Related Services & Special Situations

Direct Deposit

We offer both direct deposit and payroll deduction services. You may use direct deposit for all or part of your salary or retirement check to fund your checking or share savings account automatically.

Automatic Transfer Service

You may authorize the Credit Union to make automatic payroll deductions from your Savings or Checking account to be applied for loan payments and/or deposits at Democracy FCU. You may also have funds transferred to other Democracy FCU accounts and applied as you request.

Canceled Checks

We will not return canceled checks to you. Each time you write a check, it is automatically recorded on a carbon copy. The Credit Union will store electronic copies of your canceled checks for you. If you should need a copy of a canceled check as proof of payment, you may obtain it for a reasonable service charge. See Fees and Service Charges.

Account Closing

You may not close your account if:

• You have a loan outstanding;
• You have a credit card balance;
• You have payroll deductions;
• You have negative balances.

We reserve the right to require account depositors to give seven days written notice before an intended closing. We require your signature to close your account. We may also close your account if you violate the terms of our agreement. Credit Union Family Service Centers

Shared branches are defined as those offices where members of many different credit unions are able to perform transactions to their own credit union account. The policy at shared branches is to make funds from your deposits available to you on the same business day your deposit is received. A deposit at a shared branch is considered received when it is accepted with all appropriate endorsements. For determining the availability of your deposits, every day is a business day that Democracy FCU is open, which may differ from the days the shared branch is open. If you make a deposit on a day Democracy FCU is open, that day will be considered the day of deposit. However, if you make a deposit at a share branch on a day Democracy FCU is not open, your deposit will be considered made on the next business day Democracy FCU is open. See Regulation CC (page 14) for your deposits available to you after a deposit at the Credit Union Family Share Services.

Dormant Accounts

An account is classified as dormant if there has been no activity (other than dividends) on the account within a 12-month period. A share withdrawal or a deposit in any amount is considered activity on the account. In addition, a note or letter to the Credit Union acknowledging the account is also considered activity.

Abandoned Property

An abandoned account is a share account in which there has been no activity other than dividends for three years. The District of Columbia Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (Escheat law) defines abandoned property as it applies to credit unions to be accounts, where, within three years there has been:

• No increase or decrease in at the amount of funds on deposit excluding dividends.
• No written correspondence from the member concerning the funds on deposit.
• No other active sub-accounts or loans with the Credit Union. Abandoned property will be surrendered to the District of Columbia on an annual basis. The Credit Union makes all efforts to avoid escheat of an account. 

Electronic Funds Transfer

Electronic Funds Transfer Disclosure

The following information applies to our ATM Agreement, VISA Check Card Agreement, Phone Banking and Online Banking Agreement.

In Case of Errors or Questions about your Electronic Transfers

Telephone or write us immediately at (202) 488-5400, Democracy Federal Credit Union - Attention: Accounting Department, PO Box 25516, Alexandria, VA 22313-5516 as soon as you can if you think your statement or receipt is wrong or if you need more information about a transfer listed on the statement or receipt. We must hear from you no later than 60 days after we sent the first statement on which the problem or error appeared. Tell us your name and account number. Describe the error or the transfer you are unsure about, and explain as clearly as you can why you believe it is an error or why you need more information. Tell us the dollar amount of the suspected error. If you tell us orally, we may require you to send us your complaint or question in writing within 10 business days. Business days are classified every day except Saturdays, Sundays, federal holidays and the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.

We will tell you the results of our investigation within 10 business days after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. If we need more time, however, we may take up to 45 days to investigate your complaint or question. If we decide to do this, we will re-credit your account within 10 business days for the amount you think is in error so that you will have use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation. If we ask you to put your complaint or question in writing and we do not receive it within 10 business days, we may not re-credit your account.

If your account is new (opened 30 days or less), we may take up to 20 business days to resolve the error before re-crediting your account. We may also take up to 90 days to fully investigate your complaint or question. If your account is new and your complaint or question involves a POS or foreign transaction, we will re-credit your account if necessary, within 10 business days, but we may take up to 90 days to fully complete our investigation.

If we decide that there was no error, we will send you a written explanation within 3 business days after we finish our investigation. You may ask for copies of the documents that we used in our investigation.

Liability Disclosure

Tell us at once, if you believe there has been an unauthorized electronics funds transaction on your account. Telephoning is the best way of keeping your possible losses down. You could lose all the money in your account (plus your maximum overdraft line of credit). If you tell us within two (2) business days you can lose no more than $50 if someone accessed your account by way of an electronic funds transaction without your permission. If you don't tell us within 2 business days after you learn of the loss and we can prove we could have stopped someone from accessing your account without your permission if you had told us, you could lose as much as $500.

The Credit Union shall be liable to a cardholder for losses or damages caused by the Credit Union's failure to complete a transfer from your account on time or in the correct amount according to our agreement with you, except in the following instances:

• If through no fault of the Credit Union, you do not have sufficient funds in your account to make the transfer.
• If the ATM had insufficient funds to complete the transaction.
• If the funds in your account are subject to legal process or other encumbrance.
• If an act of God or other circumstances beyond our control prevent the transfer despite reasonable precautions that have been taken.
• If there is a technical malfunction known to the cardholder at the time the cardholder attempted to use the ATM system.