The more you know—the less you pay.
Fees happen. But they don’t always have to. Here’s a cheat sheet to help you understand—and avoid—many common bank fees.
Overdraft fees
Overdraft fees happen when you spend more than you have in your checking account.
Overdraft fee
A $36 fee that’s charged when a transaction amount is more than your available balance and is paid with negative funds. If the original transaction amount is less than $5, we will not charge an overdraft fee.
Century First Finance pays overdrafts at its discretion, which means that we do not guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of transaction. If we do not authorize and pay an overdraft, your transaction will be declined or returned.
Unless you have overdraft protection, overdraft fees can be issued up to three times per day until you make a deposit to cover all outstanding transactions.
Overdraft fees may be assessed on checks, recurring debit card transactions, and ACH items. Also, if you have accepted overdraft coverage, ATM and one-time debit card transactions may generate overdraft fees.
Overdraft fee exceptions
Everyone makes mistakes—we get that. So, there are a few exceptions to overdraft fees, such as:
When you catch the overdraft before the daily deposit cut-off time and deposit or transfer enough to cover the overdraft
If the transaction that caused the overdraft is a one-time debit card transaction or an ATM transaction and you declined Overdraft Coverage at the time the transaction was authorized
If you overdraw your account by less than $5. Here are some examples of how that works:
Transactions Transaction amount Available balance Overdraft fee
Available balance — $2.00 —
Coffee purchase, debit card $3.00 -$1.00 No
Lunch purchase, debit card $4.00 -$5.00 No
Check 102 $87.00 -$92.00 Yes
Check 104 $4.00 -$96.00 No
Other fees
The best way to avoid account fees—like monthly maintenance fees—is to start with the right checking account or savings account for you. If you’ve done that, there are still a few others fees you should know about.
Paper statement fee
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ATM fees
You can use more than 3k Century First Finance ATMs for free. And some checking accounts will waive fees a few times a month if you use a non-Century First Finance ATM.
Stop payment fee
If you need to stop a transaction before it's complete, like a check you've written, a pending ACH transaction, or even a Zelle® transfer, a $35 fee will be issued.
Returned deposited fee
If you deposit a check, but the account that the check came from doesn't have the funds to cover it, you’ll will be charged $12.50 for domestic checks, or $30 for international checks, plus foreign bank fees.
Generally, check deposits received by the cut-off time on business days will be available the next day. In some circumstances, Century First Finance does place holds on deposits, which delays when those funds will be available. We encourage you to monitor your account and available balance through Online Banking and Mobile Banking.
Bill pay and eBills
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