Share Draft Checking
Tulsa Municipal Employees FCU boasts
a truly great checking account service. When other financial institutions make
you pay to have a checking account with them, it's time to check into a Tulsa Municipal Employees FCU
Share Draft Checking account.
- No Monthly Fees
- Overdraft Protection Available
Sign up for overdraft protection and protect yourself from bouncing a check.
You might also need to borrow an extended amount of money. Overdraft Protection
allows transfers from savings or accesses a line of credit. It silently waits
for your activation when you need it most.
NEW! - CHECK21 Information
What is Check 21?
The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, or Check 21, was signed into law on October 28,
2003, and goes into effect on October 28, 2004. The act is expected to change the way the
banking industry processes checks.
Simply put, Check 21 allows financial institutions to provide a substitute check, or IRD
(Image Replacement Document), instead of the original check for processing.
Why was Check 21 passed?
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, temporarily shut down the nation's airlines,
delaying the payment of millions of checks. Check 21 should increase the efficiency of the
check clearing system by allowing banks to process checks electronically, thereby eliminating
the dependency on physically transporting checks around the country.
What is a substitute check?
To make check processing faster, federal law permits banks to replace original checks with
"substitute checks." These checks are similar in size to original checks with a slightly
reduced image of the front and back of the original check. The front of a substitute check
states: "This is a LEGAL COPY of your check. You can use it the same way you would use the
original check." You may use a substitute check as proof of payment just like the original
check.
Some or all of the checks that you receive back from us may be substitute checks. This notice
describes rights you have when you receive substitute checks from us. The rights in this notice
do not apply to original checks or to electronic debits to your account. However, you have
rights under other law with respect to those transactions.
How does Check 21 affect my account?
The most significant difference you will encounter with Check 21 will be in your bank
statement-whether you have a commercial or consumer checking or Money Market account.
Check 21 does not require a bank to accept electronic images; however, the bank must accept
IRDs instead of original checks when presented.
As a result, if you have checks returned with your statement, you may now start to receive
IRDs in your statement instead of the original checks. In this matter, the bank has no option.
If an IRD is presented to us, there is no way we can obtain the original check to return to you.
For Check Image statements and for viewing check images online you may see an image of an IRD
instead of the original check.
What are some benefits and assurances of Check 21?
In addition to increasing the efficiency of the check clearing system, a long term benefit of
electronic payment processing will be improved funds availability. The act also supplies added
consumer protection by requiring banks to warrant that no party will be asked to make payment
on an IRD and an original check. In other words, by submitting an IRD, a presenting bank
guarantees that the IRD meets all legal requirements and that the receiving bank will also not
receive the original check for payment.
What are my rights regarding substitute checks?
In certain cases, federal law provides a special procedure that allows you to request a refund
for losses you suffer if a substitute check is posted to your account (for example, if you think
we withdrew the wrong amount from your account or that we withdrew money from your account more
than once for the same check). The losses you may attempt to recover under this procedure may
include the amount that was withdrawn from your account and fees that were charged as a result
of the withdrawal for example, bounced check fees).
The amount of your refund under this procedure is limited to the amount of your loss or the
amount of the substitute check, whichever is less. You are also entitled to interest on the
amount of your refund if your account is an interest-bearing account. If your loss exceeds the
amount of the substitute check, you may be able to recover additional amounts under other laws.
If you use this procedure, you may receive up to $2,500 of your refund (plus interest if
your account earns interest) within 10 business days after we received your claim and the
remainder of your refund (plus interest if your account earns interest) not later than 45
calendar days after we received your claim.
We may reverse the refund (including any interest on the refund) if we later are able to
demonstrate that the substitute check was correctly posted to your account.
How do I make a claim for a refund?
If you believe that you have suffered a loss relating to a substitute check that you received
and that was posted to your account, please contact us at 918-582-7573. You must contact us
within 40 calendar days of the date that we mailed (or otherwise delivered by a means to which
you agreed) the substitute check in question or the account statement showing that the
substitute check was posted to your account, whichever is later. We will extend this time
period if you were not able to make a timely claim because of extraordinary circumstances.
When calling to submit a claim, you must provide the following information:
- A description of why you have suffered a loss (for example, you think the amount withdrawn was incorrect);
- An estimate of the amount of your loss;
- An explanation of why the substitute check you received is insufficient to confirm that you suffered a loss; and
- The following information to help us identify the substitute check: identifying information, for example the check number, the name of the person to whom you wrote the check, the amount of the check. A copy of the substitute check may also be required.
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