Regulation E - Summary of Consumer Protections and Liabilities
Regulation E is intended to protect individual consumers and their related checking, savings and Money Market Deposit accounts engaging in electronic fund transfers (EFTs) activities when these accounts are established primarily for personal, family or household purposes. Regulation E does not include protections for business, trust or escrow customers.
The types of accounts typically affected by Regulation E are checking accounts, NOW accounts, money market deposit accounts and savings accounts. These types of accounts may be accessed through Internet banking.
The EFT consumer protections provided by Regulation E include electronic transfers through:
- ATMs
- Direct deposits or withdrawals
- Point-of-Sale (POS)
- Transfers initiated by telephone (includes bill-payment plans in which periodic or recurring transfers are contemplated)
- Remote banking programs (e.g. internet banking transactions) and
- Checks converted at merchant terminals to one-time electronic transfers.
The EFT consumer protections are not provided for:
- Transactions originated by check, draft or similar paper instrument
- Check guarantees or authorizations that do not directly result in a debit or credit to a consumer account
- Wire transfers
- Purchasing or selling a security or commodity when regulated by the SEC or CFTC and conducted through a registered broker-dealer
- Internal transfers from accounts with an agreement without a specific request from the consumer
- Between a consumer's accounts within the financial institution
- Between family members' accounts at the same institution
- Telephone initiated transfers between the consumer and the bank without an agreement.
Please review your initial Regulation E disclosure or ask for one in your nearest banking center for more details. Other consumer protections provided by Regulation E include:
- Initial and subsequent change in terms disclosures
- Disclosures pertinent to purchased gift cards
- The right to "opt-in/opt-out" to overdraft fees that may be incurred at ATMs and POS terminals and
- A written error resolution procedure providing guidance regarding consumer and bank liability in the event of a lost, stolen or unauthorized use of the debit card. The important thing to remember is to contact the bank as soon as you have reason to believe that your card is lost, stolen or you have experienced unauthorized use. You may have liability ranging from $50,00, $500.00 or unlimited liability. In order, important time frames for you to observe are that unauthorized transactions should be reported in 2 business days to avoid $50 potential liability or within 60 calendar days (potential liability $500) from the time that the first charge would have been reported on your statement. If you do not report unauthorized transactions within the 60 day time frame, you may have unlimited liability for any withdrawals from your account. Details information is available in your initial Regulation E disclosure or from a bank employee.
Notice: Ameriana Bank will not contact you in any manner requesting that you provide your username and password to access your internet banking accounts. However, if you contact us with an internet banking access issue, we may ask for your username to more quickly serve you. We may contact you by telephone or mail to request your current e-mail address if we try to contact you, or provide you with information, and receive "bounce-back" notifications for the e-mail address that we have on file.
Please be aware that Ameriana employees will not contact you by phone, mail or in any other electronic manner asking you for any of your personal information (e.g. account numbers, social security number, etc.) The bank maintains this information security in files and it is also backed up in a secure location. Regardless of what story someone pretending to be a bank employee, law enforcement officer, or bank regulator may tell you, do not provide this information to them (it's a scam).
Business Customers - Help us protect your business!
We strongly recommend that commercial online banking customers perform a related risk assessment and evaluate related controls that you have in your office to transact business through our cash management program at least annually. The cash management agreement that you signed with us requires that you do these things and you may be solely responsible for any losses incurred, if these procedures are not followed.
Links to resources that provide related information for all consumers:
Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Site
Government Information about Identity Theft
National Consumer League's Fraud Center
Scam Alert: Targeting Small Businesses
Bank Contacts for Suspicious Account Activity or Information Security-Related Events
Contact any Ameriana Bank employee at your nearest banking center during business hours or contact Customer Care (800-487-2118, 765-529-2230) or for Lost/Stolen Debit Cards after hours or weekends, call 866-209-7190. If you choose to e-mail us through Contact Us on our site, please be aware that e-mail is not secure. Therefore do not include any personal information in the e-mail.
