Courtesy Pay Overdraft Service
Courtesy Pay is PrimeWay's overdraft service. It comes with your PrimeWay checking account and may cover a payment when your available balance is short, for a fee at our discretion. Transactions under $20 carry no fee.
What Is an Overdraft?
An overdraft happens when you do not have enough money available in your account to cover a payment and we pay it anyway. (We use your available balance to determine whether you have enough money in your account to cover a transaction.)
Say your rent is $900 and your checking account has $850. Without coverage, the payment is returned to your landlord and the landlord then charges you processing fees and late fees. With Courtesy Pay, we may pay the landlord the full $900, and your account goes negative by $50. The negative $50 your account is overextended is what is referred to as an overdraft.
Overdraft Services
Courtesy Pay Is Our Overdraft Service
Sometimes a payment comes out and your available checking balance is short. Programs that pay the item are what is referred to as overdraft services.
Overdraft Protection *
- You can select to link your savings account as a backup to your checking account.
- Then, if you have the money in your savings account, we will move the exact amount necessary to pay the item in full from your savings account to your checking account.
- There is no charge to sign up or move the money.
- For questions or helping setting the service up, please contact us at 713-799-6200.
Courtesy Pay
- Even if you to link your savings account to checking account to ensure all of your items are paid, there may be times when there are not enough available funds, that is where the Courtesy Pay program steps in.
- We may cover the item for a fee at our discretion based on your account history, the deposits you make, and the transaction amount, for a fee. **
- Courtesy Pay is not a loan or a line of credit.
- Each time a payment comes through, we may cover it for a fee at our discretion based on deposits you make, your account history and the item amount.
Courtesy Pay in One Minute
Courtesy Pay comes with your PrimeWay checking account. It covers checks and payments from the start.
From there you make two choices. Both are yours, both can change any time, and you make them by calling us or visiting a retail center.
Which transactions do you want covered?
Checks are already included. You can add ATM withdrawals and everyday debit card purchases. You must enroll in this program. We cannot cover everyday debit card purchases unless you tell us to. That is a federal rule. Call us or visit a retail center and we will add it. If you do not add it, those transactions are simply declined at the register when your balance is short.
Where the Money Comes From, In Order
When a payment is larger than your checking balance, here is what happens, in order.
1. Your checking account. We use whatever is in checking first.
2. Your linked savings. If you asked us to link a savings or money market account, we take the rest from there.
3. Courtesy Pay. If your linked accounts are empty too, Courtesy Pay may cover the rest, and your checking account goes negative.
4. You bring it back up. Your next deposit brings the account positive again.
If you did not link a savings account, we skip the second step and go straight to Courtesy Pay.
What Courtesy Pay Costs
|
No fee Under $20. If the transaction is less than $20, nothing is charged. |
$20 $20 or more. The fee is $20 each time we do cover a transaction of $20 or more. |
Most in one day. Six Courtesy Pay fees per calendar day.
Three Examples
A small purchase
You buy a $6 coffee. Your available balance is $2. If we cover the negative $4 to pay the item, and there is no fee, because the transaction is under $20. You bring the account back to a positive amount
Savings covers it
Your $120 phone bill comes out. Checking has $40 available balance. Your savings has $500 and is linked. We move $80 from savings and pay the bill.
Courtesy Pay covers it
Your $120 phone bill comes out. Checking has $40 available balance and your savings has no available balance. Courtesy Pay may cover the $80 deficit. If we do, your account goes to negative $80 and a $20 fee applies. Your next paycheck brings it positive.
How We Decide Whether a Payment Is Covered
We use your available balance. That is the money in your account that is ready to use right now. It does not include holds, checks still processing, or card purchases we already approved that have not come out yet.
Your available balance is often lower than the balance. We use available balance because the funds are not being processed for another purpose that has a high potential cause you to have more overdrafts.
Timing on card transactions
For everyday debit card purchases, we check your available balance the moment the store asks us to approve the purchase. If it is short right then, the fee applies. That holds even if a deposit lands before the purchase finishes posting a few days later.
Courtesy Pay is not a guarantee
We do not guarantee that every payment will be covered. Your account history, deposits, and item amount can all affect the decision. When a payment is not covered, it is declined.
Set Up Your Coverage
1. Decide what you want. Which transactions you want covered, and whether you want your savings used first.
2. Call or visit. Call 713-799-6200, or visit any PrimeWay retail center. Tell the representative what you want and they will set it up.
3. Change it whenever. You can add coverage, remove it, or change your linked account at any time. Just call or stop by.
Stay Ahead of a Short Balance
Link a savings account.
The simplest thing you can do. Your own money covers the payment before Courtesy Pay applies.
Get paid up to 2 days early.
Set up direct deposit and your paycheck arrives up to two days before payday.
Check your available balance.
It is in online banking and the mobile app. That is the number we use.
Overdraft Services FAQs
Yes, on eligible accounts. Checks and payments are included from the start. ATM withdrawals and everyday debit card purchases are added once you tell us you want them.
Call 713-799-6200 or visit a retail center and ask us to link your savings or money market account. We will look there before we use Courtesy Pay.
Checking, then your linked savings if you set that up us, then Courtesy Pay.
For ATM withdrawals and everyday debit card purchases, we look at your available balance the moment the store asks us to approve the purchase. The fee applies if it was short right then, even if your balance was higher when the purchase finished posting.
Talk It Through in Person
Stop by any PrimeWay retail center in the Houston area, or call 713-799-6200.
1. PrimeWay pays overdrafts at our discretion, which means 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 and your account may be charged a $15 NSF fee. Please refer to the Truth-in-Savings disclosure for details.
2. Fees are listed in the current Fee Schedule and in the Courtesy Pay disclosure, FI19015 Rev 8-2026.