Much of our relationship with our deposit customers is regulated by state and federal law, especially the law relating to negotiable instruments, the law regulating the methods of transferring property upon death and the rights of surviving spouses and dependents, the law pertaining to estate and other succession taxes, the law regarding electronic funds transfer, and the law regarding the availability of deposited funds. This body of law is too large and complex to be reproduced here.
The purpose of these pages is to:
(1) summarize the rules applicable to the more common transactions;
(2) establish rules to govern transactions or circumstances which the law does not regulate; and
(3) establish rules for certain events or transactions which the law already regulates but permits variation by agreement.
We may permit some variations from this standard agreement, but any such variations must be agreed to in writing either on our signature card for the account or in some other written form.
As used in this brochure, the word "we" means the financial institution and the word "you" means the account holder.
LIABILITY - Each of 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 that may be imposed. You authorize us to deduct these charges, as accrued, directly from the account balance. You also agree to pay additional reasonable charges we may impose for services you request which are not contemplated by this agreement. Each of you also agrees to be jointly and severally liable for any account deficit resulting from charges or overdrafts, whether caused by you or another authorized to withdraw from this account, and the costs we incur to collect the deficit including, to the extent permitted by law, our reasonable attorneys' fees.
DEPOSITS - Any items, other than cash, accepted for deposit (including items drawn "on us") will be given provisional credit only until collection is final (and 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 initiated by mail or outside depository until we actually record them. All transactions received after our "daily cut-off time" on a business day we are open, or received on a day in which we are not open for business, will be treated and recorded as if initiated on the next following business day that we are open.
WITHDRAWALS - Unless otherwise clearly indicated to the contrary, any one of you who signs in the space designated for signatures on the signature card, including authorized signers, may withdraw or transfer all or any part of the account balance at any time on forms approved by us. Each of you (until we receive written notice to the contrary) authorizes each other person signing this form to endorse any items payable to you or your order for deposit to this account or any other transaction with us. The fact that we may honor withdrawal request which overdraw the finally collected account balance does not obligate us to do so, unless required by law. Withdrawals will first be made from collected funds, and we may, unless prohibited by law or our written policy, refuse any withdrawal request against uncollected funds, even if our general practice is to the contrary. We reserve the right to refuse any withdrawal or transfer request which is attempted by any method not specifically permitted, which is for an amount less than any minimum withdrawal requirement, or which exceeds any frequency limitation. Even if we honor a nonconforming request, repeated abuse of the stated limitations (if any) may eventually force us to close this account. We will use the date a transaction is completed by us (as opposed to the day you initiate it) to apply the frequency limitations. On interest-bearing accounts other than time deposits, we reserve the right to require at least seven days' written notice before any withdrawal or transfer. Withdrawals from a time deposit prior to maturity or prior to the expiration of any notice period may be restricted and may be subject to penalty. See your notice of penalties for early withdrawal.
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. Individual Account - is owned by one person. Joint Account - With Survivorship (And Not As Tenants In Common) - is owned by two or more persons. Each of you intend that upon your death the balance in the account (subject to any previous pledge to which we have consented) 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. Joint Account - No Survivorship (As Tenants In Common) - is owned by two or more persons, but none of you intend (merely by opening this account) to create any right of survivorship in any other person. We encourage you to agree and tell us in writing of the percentage of the deposit contributed by each of you. This information will not, however, affect the "number of signatures" necessary for withdrawal. Revocable Trust Account - if two or more of you create such an account, you own the account jointly with survivorship. Beneficiaries acquire the right to withdraw only if: (1) all persons creating the account die, and (2) the beneficiary is then living. If two or more beneficiaries are named and survive the death of all persons creating the account, such beneficiaries will own this account in equal shares, without right of survivorship. The person(s) creating this account type reserve the right to: (1) change beneficiaries, (2) Change account types, and (3) withdraw all or part of the deposit at any time. Corporate, Partnership, and other Organizational Accounts - We will usually require a separate authorization form designating the person permitted and conditions required for withdrawal from any account in the name of a legal entity such as a partnership, corporation, or other organization. We will honor such authorization according to its terms until it is amended or terminated in writing by the governing body of such organization.
