card
    • you may withdraw no more than $500.00 per card, per day unless disclosed differently
  • transfer funds from savings to checking account(s) with an ATM card or debit card
  • transfer funds from checking to savings account(s) with an ATM card or debit card
  • get information about:
    • the account balance of your checking or savings accounts

Please refer to our separate fee schedule for information regarding charges at ATMs we do not own or operate.

Some of these services may not be available at all terminals.

Please also see Limitations on frequency of transfers section regarding limitations that apply to ATM transfers.

Types of ATM Card Point-of-Sale Transactions - You may access your checking or savings (if applicable) account(s), to purchase goods (in person), pay for services (in person), and get cash from a merchant, if the merchant permits, or from a participating financial institution.

Point-of-Sale Transactions - dollar limitations and charges - Using your card:

  • you may not exceed $500.00 in transactions per day unless disclosed differently
  • there may be a charge per transaction; please see our separate fee schedule

Types of Debit Card Point-of-Sale Transactions - You may access your checking account(s), to purchase goods (in person, online, or by phone), pay for services (in person, online, or by phone), get cash from a merchant, if the merchant permits, or from a participating financial institution, and do anything that a participating merchant will accept.

Point-of-Sale Transactions - frequency and dollar limitations and charges - Using your card:

  • you may make no more than 25 transactions per day
  • you may not exceed $2500.00 in transactions per day unless disclosed differently
  • there may be a charge per transaction; please see our separate fee schedule

Please also see Limitations on frequency of transfers section regarding limitations that apply to debit card transactions.

Currency Conversion and Cross-Border Transaction Fees. If you initiate a transaction with your debit card in a currency other than US Dollars, Mastercard will convert the charge into a US Dollar amount. The Mastercard currency conversion procedure is based on rates observed in the wholesale market or, where applicable, on government-mandated rates. The currency conversion rate Mastercard generally uses is the rate for the applicable currency that is in effect on the day the transaction occurred. However, in limited situations, particularly where Mastercard transaction processing is being delayed, Mastercard may instead use the rate for the applicable currency in effect on the day the transaction is processed.

Mastercard charges us a Currency Conversion Assessment of 20 basis points (.2% of the transaction) for performing the currency conversion. In addition, Mastercard charges us an Issuer Cross-Border Assessment of 90 basis points (.9% of the transaction) on all cross-border transactions regardless of whether there is a currency conversion. As a result, we charge you a Currency Conversion fee of .2% and a Cross-Border Transaction fee of .9%. The Cross-Border Transaction fee is charged on all crossborder transactions regardless of whether there is a currency conversion. A crossborder transaction is a transaction that occurs at a card acceptance location in a different country from the country in which the card was issued. This means a crossborder transaction can occur even though the transaction is made when you are not in a foreign country. For example, a transaction made online with a foreign merchant is a cross-border transaction even though made while you are physically in the United States.

Online Banking Computer Transfers - types of transfers - You may access your account(s) by computer using your user ID, password, and internet access to www.ecsb.com, to:

  • transfer funds from checking to checking
  • transfer funds from checking to savings
  • transfer funds from savings to checking
  • transfer funds from savings to savings
  • make payments from checking to loan accounts with us
  • make payments from checking to third parties
  • make payments from checking to third parties (bill payment)
    • please refer to our separate disclosures for information regarding terms and conditions for Online Banking and bill payment transactions
  • make payments from savings to loan accounts with us
  • get information about:
    •  the account balance of checking and savings accounts and other account information


Please also see Limitations on frequency of transfers section regarding limitations that apply to computer transfers.

Mobile Banking Transfers - types of transfers - You may access your account(s) through the browser on your cell or mobile phone at www.ecsb.com and using your user identification, password, and multifactor authentication, to:

  • transfer funds from checking to checking
  • transfer funds from checking to savings
  • transfer funds from savings to checking
  • transfer funds from savings to savings
  • make payments from checking to loan account(s) with us
  • make payments from checking to third parties (bill payment)
  • make payments from savings to loan account(s) with us
  • get information about: 
    • the account balance of checking account(s)
    • deposits to checking accounts
    • withdrawals from checking accounts
    • the account balance of savings account(s)
    • deposits to savings accounts
    • withdrawals from savings accounts
Please also see Limitations on frequency of transfers section regarding limitations that apply to computer transfers.

