What are Overdraft (NSF) Fees?
Overdraft or Non-sufficient Funds (NSF) fees are charges that occur when more money is demanded from a checking account than the account has in it. If a person writes a check or makes a debit card purchase, or if a subscription or service attempts to draw funds from an account, and the account balance is not sufficient to cover the whole amount, then a financial institution may choose to charge a fee for the transaction. Some financial institutions will charge the fee even if they decline the transaction.
Where Can I Get a Checking Account with No Overdraft Fees?
As a member of InTouch Credit Union, you’re in luck! We eliminated overdraft fees for our members, so you won’t be charged for the occasional misstep. You have many checking account options that take you from the most basic account to a premier checking account (not to mention the “rewards” these consumer accounts offer), and a youth account to help our younger members grow up financially savvy. InTouch Credit Union does not charge a fee for the occasional “oops.” But even though your credit union does not charge NSF fees, you are not totally off the hook for every type of transaction that would overdraw your account.
How Do I Avoid NSF Fees Altogether?
While ITCU won’t charge you a specific fee for not having enough money in your account to cover a transaction you initiated, there can be fees associated with how a transaction that would overdraw your account is handled. If you have chosen to have overdrafts covered with funds from one of your other accounts at InTouch, you will not incur a fee when money is transferred to cover a transaction.
However, if your linked account also does not have enough funds to cover the transaction, Courtesy Pay may kick in on ACH, check and recurring debit card purchase, which would incur a $10 fee. Unless you have opted-in to Courtesy Pay, all one-time debit card purchases that exceed your account balance would be declined rather than be covered by Courtesy Pay and incur the fee.
The best way to avoid NSF fees is to know your balance on an ongoing basis and make sure that you are keeping track of outstanding checks and automatic payments for things like utilities and subscriptions. Mobile and online banking make this kind of management wonderfully easy. InTouch offers Digital Banking resources to help you stay connected to your accounts.
If you need help understanding or managing your spending, InTouch can help with that too. InTouch offers a wide variety of financial well-being resources on different platforms to make them as accessible as possible so our members are as prepared as can be to deal with the challenges of managing their money.
Still have questions? Contact us to get answers.
