If you’re an HFCU member, you’ve probably seen the term “share” crop up somewhere on your account statements or online banking portal. What exactly do these terms mean? Let’s find out!
Share savings accounts
A share savings account is a basic account at a credit union. These accounts pay interest on your savings, providing a safe place for you to store cash. Regardless of the other services you may utilize, you will always keep your Share Savings Account open to keep your membership active.
Opening a share account establishes your membership (or ownership) in the credit union and makes you eligible to use other products like loans, checking accounts and more.
With a savings account, there are limits on how often you can make certain types of withdrawals from your account. A share savings account cannot be used for automated clearinghouse debits or payments.
Share draft = checking
A share draft account is a liquid account at a credit union that allows you to frequently make withdrawals and payments. The term “draft” is an old term referring to checks drawn against funds in the bank, but you can think of it as money leaving the bank or credit union.
Access to funds: With a share draft account, there are generally no limits on how often you use the account. These accounts are a good place for your everyday spending money. If you write a check, purchase something with a debit card, withdraw cash from an ATM or pay bills online (whether your biller pulls the funds or you set up the payment with your bank), you’ll use a share draft account or a checking account. When visiting the credit union, we suggest you write a check payable to “CASH” and the teller can exchange it for cash with no fees to you. If you don’t have checks, the teller will transfer the requested funds from your checking to savings and then withdraw. This will be counted as one of your six savings withdrawals. Writing a check to “CASH” has no limits.