Guidance to help you manage overdrafts and avoid fees
Understand your overdraft options and avoid unexpected fees. Select a chapter below to learn more and watch a short video.
What is an overdraft?
An overdraft occurs when you don't have enough money available in your account to cover a transaction. Fees often apply when a transaction causes an account to become overdrawn.
For tips on how to avoid overdrafts, visit How can I avoid overdraft fees?
Consumer Credit Counseling
If you need additional help managing your finances, consider consulting a credit counseling agency. Refer to the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) "Choosing a Credit Counselor " document, which includes a list of government-approved credit counseling agencies that provide low-cost credit counseling services.
Citizens Peace of Mind®
Mistakes happen—we know; we’re people too! So, we’re giving you Citizens Peace of Mind*1, a new feature that can help you avoid the costs of unexpected overdrafts. Citizens Peace of Mind gives you additional time to fund your account and reverse overdraft fees.
Why did I get that overdraft fee?
You've spent more money than you have available in your account. A transaction that exceeds your Available Balance will cause your account to become overdrawn and a $35 overdraft fee* will apply. Citizens may choose to pay this transaction (at our discretion).
What is Available Balance?
The portion of your Account Balance which is available for you to spend at any given time.
Available Balance changes as you make transactions during the day.
- Deposits increase Available Balance based on our Funds Availability Policy. (Our policy that governs the time between when you make a deposit and when you may use the funds.)
- Withdrawals and purchases made reduce Available Balance.
Available Balance does not reflect:
- Written checks that haven’t been cashed and posted (i.e., subtracted from your Account Balance).
- Bill payments that you scheduled in online banking that haven’t posted yet.
- Pending pre-authorized debits (Payments deducted automatically by a third party from your account on a recurring basis) such as utilities or subscriptions.
Funds Availability - What does this mean?
Different types of deposits are available at different times. Funds Availability determines when you can use your money.
What's available when
| Immediately | Same business day | Next business day | How to find the availability status of your deposit. You can find your deposit availability in the My Accounts page in Online Banking, or in the Citizens Personal Deposit Account Agreement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Available for same day withdrawals | Available to pay checks and purchases that post to your account that night (and next day withdrawals) | Available for next business day withdrawals, and to pay checks and purchases that post to your account the next night | |
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Debit Card Overdraft Coverage
| Debit Card Coverage |
Enrollment choice does not apply to
These transactions are paid at our discretion and overdraft fees apply. |
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| How It Works | We may cover withdrawals that overdraw your account so your transactions can be completed even though your account doesn't have the necessary Available Balance. | |
| Enroll if | ...you want us to approve, at our discretion, ATM transactions and debit card purchases that overdraw your account. If approved, transactions are completed. Overdraft fees apply. | |
| Do not enroll if | ...you want the bank to decline ATM transactions and debit card purchases that overdraw your account. To complete the transaction, you will need another form of payment. No overdraft fees apply. | |
| Fees |
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| How to Enroll: | In Online Banking: Log In By Phone: 1-800-922-9999 In Person: Find a Branch |
Overdraft Plan Options - Protect my account from overdrafts
| Savings Overdraft Transfer | Overdraft Line of Credit3 | You can enroll in either option: By Phone: 1-800-922-9999 In Person: Find a Branch
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|---|---|---|---|
| How It Works | When a transaction overdraws your account, an automatic transfer of available funds from your savings account will be made to cover the transaction. | Transactions that overdraw your account will be paid using available funds from a line of credit attached to your checking account. | |
| Fees |
$0 |
$12 Transfer fee per day |
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| Good For You If |
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$5 Overdraft Pass® - Will I be charged for all overdrafts?
If you overdraw your account with a transaction of $5 or less or the overdrawn balance is $5 or less, we will not charge an Overdraft Fee. Checking and money market accounts come with $5 Overdraft Pass®, no need to enroll.
How it works:
- If any transaction is $5 or less, or the overdrawn balance is $5 or less, we will automatically pay the transaction; we will not charge you the $35 overdraft fee.*
- If you are enrolled in Debit Card Overdraft Coverage, we also cover ATM and Debit Card transactions of $5 or less.
- If you have an Overdraft Line of Credit, you will not be charged a transfer fee on any day in which all transfers are for $5 or less.4
| Transaction | Amount | Balance | Covered by $5 Overdraft Pass® |
ExampleSusan began the day with a $3 balance in her One Deposit Checking account. She made two small purchases and had two checks clear, which resulted in a negative account balance. She will not be charged an overdraft fee for the purchases she made or one of the checks (checks 101), since they were $5 or less. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee Purchase, Debit Card | $4 | -$1 | Yes | |
| Lunch Purchase, Debit Card | $5 | -$6 | Yes | |
| Check 103 Cashed | $85 | -$91 | No | |
| Check 101 Cashed | $4 | -$95 | Yes |
How can I avoid overdraft fees?
