Introducing 24-Hour Grace^® Overdraft Fee Relief for Business

When your account is overdrawn (this means your account balance is negative or below $0), 24-Hour Grace^® gives you more time to make a deposit to bring your account positive and avoid Overdraft Fees. The questions below explain more about when you need to make the deposit and how much the deposit needs to be. Remember, 24-Hour Grace^® gives you time to act. It isn’t automatic. You have to make the right deposit on time. Please look at the rest of the questions below to learn how.

No. Returns normally occur with checks (“bounced” checks) or automatic payments when there’s not enough money in your account. When we return a check or automatic payment, we don’t let it overdraw your account. Since the transaction doesn’t overdraw your account, there is no overdraft for you to fix or cure by making a deposit under 24-Hour Grace^®. If this situation were to occur, you would be charged a Return Fee.

You also have to deposit enough to cover any Return Fees from the prior day.

EXAMPLE:

Monday, you start with a $40 balance. Later that day we pay a check for $100, but we return another check for $250, which leaves your account overdrawn by $60. Your balance at the end of the day is (-$60). A $36 Overdraft Fee and a $36 Return Fee will hit your account on Tuesday. At 11:30 pm on Tuesday you deposit $100 into a Huntington ATM. We waive the $36 Overdraft Fee with 24-Hour Grace®, but 24-Hour Grace® does not waive the $36 Return Fee.

THE NUMBERS

Monday:
$40 - $100 = (-$60)
$250 check returned
$36 Overdraft Fee for tomorrow
$36 Return Fee for tomorrow

Tuesday:
(-$60) starting balance on Tuesday
+ $100 Deposit
- $36 Return Fee (Grace does not apply to Return Fees)
= $4 Balance
Waive $36 Overdraft Fee

Good question. We don’t see every transaction immediately. Depending on the type – check, debit card purchase, or automatic payment, for example – it could be the same day, or even a few days later. With checks, it depends on how soon the payee of the check deposits or cashes it.

Well, the short answer is through networks. When you write a rent or mortgage check, for example, that check is sent to us for payment through a check-clearing network. There are also debit card, ATM, and other electronic payment networks. Or a check, for example, can also be presented (cashed) in-person at our Huntington branches.

Here’s how that works. An overdraft is a transaction that is actually paid from your account (it reduces the balance in your account). And, after we pay it, your account balance is negative (below $0). A return item is an item that is presented and the amount of the items exceeds the available balance in your account. Therefore, the bank does not pay the transaction and returns the item unpaid. A return item will result in a returned item fee.

Well, we assume you do transactions because you want them to happen. Paying them when they overdraw your account lets them happen. Whether we do this or not is within our discretion. We are never required to let you overdraft. But within limits we set, we provide you this service.

Returns normally occur with checks (“bounced” checks) or automatic payments when there’s not enough money in your account. We would rather not return them, but obviously we can’t let everyone overdraw all of the time. Part of our management of risk with deposit accounts is to decide when we pay and when we return transactions. That is generally based on your account history. We balance that decision between serving your need to have transactions paid and our need to manage risk. When we return a check or automatic payment, we charge a Return Fee. 24-Hour Grace^® cannot be used to waive Return Fees.  

When we return a check or automatic payment, we don’t let it overdraw your account. Since the transaction doesn’t overdraw your account, there is no overdraft for you to fix or cure by making a deposit under 24-Hour Grace^®. 24-Hour Grace^® cannot be used to waive Return Fees.

Blocking a transaction can usually occur with a debit card purchase or an ATM withdrawal. For these types of transactions, we usually get an electronic request from a merchant or from the ATM network before the transaction happens. That is known as an authorization request. Like with a return, if you don’t have enough money in your account, we have to decide to let it happen or not. That decision is generally based on your account history. We balance that decision between serving your need to have transactions happen and our need to manage risk. If we deny the authorization request, the transaction is blocked. Since in that case the transaction doesn’t happen, there is no fee.

No. 24-Hour Grace^® is not a service that lets you spend more than you have. Instead, it only works after your account is already overdrawn. It’s a service that gives you more time to make a deposit to avoid Overdraft Fees once your account is overdrawn.

Technically you need to deposit enough to bring your account balance to at least (-$50). Of course, if you can get your balance out of the negative, please do. But we give you a $50 cushion in case you can’t quite make it all the way.