Limitations on frequency of transfers. In addition to those limitations on transfers elsewhere described, if any, the following limitations apply:
  • For security reasons, we may limit the number of electronic funds transfers. FEES
  • We do not charge for direct deposits to any type of account.
Except as indicated elsewhere, we do not charge for these electronic fund transfers.

ATM Operator/Network Fees. When you use an ATM not owned by us, you may be charged a fee by the ATM operator or any network used (and you may be charged a fee for a balance inquiry even if you do not complete a fund transfer).
DOCUMENTATION
Terminal transfers. You can get a receipt at the time you make a transfer to or from your account using an automated teller machine or point-ofsale terminal. However, you may not get a receipt if the amount of the transfer is $15 or less.

Preauthorized credits. If you have arranged to have direct deposits made to your account at least once every 60 days from the same person or company, you can call us at (617) 354-7700 or 24 Hour Banking Connectionsm at 1-800- 869-3423 to find out whether or not the deposit has been made.

Periodic statements. You will get a monthly account statement from us for your checking and savings accounts.

For passbook accounts, if the only possible electronic transfers to or from your account are preauthorized credits, we do not send periodic statements. You may bring your passbook to us and we will record any electronic deposits that were made since the last time you brought in your passbook.
PREAUTHORIZED PAYMENTS

Right to stop payment and procedure for doing so. If you have told us in advance to make regular payments out of your account, you can stop any of these payments. Here is how:
  • Call or write us at the telephone number or address listed in this disclosure in time for us to receive your request 3 business days or more before the payment is scheduled to be made. If you call, we may also require you to put your request in writing and get it to us within 14 days after you call. Please refer to our separate fee schedule for the amount we will charge you for each stop-payment order you give.
Notice of varying amounts. If these regular payments may vary in amount, the person you are going to pay will tell you, 10 days before each payment, when it will be made and how much it will be. (You may choose instead to get this notice only when the payment would differ by more than a certain amount from the previous payment, or when the amount would fall outside certain limits that you set.)

Liability for failure to stop payment of preauthorized transfer. If you order us to stop one of these payments 3 business days or more before the transfer is scheduled, and we do not do so, we will be liable for your losses or damages.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION’S LIABILITY

Liability for failure to make transfers. If we do not complete a transfer to or from your account on time or in the correct amount according to our agreement with you, we will be liable for your losses or damages. However, there are some exceptions. We will not be liable, for instance:
  1. If, through no fault of ours, you do not have enough money in your account to make the transfer.
  2. If you have an overdraft line and the transfer would go over the credit limit.
  3. If the automated teller machine where you are making the transfer does not have enough cash.
  4. If the terminal or system was not working properly and you knew about the breakdown when you started the transfer.
  5. If circumstances beyond our control (such as fire or flood) prevent the transfer, despite reasonable precautions that we have taken.
  6. There may be other exceptions stated in our agreement with you.
CONFIDENTIALITY

We will disclose information to third parties about your account or the transfers you make:
  1. where it is necessary for completing transfers; or
  2. in order to verify the existence and condition of your account for a third party, such as a credit bureau or merchant; or
  3. in order to comply with government agency or court orders; or
  4. if you give us written permission.
UNAUTHORIZED TRANSFERS
(a) Consumer liability.
  • Generally. Tell us AT ONCE if you believe your card and/or code has been lost or stolen, or if you believe that an electronic fund transfer has been made without your permission using information from your check. Telephoning is the best way of keeping your possible losses down. You could lose up to $50 if someone used your card and/or code without your permission. Also, if your statement shows transfers that you did not make, including those made by card, code or other means, tell us at once. If you do not tell us within 60 days after the statement was mailed to you, you may not get back the money you lost (up to $50) after the 60 days if we can prove that we could have stopped someone from taking the money if you had told us in time. If a good reason (such as a long trip or a hospital stay) kept you from telling us, we will extend the time period.
  • Additional Limits on Liability for Mastercard®-branded Debit Card. You will not be liable for any unauthorized transactions using your Mastercard®- branded Debit Card if: (i) you can demonstrate that you have exercised reasonable care in safeguarding your card from the risk of loss or theft, and (ii) upon becoming aware of a loss or theft, you promptly report the loss or theft to us. Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated.
(b) Contact in event of unauthorized transfer. If you believe your card and/or code has been lost or stolen, call or write us at the telephone number or address listed in this disclosure. You should also call the number or write to the address listed in this disclosure if you believe a transfer has been made using the information from your check without your permission.

