What does Courtesy Pay℠ cost?
There are no additional costs associated with the overdraft protection service unless you use Courtesy Paysm. Checks drawn up to your Courtesy Pay limit will generally not be automatically returned unpaid, but will be considered for payment using your Courtesy Pay limit. This can save you the high costs and embarrassment associated with returned check fees charged by merchants and retailers. For each overdraft we pay on your eligible checking account, we will charge the standard per item overdraft fee set forth in our Common Features Fee Schedule (currently $36.00). In addition, a Continuous OD (Overdraft) Fee of $35.00 will be imposed every five (5) business days until you bring your account positive. This fee is applied to your account when it has been overdrawn for five (5) or more consecutive business days. A maximum of five (5) charges or $175 will be charged for each time period your account remains in a negative status. Other fees can lead to a negative balance, which can lead to additional fees. This fee is in addition to Overdraft Item and NSF Return Item fees that may apply to your account for each overdraft or returned item. You can avoid this fee by promptly covering your overdraft – deposit or transfer enough available funds to cover your overdraft, plus any fees we assessed, within the first 5 consecutive business days that your account is overdrawn.
Do I need to apply for this service?
No. Courtesy Paysm is a discretionary service and may be applied to any qualifying checking account that meets the requirements for good standing.
What is my Courtesy Pay limit?
Personal checking* $750
Business checking* $1,500
Not all checking accounts are eligible and some restrictions apply to eligible accounts. Courtesy Pay is not available to account holders less than 18 years of age. Your Courtesy Pay limit will include standard NSF/overdraft fees that are charged to your account. Please note that both per item and Continuous Overdraft Fees count toward your Courtesy Paysm limit. We may in our sole discretion limit the number of accounts eligible for Courtesy Paysm to one account per household or per taxpayer identification number. Some restrictions apply and you should read our Courtesy Pay Disclosure for more information.
What if I go beyond my Courtesy Pay limit?
Overdrafts beyond your established Courtesy Pay limit, or if you do not maintain your account in good standing as defined in our Courtesy Pay Disclosure, may result in checks being returned to the payee. The fee for paying an item is the same as for returning one. A standard NSF/overdraft fee will be charged and assessed to your account for each item. We will continue to notify you electronically (if we receive your consent) or by mail of all paid and returned overdrafts, and of our fees for these overdrafts.
How quickly must I repay Courtesy Pay?
You need to bring your account balance positive promptly, or upon our demand. In addition, a Continuous OD (Overdraft) Fee of $35.00 will be imposed every five (5) business days until you bring your account positive. This fee is applied to your account when it has been overdrawn for five (5) or more consecutive business days. A maximum of five (5) charges or $175 will be charged for each time period your account remains in a negative status. Other fees can lead to a negative balance, which can lead to additional fees. If you are not able to repay as we require, you will receive a letter informing you of your options. If, after a period of time, your account has not been brought into a positive balance, we will have no option but to close your account and take steps to recover the funds.
What types of accounts are eligible for Courtesy Pay protection?
The account types that are eligible for Courtesy Pay Service are: Personal Checking, NOW Checking, and Business Checking.
What if Courtesy Pay is not for me?
If you feel this service is not for you, please let us know. We have other options that may help to cover inadvertent overdrafts, such as lines of credit and transfers between accounts. We would be happy to discuss these alternatives with you.
What type of transactions are included with Courtesy Pay Overdraft Protection?
The convenience of Courtesy Pay is available for checks and other transactions made using your checking account number, automatic bill payments, ATM transactions and everyday debit card transactions initiated for payment against your checking account (if opted in). Rather than automatically declining the transactions that qualify when there are insufficient funds in your account, we will consider payment of reasonable overdrafts.
What is the Payment Order of Items?
The available balance is the amount of funds you can use for withdrawal from your account without causing an overdraft. The order in which you make withdrawals from your account may not be the same as the order in which those transactions are posted. For example, when you write a check to pay a merchant, the merchant may not present the check to us for payment until several days later. Sometimes funds in your account are not available to cover your checks and other items, and it may appear that you have enough funds in your account to cover a debit but still get an overdraft fee on the debit. This can occur when your account balance included funds that were not available at the time we processed the debit. Funds subject to a hold, dispute or legal process are not available funds.
When a transaction is “posted,” the dollar value of that transaction is added to or subtracted from the balance of your account. For example, POS (Point of Sale) debit card transactions reduce your available balance at the time you authorize your purchase. Overdraft fees (if applicable) are assessed on POS debit card transactions at the time a POS becomes final, which in some cases may take several days. If your account does not have a sufficient available balance, the posting order can impact the number of overdraft fees you incur. When we process multiple transactions in a single business day, we may post items in any order. We generally group transactions in categories by type of transaction and post in the order they are presented (time stamped). The following are the most common categories and types:
- Deposits that have become available to you post first
- We then may charge for any debt owed to us. In most cases, fees related to transactions would be assessed the day of the transaction and would be deducted from the available balance after the transaction is completed
- We pay Debit items in the following order:
- Wire transfers, ATM and POS debit card transactions, in-person withdrawals and checks cashed at a Berkshire Bank branch, internal transfers to other Berkshire Bank accounts, payments and transfers initiated via Online Banking, and returned deposited items
- ACH debits that you have preauthorized then post lowest to highest dollar amount
- Checks not presented in-person at a Berkshire Bank branch post lowest to highest dollar amount
- We then typically assess any Overdraft Fee, NSF Return Item Fee (Insufficient Funds), UAF Overdraft Fee (Uncollected/Unavailable Funds Fee) on the day the debit caused the overdraft or returned item. More than one overdraft fee may be charged against the account per day, not to exceed 5 per day. Continuous OD (overdraft) fees are assessed on the fifth business day that the balance has been overdrawn. The fee would be deducted from the available balance at that time
- Service Charges that will be assessed at the end of your statement cycle may include a Monthly Maintenance Service Charge, Below Minimum Balance Maintenance Fee, Returned Mail Fee or Regulation D Violation Fee (If applicable)
We may give preference to any fees, charges, checks, debits or other items payable to us. However, if for some reason we must manually post your payments, items presented for payment may be paid in an order we select. If you are expecting a credit to your account by ACH, you should not schedule a debit to occur on the same day as your ACH credit may not be received until after your debit, resulting in an overdraft. For example, an ACH withdrawal transaction may be held for up to two business days before it posts to your account. We may change our posting order at any time, but we will notify you if such a change may affect you adversely. On your account statement we do not necessarily report debits and credits in the order that we posted them to your account. If an item is presented without sufficient available funds in your account to pay it, we may, at our discretion, pay the item (creating an overdraft) or return the item (NSF). The amounts of the overdraft and NSF fees are disclosed elsewhere. We encourage you to make careful records and practice good account management. This will help you to avoid writing checks or drafts without sufficient available funds and incurring the resulting fees.
For more information, call 1-800-773-5601, or stop into any Berkshire Bank office.
Important:
To avoid an overdraft, you can stop any ATM/debit card transaction by pressing “cancel” at any time prior to completing a withdrawal, transfer or purchase. We are not promising to always pay your overdrafts with this discretionary service, not all accounts are eligible, and some restrictions do apply.