
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. If you sign the signature card or open or continue to have your account with us, 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 and the laws of the state of Massachusetts (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:
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.
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. 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.
Bylaws
Our bylaws, which we may amend from time to time, establish basic rules about our credit union policies and operations, which affect your account and membership. You may obtain a copy of the bylaws on request. Our right to require you to give us notice of your intention to withdraw funds from your account is described in the bylaws. Unless we have agreed otherwise, you are not entitled to receive any original item after it is paid, although you may request that we send you an item(s) or a copy of an item(s). Dividends are based on current earnings and available earnings of the credit union, after providing for required reserves.
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 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 can be deducted directly from the account balance whenever sufficient funds are available. 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. This includes liability for our costs to collect the deficit including, to the extent permitted by law, our reasonable attorneys' fees.
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"). 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. 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 following business day that we are open.
Withdrawals
Unless clearly indicated otherwise on the account records, any of you, acting alone, who signs in the space designated for signatures on the signature card 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 signing the signature card to indorse any item payable to you or your order for deposit to this account or any other transaction with us. We may charge your account for a 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. We may refuse any withdrawal or transfer request which you attempt on forms not approved by us, by any method we do not specifically permit, which is greater in number than the frequency permitted, or which is for an amount greater or less than any withdrawal limitations. Even if we honor a nonconforming request, we may treat continued abuse of the stated limitations (if any) as your act of closing the account. We will use the date the transaction is completed by us (as opposed to the date you initiate it) to apply the frequency limitations. The fact that we may honor withdrawal requests that overdraw the available account balance does not obligate us to do so later. See the funds availability policy disclosure for information about when you can withdraw funds you deposit. For those accounts for 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.
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.
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. T
Revocable Trust Account - One or two of you (called trustees) may create such an account in trust for another. 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 for whom the trust was made, or that person's legal representative.
Business 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. We may require the governing body of the legal 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 legal entity.
Stop Payments
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. To be effective, your stop-payment 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, if you have an equal or greater right to withdraw from this account than the person who signed the item. A release of the stop-payment request may be made only by the person who initiated the stop-payment order. Our stop-payment cutoff time is one hour alter the opening of the next banking day alter the banking day on which we receive the item. Additional limitations on our obligation to stop payment are provided by law (e.g., we paid the item in cash or we certified the item).
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. Unless a different limitation is disclosed in writing, we restrict the number of transfers from a savings account to another account or to third parties, to a maximum of six per month (less the number of "preauthorized transfers" during the month). Other account transfer restrictions may be described elsewhere.
Amendments and Termination
We may change our bylaws and any term of this agreement. Rules governing changes in rates are provided separately. For other changes we will give you reasonable notice in writing or by ~ any other method permitted by law. We may close this account if your membership in the credit union terminates, or by giving reasonable notice to you and tender of the account balance personally or by mail. At our option, we may suspend your rights to member services if you violate the terms of this agreement. You must keep us informed of your current address at all times. Notice from us to anyone of you is notice to all of you.
Statements
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, forgeries, or any other errors 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.
Account Transfer
This account may not be transferred or assigned without our prior written consent.
Direct Deposits
If, in connection with a direct deposit plan, we deposit any amount in an 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 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.
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.
Right to Repayment of Indebtedness
You each agree that we may (without prior notice and when permitted by law) charge against and deduct from this account 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 charge the account, including any balance the due date for which we properly accelerate under the note. In addition to these contract rights, we may also have rights under a "statutory lien." A "lien" on property is a creditor's right to obtain ownership of the property in the event a debtor defaults on a debt. A "statutory lien" is one created by federal or state statute. If federal or state Law provides us with a statutory lien, then we are authorized to apply, without prior notice, your shares and dividends to any debt you owe us, in accord with the statutory lien. Neither our contract rights nor rights under a statutory lien 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 (but this does not affect our rights under any consensual security interest), 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 or draft when the dishonor occurs because we charge and deduct an amount you owe us from your account. You agree to hold us harmless from any claim arising as a result of our exercise of our right to repayment.
Authorized Signer
(Individual Accounts only) A single individual is the owner. The authorized signer is merely designated to conduct transactions on the owner's behalf. We undertake no obligation to monitor transactions to determine that they are on the owner's behalf.
Restrictive Legends
We are not required to honor any restrictive legend on checks you write unless we have agreed in writing to the restriction. Examples of restrictive legends are "must be presented within 90 days" or "not valid for more than $1,000.00."
Payment Order Of Items
The law permits us to pay items (such as checks or drafts) drawn on your account in any order. To assist you in handling your account with us, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process the items that you write. When processing items drawn on your account, our policy is to pay them according to the dollar amount. We pay the smallest items first. 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. Our payment policy minimizes the number of items that may result in an overdraft or NSF fee. If an item 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 (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 funds and incurring the resulting fees.
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.
Pledges
Unless we agree otherwise in writing, each owner of this account may pledge all or any part of the funds in it for any purpose to which we agree. Any pledge of this account must first be satisfied before the rights of any surviving account owner or account beneficiary become effective.
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 for which Fedwire is used, 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, 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. If we receive a credit to 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.
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 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
Your Ability To Withdraw Funds
This policy statement applies to all accounts. Our policy is to delay the availability of funds from your cash and check deposits. During the delay, you may not withdraw the funds in cash and we will not 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.
Determining The Availability Of A Deposit
The length of the delay is counted in business days from the day of your deposit. 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. The length of the delay varies depending on the type of deposit and is explained below.
Same-Day Availability Funds from electronic direct deposits to your account will be available on the day we receive the deposit.
Next-Day Availability Funds from the following deposits are available on the first business day after the day of your deposit:
If you do not make your deposit in person to one of our employees (for example, if you mail the deposit), funds from these deposits will be available on the second business day after the day we receive your deposit.
Second-Day Availability
Longer Delays May Apply:
Funds you deposit by check may be delayed for a longer period under the following circumstances:
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 7th business day after the day of your deposit.
Special Rules for New Accounts:
If you are a new member, 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 $5,000 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 deposit in person to an employee at the branch. The excess over $5,000 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 $5,000 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 9th business day after the day of your deposit.
Deposits at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
Funds from any deposits (cash or checks) made at automated teller machines (ATMs) will not be immediately available. Cash will be available on the first business day after the day of deposit. Checks will be available on the second business day after the day of your deposit.