ERROR RESOLUTION NOTICE

In Case of Errors or Questions About Your Electronic Transfers, Call or Write us at the telephone number or address listed in this disclosure, as soon as you can, if you think your statement or receipt is wrong or if you need more information about a transfer listed on the statement or receipt. We must hear from you no later than 60 days after we sent the FIRST statement on which the problem or error appeared.
  1. Tell us your name and account number (if any).
  2. Describe the error or the transfer you are unsure about, and explain as clearly as you can why you believe it is an error or why you need more information.
  3. Tell us the dollar amount of the suspected error. If you tell us orally, we may require that you send us your complaint or question in writing within 10 business days.
We will determine whether an error occurred within 10 business days (20 business days if the transfer involved a new account) after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. If we need more time, however, we may take up to 45 days (90 days if the transfer involved a new account, a point-ofsale transaction, or a foreign-initiated transfer) to investigate your complaint or question. If we decide to do this, we will credit your account within 10 business days (20 business days if the transfer involved a new account) for the amount you think is in error, so that you will have the use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation. If we ask you to put your complaint or question in writing and we do not receive it within 10 business days, we may not credit your account. Your account is considered a new account for the first 30 days after the first deposit is made, unless each of you already has an established account with us before this account is opened.

We will tell you the results within three business days after completing our investigation. If we decide that there was no error, we will send you a written explanation.

You may ask for copies of the documents that we used in our investigation.
 
EAST CAMBRIDGE SAVINGS BANK
292 CAMBRIDGE STREET
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02141
Business Days: Monday through Friday
Excluding Federal Holidays and days the bank is not open for business
Phone: (617) 354-7700
MORE DETAILED INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

YOUR ABILITY TO WITHDRAW FUNDS

This policy statement applies to all deposit accounts.

Our policy is to make funds from your cash and check deposits available to you on the first business day after the day we receive your deposit. Electronic direct deposits will be available on the day we receive the deposit. Once the funds are available, you can withdraw them in cash and we will use the funds to pay checks that you have written. 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 a check for you that is drawn on another bank, we may withhold the availability of a corresponding amount of funds that are already in your account. Those funds will be available at the time funds from the check we cashed would have been available if you had deposited it.
 
CASH WITHDRAWAL LIMITATION

For case-by-case delays, we place certain limitations on withdrawals in cash. In general, $300 of a deposit is available for withdrawal in cash on the first business day after the day of deposit. In addition, a total of $450 of other funds becoming available on a given day is available for withdrawal in cash at or after 5:00 PM on that day. Any remaining funds will be available for withdrawal in cash on the following business day.
 
LONGER DELAYS MAY APPLY

Case-by-case delays. In some cases, we will not make all of the funds that you deposit by check available to you on the first business day after the day of your deposit. Depending on the type of check that you deposit, funds may not be available until the second business day after the day of your deposit. The first $300 of your deposits, however, will be available on the first business day. If we are not going to make all of the funds from your deposit available on the first business day, 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 to 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 us when the funds will be available.

Safeguard exceptions. In addition, funds you deposit by check may be delayed for a longer period under the following circumstances:
  • We believe a check you deposit will not be paid.
  • You deposit checks totaling more than $5,525 on any one day.
  • You redeposit a check that has been returned unpaid.
  • You have overdrawn your account repeatedly in the last six months.
  • There is an emergency, such as failure of computer or communications 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. They will generally be available no later than the seventh business day after the day of your deposit.
 
SPECIAL RULES FOR NEW ACCOUNTS

If you are a new customer, the following special rules will apply during the first 30 days your account is open. Funds from electronic direct deposits to your account will be available on the day we receive the deposit. Funds from deposits of cash, wire transfers, and the first $5,525 of a day’s total deposits of cashier’s, certified, teller’s, traveler’s, and federal, state and local government checks will be available on the first business day after the day of your deposit if the deposit meets certain conditions. For example, the checks must be payable to you (and you may have to use a special deposit slip). The excess over $5,525 will be available on the ninth business day after the day of your deposit. If your deposit of these checks (other than a U.S. Treasury check) is not made in person to one of our employees, the first $5,525 will not be available until the second business day after the day of your deposit. Funds from all other check deposits will be available on the 7 business day after the day of your deposit.
 