STOP-PAYMENTS - A stop-payment order must be given in the manner required by law, must be received in time to give us a reasonable opportunity to act on it, and must precisely identify the number, date and amount of the item, and the payee. We will honor a stop-payment request by the person who signed the particular item, and, by any other person, even though such other person did not sign the item, if such other person has an equal or greater right to withdraw from this account than the person who signed the item in question. A release of the stop-payment request may be made only by the person who initiated the stop-payment.
TELEPHONE TRANSFERS - A transfer of funds from this account to another account with us, by telephone, if otherwise permitted or arranged for, may be made by the same persons and under the same conditions generally applicable to withdrawals made in writing. We restrict the number of transfers from a savings account to another account, or third parties, to a maximum of six per month (less the number of certain "preauthorized transfers" during the month).
AMENDMENTS AND TERMINATION - From time to time we may amend any term of this agreement upon giving you reasonable notice in writing or by any other method permitted by law, including, in appropriate circumstances, posting reasonable notice to you and tender of the account balance personally or by mail. Notice from us to any one of you is notice to all of you.
STATEMENTS - If you do not notify us of an unauthorized signature or alteration within a reasonable time (not to exceed 14 days) after we send or make available to you your statement and items: (1) you cannot assert the unauthorized signature or alteration against us, even if we are unable to show a loss due to your failure, and (2) you cannot assert any unauthorized signatures or alterations by the same wrongdoer on items paid by us after the reasonable time mentioned above elapses, but before we receive your notice. We lose these protections if we fail to exercise ordinary care in paying an item with an unauthorized signature or alteration, unless you do not notify us of the problem within 60 days of when we send or make available to you the statement and items. You must report any other problem (e.g. erroneous statement or passbook entry, missing signature, unauthorized endorsement, etc.) within this 60-day period or lose your right to assert the problem against us.
ACCOUNT TRANSFER - This account may not be transferred or assigned without prior written consent.
DIRECT DEPOSIT - If, in connection with a direct deposit plan, we deposit any amount in this account which should have been returned to the Federal Government for any reason, you authorize us to deduct the amount of our liability to the Federal Government from this 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.
TEMPORARY ACCOUNT AGREEMENT - If this option is selected, this is a temporary account agreement. Each person who signs in the space designated for signatures on the signature card (except as indicated to the contrary) may transact business on this account. However, we may at some time in the future restrict or prohibit further use of this account if you fail to comply with the requirements we have imposed within a reasonable time.
SET-OFF - You each agree that we may (without prior notice and when permitted by law) set off the funds in this account against any due and payable debt owed to us now or in the future, by any of you having the right of withdrawal, to the extent of such persons' or legal entity's right to withdraw. If the debt arises from a note, "any due and payable debt" includes the total amount of which we are entitled to demand payment under the terms of the note at the time we set off, including any balance the due date for which we properly accelerate under the note. This right of set-off does not apply to this account if: (a) it is an Individual Retirement Account or other tax-deferred retirement account, or (b) the debt is created by a consumer credit transaction under a credit card plan, or (c) the debtor's right of withdrawal arises only 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 set-off.
FUNDS AVAILABILITY - This statement applies to all deposit accounts. Our policy is to make funds from your deposit 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 they are available, you can withdraw the funds 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 Saturday, Sunday, and Federal holidays. If you make a deposit before 4:00 P.M. 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 4:00 P.M. 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 you make a deposit at an ATM before 4:00 P.M. 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 at an ATM after 4:00 P.M. or on a day we are not open, we will consider that the deposit was made on the next business day we are open.
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 fifth business day after the day of your deposit. However, the first $100.00 of your deposits will be available on the first business day after we receive your deposit.
If we are not going to make all of the funds from your deposit available on the first business day after we receive your deposit, 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.
AUTHORIZED SIGNERS (Individual Accounts only) - An authorized signer is someone to whom you give all rights you have, now or in the future, to make withdrawals and deposits. Merely by designating an authorized signer you do not intend to give any ownership rights in the account.