The best way to avoid overdrafts and fees is to monitor your account balances and activity. Here are some tools that make it easy:
Set balance alerts.
Set up Online Banking email and text alerts5 to be notified when your balance is low, and to monitor specific transactions.
Track your balance.
Log in to Online and Mobile Banking5 daily to securely check your available balance and account activity. Remember to consider any outstanding checks or scheduled payments that have not been made.
Pay bills automatically.
You can set up bill payments when you know you have money in your account (like on payday) and set reminders to ensure you won't pay your bills late and incur costly fees.
Sign up for direct deposit.
Have your paycheck automatically deposited in your account to get faster access to funds on payday and ensure your money is available when you need it.
Now with Citizens Paid EarlyTM
A new feature that lets you get paid sooner—up to 2 days early.2
Understand your checking account options.
Citizens has checking accounts designed specifically for those wanting to prevent overdraft fees. Click here to compare.
FAQs about Overdraft Fees and Coverage
Have More Questions? Get more answers in our Full FAQs section.
© Citizens Financial Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Citizens is a brand name of Citizens Bank, N.A. Member FDIC
* IMPORTANT DETAILS ON OVERDRAFT COVERAGE: When we pay a transaction that overdraws your account, we will charge you an Overdraft Fee of $35 per item paid. When we return a check or ACH transaction unpaid because your account had insufficient funds, we will not charge you a fee. We will limit to 5 the number of Overdraft Fees charged on any one business day, up to a total of $175. Once you have overdrawn your account, you must bring it to a positive balance as soon as possible. Whether your overdrafts will be paid is discretionary and we reserve the right not to pay. For example, we typically do not pay overdrafts if your account is not in good standing or if the overdraft amount is excessive.
1 Citizens Peace of Mind®: Citizens Peace of Mind provides additional time to bring your account to a positive available balance and reverse Overdraft Fees. If your account is overdrawn, you have up until 10:00 PM ET the following business day (e.g., if your account is overdrawn at the end of the day Monday, you have until 10:00 PM ET Tuesday) to deposit enough funds to cover all of the overdraft items (minus the fees), and any additional transactions that post to the account that day. If the available balance, excluding the overdraft fees, is positive (greater than or equal to $0) at the end of the following business day, any overdraft fees will be reversed. When determining the amount you need to deposit to take advantage of Citizens Peace of Mind, you can check your balance in the Citizens mobile app or Online Banking and then consider transactions that may post to your account that day - such as checks or other debits. As we do not see these transactions until they are presented for payments, only you know what transactions may post to your account and how much you need to deposit. A deposit that only partially covers transactions or overdraft items will not result in a fee reversal. All deposits are subject to our Funds Availability schedule. This schedule helps you determine when a deposit you make will increase your available balance. For example, some deposit types such as checks drawn on a bank other than Citizens, even if made by 10:00 PM ET the next business day, are not available to cover transactions that day. But a deposit of cash, a Citizens check, or an electronic funds transfer will generally be available to cover the transactions. For information on our Funds Availability Policy, please visit citizensbank.com/overdraft or see your Personal Deposit Account Agreement. Citizens Peace of Mind is available on personal checking accounts and does not apply to Overdraft Line of Credit Transfer Fees.
2 If you are a Citizens Personal Checking, Savings or Money Market account customer that has set up a direct deposit with a payor, you may be able to get that direct deposit up to two days early with Citizens Paid Early™. Whether a direct deposit is eligible for Paid Early is at our discretion and we cannot guarantee that you will always receive the Paid Early service.
3 Credit approval required. The $30 Annual Fee and $12 transfer fee is waived for Student Checking, Citizens EverValue Checking™, Citizens Quest® Checking, Citizens Private Client™ Checking and Citizens Private Bank™ Checking accounts. The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for an Overdraft Line of Credit is 21% on the outstanding loan balance.
4 No Overdraft Fee will be charged on any overdraft item of $5 or less, including ATM and debit card overdrafts if you are enrolled in Debit Card Overdraft Coverage, or when your account is overdrawn and the total overdrawn amount at the end of the same business day is $5 or less.
5 Wireless carrier, text, and/or data charges may apply.