DEPOSITS AT AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINES

Funds from any deposits (cash or checks) made at automated teller machines (ATMs) will not be available until the second business day after the day of your deposit. All ATMs that we own or operate are identified as our machines.
 
REMOTE/MOBILE DEPOSITS

Funds from your deposits made from a mobile or scanner device will not be available until the second business day after the day of your deposit.
 
SUBSTITUTE CHECKS AND YOUR RIGHTS

As our customer we think it's important for you to know about substitute checks. The following Substitute Check Disclosure provides information about substitute checks and your rights. So you will recognize substitute checks when you receive them, we have included a copy of the front side of a substitute check along with an explanation of the substitute check's components.
 
What is a substitute check? 

To make check processing faster, federal law permits banks to replace original checks with “substitute checks.” These checks are similar in size to original checks with a slightly reduced image of the front and back of the original check. The front of a substitute check states: “This is a legal copy of your check. You can use it the same way you would use the original check.” You may use a substitute check as proof of payment just like the original check.

Some or all of the checks that you receive back from us may be substitute checks. This notice describes rights you have when you receive substitute checks from us. The rights in this notice do not apply to original checks or to electronic debits to your account. However, you have rights under other law with respect to those transactions.

What are my rights regarding substitute checks?

In certain cases, federal law provides a special procedure that allows you to request a refund for losses you suffer if a substitute check is posted to your account (for example, if you think that we withdrew the wrong amount from your account or that we withdrew money from your account more than once for the same check). The losses you may attempt to recover under this procedure may include the amount that was withdrawn from your account and fees that were charged as a result of the withdrawal (for example, bounced check fees).

The amount of your refund under this procedure is limited to the amount of your loss or the amount of the substitute check, whichever is less. You also are entitled to interest on the amount of your refund if your account is an interest-bearing account. If your loss exceeds the amount of the substitute check, you may be able to recover additional amounts under other law. If you use this procedure, you may receive up to $2,500 of your refund (plus interest if your account earns interest) within 10 business days after we received your claim and the remainder of your refund (plus interest if your account earns interest) not later than 45 calendar days after we received your claim.

We may reverse the refund (including any interest on the refund) if we later are able to demonstrate that the substitute check was correctly posted to your account.

How do I make a claim for a refund?

If you believe that you have suffered a loss relating to a substitute check that you received and that was posted to your account, please contact us at:
 
East Cambridge Savings Bank
292 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02141
(617)-354-7700

You must contact us within 60 calendar days of the date that we mailed (or otherwise delivered by a means to which you agreed) the substitute check in question or the account statement showing that the substitute check was posted to your account, whichever is later. We will extend this time period if you were not able to make a timely claim because of extraordinary circumstances.

Your claim must include —
  • A description of why you have suffered a loss (for example, you think the amount withdrawn was incorrect);
  • An estimate of the amount of your loss;
  • An explanation of why the substitute check you received is insufficient to confirm that you suffered a loss; and
  • A copy of the substitute check or the following information to help us identify the substitute check: the check number, the amount of the check, the date of the check, and the name of the person to whom you wrote the check.
SUBSTITUTE CHECK IMAGE

Below is an image of a sample substitute check. The numbers listed below the image correspond with the numbers on or near the substitute check image and the corresponding text explains the various components of a substitute check.
These numbers correspond with the numbers on the Substitute Check Image:
  1. An image of the original check appears in the upper right-hand corner of the substitute check.
  2. A substitute check is the same size as a standard business check.
  3. The information in asterisks relates to the “reconverting bank”—the financial institution that created the substitute check.
  4. The information in brackets (appears sideways facing check image) relates to the “truncating bank”—the financial institution that took the original check out of the check processing system.
  5. The Legal Legend states: This is a LEGAL COPY of your check. You can use it the same way you would use the original check.
  6. The MICR lines at the bottom of the image of the original and at the bottom of the substitute check are the same except for the “4” at the beginning of the MICR line on the substitute check, which indicates that it is a substitute check being moved forward for collection purposes. It is also possible for the MICR line on the substitute check to begin with a “5” if the item is being returned. The rest of the MICR line is the same as the original check to ensure that it is processed as though it were the original.

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