Designations

Important information about procedures for opening a new account:

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, Federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. When you open an account, we ask for your name, address, date of birth and other information that allows us to identify you. We will also ask to see your driver's license or other identifying documents.

Accounts can be opened in any one of the following ways:

1. Individual Accounts

   An account that is owned by one member (individual, corporation, partnership, trust or other organization) and meets the eligibility requirements is referred to an individual account. If the account owner dies, the interest passes, subject to applicable law, to the account owner's estate or Payable on Death (POD) beneficiary/payee or trust beneficiary, subject to other provisions listed herein, governing our protection for honoring transfer and withdrawal requests of an owner or owner's agent prior to notice of an owner's death and to any security interest or pledge granted by the account owner and subject to our statutory lien rights.

2. Joint Accounts

   An account owned by two or more persons is referred to as a joint account.

   • Right of Survivorship means that unless otherwise stated on your Membership Application, a joint account includes rights of survivorship. This means when one owner dies, all sums in the account will pass to the remaining owner(s). For a joint account without rights of survivorship, the deceased owner's interest passes to his or her estate. A surviving owner's interest is subject to Highmark's statutory lien for the deceased owner's obligations, and to any security interest or pledge granted by a deceased owner, even if a surviving owner did not consent to it.
   • Control of Joint Accounts enables any owner to authorize or to act for any other owner(s) and may instruct us regarding transactions and other account matters. Each owner guarantees the signature of any other owner(s). Any owner may withdraw all funds, stop payment on items. Transfer or pledge to us all or any part of the shares without the consent of the other owner(s). We have no requirement to notify any owner(s) about any transaction. We reserve the right to require written of all owners for any change to or termination of an account. If we receive written notice of a dispute between owners or inconsistent instructions from them, we may suspend or terminate the account and require a court order or written consent from all owners to act.
   • Joint Account Owner Liability refers to any item deposited in a joint account that is returned unpaid, or any account that is overdrawn, or if we do not receive final payment on a transaction, then the owners, jointly or severally, are liable to Highmark Federal Credit Union for the amount of the returned item, overdraft, or unpaid amount and any charges, regardless of who initiated or benefited from the transaction. If any account owner is indebted to us, we may enforce our rights against any account of the indebted owner, including all funds in the joint account regardless of who contributed the funds in the account.

3. Pod/Trust Account Designations

   A Payable on Death account is also referred to as a trust account. This type of account provides instructions to Highmark that an individual or joint account so designated is payable to the owner(s) during his, her or their lifetimes and, when the last account owner dies, payable to all and surviving POD or trust beneficiaries/payees. If two or more persons own this type of account, you own the account as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. If there is more than one surviving beneficiary/payee, the account is owned jointly by such beneficiaries/payees with rights of survivorship. Beneficiaries acquire the right to withdraw only if (1) the persons(s) establishing the account dies, and (2) the beneficiary is then living. If two or more beneficiary are named and survive the death of the owner(s) of the account, such beneficiaries will own the account in equal shares, with right of survivorship. The person(s) creating the POD account reserves the right to: (1) change beneficiaries, or (2) withdraw all or part of the account balance at any time. Any POD or trust beneficiary/payee designation shall not apply to Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). We are not obligated to notify any beneficiary/payee of the existence of any account or the vesting of the beneficiary/payee's interest in any account, except as otherwise provided by law. This paragraph does not apply to an account held on behalf of or held in the name of a trust.

4. Agency Designation on an Account

   If an account holder wished to authorize another person to make transactions as agent for them, the account holder would instruct Highmark of this through an agency designation on the account. An agent has not ownership interest in the account(s) or credit union voting rights. We have no obligation to inquire about the use or purpose of any transaction made by the agent. We reserve the right to refuse or accept an agent.

5. Corporation, Partnership, Sole Proprietorship, And Other Organizational Accounts

   We will typically require a specific authorization form designating the person(s) permitted to withdraw and the conditions required for withdrawal from any account(s) in the name of a legal entity such as a partnership, corporation, sole proprietorship, or other organization. We will honor the authorization according to its terms until it is amended or terminated in writing by the governing body of the organization.