Funds Availability Disclosure

Important Updates to Funds Availability and Check Collection Rules: Regulation CC

The following changes to our Funds Availability Policy (Reg CC) go into effect July 1, 2025. This is mandated by the Federal Reserve Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

What's Changing?

Effective July 1, 2025, the following updates to Regulation CC will take place:

  • Minimum Availability Amount: Increasing from $225 to $275
    (This is the amount of a deposit that must be made available by the next business day.)

  • Cash Withdrawal Amount: Increasing from $450 to $550
    (Applies to the amount available for cash withdrawal from certain deposits.)

  • Special Rule Thresholds for New Accounts and Large Deposits:

    • New Account Threshold: from $5,525 to $6,725

    • Large Deposit Threshold: from $5,525 to $6,725

    • Repeated Overdraft Threshold: from $5,525 to $6,725

These changes help ensure your funds are available more quickly and align with updated federal guidelines.

At Smart Financial, we are committed to transparency and helping you understand how your money is handled. If you have any questions about these changes or how they might affect your deposits, please reach out to us at (713) 850-1600.

Funds Availability Policy

Smart Financial Credit Union (SFCU) has adopted the following policy to comply with The Federal Reserve’s Regulation CC.

The Regulation is designed to:

  • Make your deposited funds available as soon as possible, and
  • Establish maximum time limits that your deposit may be held.

Our policy is to make funds from your deposits available to you no later than the first (1st) business day after we receive your deposit. Electronic direct deposits will be available on the day we receive the deposit. Once they are available, you can withdraw the funds in cash, and we will use the funds to pay for the items you have authorized.

For determining the availability of your deposits, 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.

In many cases, we make funds from your deposited checks available to you sooner than we are able to collect the funds. This means that, from time to time, a deposited check may be returned unpaid after we made the funds available to you. Please note that even though we make funds from a deposited check available to you and you withdraw the funds, you are still responsible for problems with the deposit. If the check you deposited is returned to us unpaid for any reason, you will have to repay us and we may charge your account for the amount of the check, even if doing so overdraws your account. We will also charge you a Returned Deposit Item Fee as set forth in our Fee Schedule.

Deposits at ATMs

All ATMs that we own or operate are identified as Smart Financial machines. Funds from any check deposits made at SFCU ATMs may not be available until the second (2nd) business day after the day of your deposit. We do not accept deposits at ATMs we do not own or operate.

Longer Delays May Apply

In some cases, we will not make all of the funds that you deposit by check available to you by the first (1st) business day after the day of your deposit. Depending on the type of check that you deposit, funds may not be available until the second (2nd) business day after the day of your deposit. However, the first $275 of your deposits will be available no later than the first (1st) business day after the day of your deposit. If we are not going to make all the funds from your deposit available by the first (1st) business day after the day of your deposit, we generally notify you at the time you make your deposit. We will also tell you when the funds will be available. If your deposit is not made directly to one of our employees, or if we decide to take this action after you have left the premises, we will mail you the notice or electronically deliver the notice, if you have agreed to receive notices from us in an electronic format, by the business day after we receive your deposit. If you need the funds from a deposit right away, you should ask us when the funds will be available. In addition, funds you deposit by check may be delayed for a longer period under the following circumstances:

  • We believe a check you deposit will not be paid.
  • You deposit checks totaling more than $6,725 on any one day.
  • You redeposit a check that has been returned unpaid.
  • You have overdrawn your account repeatedly in the last six (6) months.
  • There is an emergency, such as failure of communications or computer equipment.

Special Rules for New Accounts

If you are a new member, the following special rules will apply during the first thirty (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 the deposits of cash, wire transfers and the first $6,725 of a day’s total deposits of Cashier’s, Certified, Teller’s, Travelers and Federal, State and Local Government Checks will be available on the business day of your deposit if the deposit meets certain conditions. For example, the checks must be payable to you. The excess over $6,725 will be available on the ninth (9th) 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 $6,725 will not be available until the second (2nd) business day after the day of your deposit.
  • Funds from all other check deposits will be available on the seventh (7th) business day after the day of your deposit.

Holds On Other Funds (Check Cashing)

We reserve the right to refuse to cash any check drawn on another financial institution or a check made payable to someone other than our member or their joint owner(s).

If we cash a check for you that is drawn on another financial institution, we may withhold the availability of the corresponding amount of collected funds you have in your account. Those funds will be available at the time funds from the check we cashed would have been available if you had deposited it.

Additional Information

When you present a check and you are the payer of the check, the check is to be made payable to Smart Financial Credit Union.
The federal law dealing with funds availability requires the financial institution’s endorsement area on the back of a check be kept clear or unobstructed. This rule is designed to prevent unnecessary delays in processing your deposits as well as to promote speedier returns of dishonored checks. Only the 1 ½ inch space from the “trailing edge” (the left edge of the check when it is facing you) can be used by you for endorsements or any other markings.

We will not be responsible for any losses incurred in the event you deposit a check which is later returned unpaid by the paying bank and that return is “late” due to markings on the check caused by you or a prior endorser on the back of the check.

In the event that you draw a check on your checking account with us, you are responsible for any delay or misrouting of the check caused by markings placed on the check by you that obscure any depository endorsements placed by us or our agent and you agree to hold us harmless and indemnify us from any liability due to such delay or misrouting.

Disclosures/Notices