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What's an overdraft?

When your available balance isn't enough to pay for an item and the bank elects to pay it anyway, that's an overdraft. And you may be charged a $29 fee for each overdraft. We won't charge you more than one overdraft fee per day, per account. To learn more about our fees, read the Account Service and Fee Schedule (Opens in new window).

How is this different from a declined or returned item?

In some cases, we may decline or return an item unpaid so you don't have an overdraft. You won't pay an overdraft fee, but the merchant or biller might still charge you fees.

To determine whether we pay an overdraft item or return it, we look at your overdraft setting and other things like your account history, your deposits and the transaction amount.

Standard Overdraft option

Standard Overdraft is automatic for eligibleSee note1 checking accounts.

With this setting, when your available balance isn't enough to pay for certain transactions, we may choose to pay them anyway, at our discretion. This would cause an overdraft, but it means your items can still get paid even when you don't have the funds. It could also save you from other merchant fees related to things like late payments and returned checks.

Here are some transactions we may pay, even when you don't have enough available balance:

  • Checks
  • USAA Pay Bills payments
  • Electronic A C H transactions like your mortgage payment
  • Recurring debit card payments like a gym membership

When you don't have enough available balance, we'll decline one-time debit card purchases, ATM withdrawals and Zelle® transactions. For more information, read the Overdraft Policy in the Depository Agreement and Disclosures (Opens in new window).

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Ways you can avoid overdraft fees

These features are automatically included on any account with Standard Overdraft.

  • USAA Overdraft Fee Cushion

    At the end of the business day, we process your transactions. If your account is overdrawn by $50 or less, we won't charge an overdraft fee. And we won't charge an overdraft fee for any transaction of $5 or less.

  • USAA Overdraft Fee Refund Window

    We'll refund an overdraft fee charged to your account if we receive a qualifying deposit into the account within a window of time after the overdraft item posts to your account. The qualifying deposit must be received before the applicable deposit cutoff time on the business day following the posting of the overdraft item. It must be enough to bring your account's available balance to at least negative $50 after all items, not including the overdraft fee, have processed at the end of the business day following the posting date of the overdraft item. Only available funds count toward a qualifying deposit. To learn more, read our overdraft FAQ.

Auto-decline option

With this setting, we generally decline or return most types of transactions unpaid when your available balance isn't enough to pay for them. Our overdraft fees don't apply, but the merchant or biller might still charge you fees.

You can change your account's overdraft setting to Auto-Decline any time from your account summary page. It may take up to two business days to process.

These accounts are automatically set to Auto-Decline and are ineligible for Standard Overdraft:

  • USAA Youth Spending accounts
  • Savings accounts
  • Fiduciary accounts, such as accounts opened for an estate, formal trusts, guardianships and conservatorships
  • Accounts enrolled in our overdraft protection service that use a credit card for protection

Manage overdraft settings for your account

  1. Step 1: 

    Sign in to usaa.com and select the checking account you'd like to change overdraft settings for.

  2. Step 2: 

    Select “Review Overdraft Options” from “Menu” on usaa.com or “My Account & Card” on the mobile app.

  3. Step 3: 

    Select “Manage Overdraft Setting”.

More ways to help manage your account

  • Overdraft Protection

    You can also choose to enroll an eligible USAA Bank checking, savings or credit card account to help cover transactions in your USAA Bank checking or savings account. If you use a credit card as the protecting account, the transfers are treated as cash advances and are subject to fees and finance charges disclosed in your credit card agreement.

    Set up overdraft protection.

  • Account Alerts

    Text or email notifications can let you know when your balance falls below where you want it to be. They can also let you know when you have deposits, withdrawals, funds on hold or an overdrawn balance.

    Set up account alerts.

What's an available balance?

Your available balance includes all the money in your account you can use for things like making payments or authorizing transactions.

But some items may not count as part of your available balance, such as:

  • Funds that are on hold.
  • Checks you wrote that haven't processed.
  • Pending deposits, transfers or refunds.
  • Pending withdrawals or payments.

You can find your available balance on your account summary page on usaa.com and the USAA Mobile App.

What's posting order?

It's the order we use to add deposits to your account and subtract withdrawals, transfers and payments from it during processing at the end of the business day. And it can affect your available balance.

For more information on available balance and posting order, read the Depository Agreement and Disclosures (Opens in new window).

Overdraft and banking Frequently Asked Questions

Financial advice and tips