EXAMPLE:

Monday, you start with a $50 balance. Later that day we post a check for $105, which overdraws your account by $55. Your balance at the end of the day is (-$55). A $36 Overdraft Fee will hit your account on Tuesday. Tuesday morning, we process a debit card transaction for $10 and a check for $50, leaving your balance at (-$115). Tuesday evening you deposit $100 and avoid the Overdraft Fee from the $105 check on Monday.

THE NUMBERS

Monday:
$50 - $105 = (-$55)
$36 Overdraft Fee for tomorrow

Tuesday:
- $10 debit = (-$65)
- $50 check = (-$115)
+ $100 Deposit
= -$15.00 Balance
Waive $36 Overdraft Fee

We’re glad you asked. You’ll need to deposit enough to cover any new transactions (checks or automatic payments, for example) that come in the day you’re making the deposit, as well as the negative balance from the prior day. Remember, those transactions can come in after you make your deposit, so you need to be aware of what transactions are scheduled or what checks you have written that haven’t yet cleared.

We offer several ways you can sign up to check your balance: online and mobile banking, text and email alerts, and through our telephone banking service.

You need to check your account balance, but there’s more. Transactions come to us from many networks and sources at many different times during the day. Some transactions are posted to your account throughout the day, but others can’t be posted until late in the day or even very early the next morning when we run our processing. Only you know what transactions you’ve done before they get to us, so the best way to stay on top of your correct balance is still to keep track of it yourself.

No. You don’t have to deposit an extra amount to cover the overdraft fees for overdrafts from the prior day. We’ll waive those overdraft fees as long as you bring your balance positive not counting those overdraft fees. However, you do need to deposit an extra amount to cover any Return Fees for transactions we returned from the prior day, because 24-Hour Grace® doesn’t waive Return Fees.

You can deposit cash or checks at a banking office or an ATM, or make an electronic transfer from another account at an ATM or through our online, mobile or telephone banking services.

No. You should use an ATM to deposit cash or a check after branch hours, and not a night depository or drop box.

As long as your deposits are made using an acceptable form of payment, such as cash or valid check, your deposit will be processed. You can also transfer funds electronically at an ATM or through our online, mobile or telephone banking services.

While access to certain deposits may be delayed due to holds, these holds do not impact the 24-Hour Grace^® fee waiver feature on your account.

24-Hour Grace^® applies when Huntington pays a transaction from your account even though you don’t have enough money (your account becomes overdrawn). 24-Hour Grace^® gives you time to act—it doesn’t act for you. Note: 24-Hour Grace^® does not apply if we decide to return the transaction.

EXAMPLE:

On Monday, you start with a $50 balance. Later that day we pay a check for $105 out of your account. Your balance at the end of Monday is (-$55). A $36 Overdraft Fee will hit your account on Tuesday.

THE NUMBERS

$50 - $105 = (-$55)
$36 Overdraft Fee for tomorrow (if you don’t cure the overdraft with 24-Hour Grace^®)

But what if we return (or “bounce”) the $105 check instead? In that case, your account balance stays at $50 because we don’t pay the check from your account (it doesn’t get into your account), but we send it back through the network that sent it to us. We charge you a $36 Return Fee that will hit your account on Tuesday. 24-Hour Grace^® does not apply to Return Fees.

THE NUMBERS

$50 - $0 = $50
$36 Return Fee for tomorrow (24-Hour Grace® is not applicable)
Returned: $105
Final Balance: $14

Good question. We don’t see every transaction immediately. Depending on the type – check, debit card purchase, or automatic payment, for example – it could be the same day, or even a few days later. With checks, it depends on how soon the payee of the check deposits or cashes it.

Well, the short answer is through networks. When you write a rent or mortgage check, for example, that check is sent to us for payment through a check-clearing network. There are also debit card, ATM, and other electronic payment networks. Or a check, for example, can also be presented (cashed) in-person at our Huntington branches.

Here’s how that works. An overdraft is a transaction that is actually paid from your account (it reduces the balance in your account). And, after we pay it, your account balance is negative (below $0). A return item is an item that is presented and the amount of the items exceeds the available balance in your account. Therefore, the bank does not pay the transaction and returns the item unpaid. A return item will result in a returned item fee.

