Available Balance Your account’s Available Balance is our most current record of the amount of money in your account that is available for use or withdrawal (subject to the additional limitations and restrictions set forth in this Agreement, including as further explained in the Disclosures and Schedules, including without limitation, “What You Need to Know About Overdraft Protection”; “Electronic Fund Transfers Agreement and Disclosures”; and “Funds Availability Policy”). The account’s Available Balance includes adjustments for factors such as restrictions or holds placed on deposited funds in your account, and restrictions or holds placed on funds in your account as a result of preauthorization holds in connection with the use of your Debit Card. Each of these restrictions and holds affects (reduces) the availability of funds in your account for use or withdrawal, including without limitation, to pay for checks drawn on your account, debits, Debit Card purchases, ACH transactions, ATM withdrawals, fees, and any other withdrawal or payment transactions on your account. We use the account’s Available Balance to authorize your transactions during the day, to pay your transactions in our nightly / daily processing, in determining whether the account has been overdrawn, and in assessing fees in connection with any overdrafts. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU MAY STILL OVERDRAW YOUR ACCOUNT EVEN THOUGH THE ACCOUNT’S AVAILABLE BALANCE APPEARS TO SHOW THERE ARE SUFFICIENT FUNDS TO COVER A TRANSACTION THAT YOU WANT TO MAKE. Your account’s Available Balance may not reflect every transaction you have initiated or previously authorized, including without limitation, your outstanding checks, automatic bill payments that you have authorized, authorized automatic withdrawals (such as recurring Debit Card transactions, transfers, and ACH transactions that we have not received for payment or received too close to our nightly/daily processing to include in your account’s Available Balance), the final amounts of Debit Card purchases (e.g., we may authorize a purchase amount prior to a tip you add or a gasoline purchase that exceeds the authorization amount). For example, an outstanding check will not be reflected in your Available Balance until it is presented to us and paid from your account. Your account’s Available Balance also may not reflect recent deposits to your account that are subject to our Funds Availability Policy. Therefore, in order to avoid fees and/or overdrawing your account, it is imperative that you take into account the availability of funds in your account under the terms of this Agreement and keep track of each deposit, use, transaction, and withdrawal (including without limitation, checks drawn on your account, debits, Debit Card purchases, ACH transactions, ATM withdrawals, fees, and any other withdrawal or payment transactions on your account), because you as the account Owner(s) is/are in the best position to know each of the activities occurring (or that have been scheduled and/or authorized to occur) on your account, and therefore, the funds available for use or withdrawal. Even though your account’s Available Balance may not reflect each of these transactions, you must insure that, at all times, your Available Balance is sufficient to pay your authorized transactions.
a. Preauthorization Holds. As more fully explained in the Preauthorization Holds paragraph of the “Electronic Fund Transfers Agreement and Disclosures” in the Disclosures and Schedules, when you use your Debit Card at certain merchants, the merchant may request a preauthorization hold from us in an amount that is the exact amount of the transaction, is less than the anticipated transaction amount or in an amount the merchant believes you might spend with them. The preauthorization hold may remain in place on your account for up to three (3) days, even after the transaction has been posted to your account. In some cases, the hold on Debit Card transaction is released prior to the merchant presenting the transaction for payment. When we receive transactions after the hold is released we must pay the merchant. These preauthorization holds affect (reduce) the availability of funds in your account, including without limitation, to pay for checks drawn on your account, debits and Debit Card purchases, ACH transactions, ATM withdrawals, fees, and any other withdrawal or payment transactions on your account. You cannot access funds that are subject to a preauthorization hold since they are not available funds. You must ensure that, at all times, sufficient funds are available (including to cover any preauthorization holds placed on the account) and remain in your account to pay for your Debit Card transactions. An authorization is not an indication or a guarantee that a purchase will not result in additional fees being charged to or debited from your account when the transaction is posted to your account. For example, if a preauthorization occurs, and subsequent transactions are posted to your account before the pending transaction (that was the subject of the preauthorization) is posted, causing the account’s Available Balance to fall below $0, a fee will be assessed when the pending transaction does post to the account (and fees may also be assessed for the additional intervening transaction(s) to the extent they resulted in a negative Available Balance at the time they posted to the account). For example, you purchase gasoline from a merchant and the merchant obtains an authorization for $1 and you purchase $50 in gasoline. When the item is received it is for an amount greater than the authorization. If the amount of the transaction causes the Available Balance to fall below $0, a fee will be assessed.