Well, we assume you do transactions because you want them to happen. Paying them when they overdraw your account lets them happen. Whether we do this or not is within our discretion. We are never required to let you overdraft. But within limits we set, we provide you this service.

Returns normally occur with checks (“bounced” checks) or automatic payments when there’s not enough money in your account. We would rather not return them, but obviously we can’t let everyone overdraw all of the time. Part of our management of risk with deposit accounts is to decide when we pay and when we return transactions. That is generally based on your account history. We balance that decision between serving your need to have transactions paid and our need to manage risk. When we return a check or automatic payment, we charge a Return Fee. 24-Hour Grace^® cannot be used to waive Return Fees.

When we return a check or automatic payment, we don’t let it overdraw your account. Since the transaction doesn’t overdraw your account, there is no overdraft for you to fix or cure by making a deposit under 24-Hour Grace^®. 24-Hour Grace^® cannot be used to waive Return Fees.

Blocking a transaction can usually occur with a debit card purchase or an ATM withdrawal. For these types of transactions, we usually get an electronic request from a merchant or from the ATM network before the transaction happens. That is known as an authorization request. Like with a return, if you don’t have enough money in your account, we have to decide to let it happen or not. That decision is generally based on your account history. We balance that decision between serving your need to have transactions happen and our need to manage risk. If we deny the authorization request, the transaction is blocked. Since in that case the transaction doesn’t happen, there is no fee.

No. 24-Hour Grace^® is not a service that lets you spend more than you have. Instead, it only works after your account is already overdrawn. It’s a service that gives you more time to make a deposit to avoid Overdraft Fees once your account is overdrawn.

You have until before midnight the next business day after your account is overdrawn. A deposit at a Huntington branch needs to be before branch closing time on that next business day. A deposit or transfer at an ATM, through online or mobile banking or through our telephone banking service needs to be before midnight that next business day.

EXAMPLE:

Monday, you start with a $50 balance. Later that day we pay a check you wrote last week for $105, which leaves your account overdrawn by $55. Your balance at the end of the day is (-$55). A $36 Overdraft Fee will hit your account on Tuesday. At 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday you deposit $55 into a Huntington ATM. We waive the $36 Overdraft Fee.

THE NUMBERS

Monday:
$50 - $105 = (-$55)
$36 Overdraft Fee for tomorrow

Tuesday:
+ $55 Deposit
= $0 Balance

Waive $36 Overdraft Fee

You can make a deposit or transfer at one of our ATMs or through mobile banking, or you can make a transfer through our online or telephone banking services. For example, a deposit of cash or a check at a Huntington ATM at 11:30 p.m. will count, or an online transfer at 11:30 p.m. will count.

No. That deposit will not be credited to your account as of the day of deposit and will not meet the 24-Hour Grace^® deadline.

No. You should always use an ATM to make an after-hours deposit at a branch. You should not use a night depository or drop box, but if you do, that deposit will be credited to your account no earlier than the business day after the day of deposit and will not meet the 24- Hour Grace^® deadline.

Unfortunately, if we receive the deposit at or after midnight on the next business day after your account is overdrawn, it will be too late for 24-Hour Grace® to work. It has to be before midnight (or before branch closing time if made at a branch).

If you want 24-Hour Grace^® email and/or text alerts, you need to sign up for them. Online or mobile banking messages are available if you sign up for those services. These alerts and messages are scheduled for delivery on the same business day you need to make a deposit to take advantage of 24-Hour Grace^®.

It depends. We either email (for online banking customers) or physically mail (for non-online banking customers) a Notice of Insufficient Funds the next business day after your account is overdrawn.

Business days are Monday through Friday. Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays are not business days even if our banking offices, ATMs, website or other services are open or available for use on those days. So, for example, if the overdraft occurs on Friday, you have until before midnight on Monday (the next business day) to fix the problem. If that Monday is a federal holiday, you have until before midnight on Tuesday. If you want to make a deposit at a branch, it needs to be before branch closing time.

You can also sign up for one of our overdraft protection plans that provide funds from another deposit or credit line account you have with us (like a savings account or credit card) to cover overdrafts.

The best way to avoid Overdraft Fees and return Fees is to practice good account management and carefully keep track of your transactions yourself so you always know what you have available to spend or withdraw.

No you cannot opt out of this service. Signing up for Alerts can help you manage your balance.