Overdraft Protection

First Merchants Overdraft Helper™

Overdraft Helper™ is our way of assisting when your account is overdrawn, helping you avoid an overdraft fee. As with our standard overdraft practice, we pay overdrafts at our discretion based on your account history.

How it works:

If your resulting balance is overdrawn by $50 or less as of the end of the business day, you pay $0 in overdraft fees. You have four free business days to rebalance your account without incurring continuous overdraft fees.

Eligibility:

First Merchants Overdraft Helper™ does not require enrollment and comes with most First Merchants Personal Checking Accounts. Simple Access accounts do not allow overdrafts in any circumstance.

Fees:

You have 5 business days to bring your balance positive. If it’s still negative after the close of business on day 5, a daily $8 overdraft fee will begin.

Overdraft Protection Transfers:

Use another First Merchants account as a backup in case your checking account is overdrawn. We’ll automatically transfer funds if you need them.

How it works:

If your checking account is overdrawn, we’ll automatically transfer funds from your linked account to cover the negative balance, in $50 increments.

For example: if three items totaling $325 are presented against your account with a balance of $45, we would transfer $300 from your linked account and approve the items, leaving you with a balance of $20 in your account.

Eligibility:

You must link an eligible First Merchants account to use this service. You can do so by stopping into a branch or calling our Customer Care team at 1.800.205.3464.

Fees:

As long as there are enough funds available in your linked account to cover the overdraft amount, you will not be charged an overdraft fee. If there are not enough funds, you will be charged according to our Standard Overdraft Practices. Overdraft Helper will not kick in if an account is set up for transfers from another account.

Ready Reserve:

Use a First Merchants line of credit as an automatic backup to your checking account.*

How it works:

If your account is overdrawn, we will transfer funds from a First Merchants credit line to cover the negative balance.

For example: If three items totaling $325 are presented against your account with a balance of $45, we would transfer $280 from your Ready Reserve credit line and approve the items, leaving you with a balance of $0 in your account.

Eligibility:

Ready Reserve is a First Merchants unsecured line of credit opened specifically for the purpose of overdraft protection transfers. You can also link a new or existing First Merchants Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC). Stop into a branch or schedule an appointment with a banker to get started with either option.

Fees:

There is a $50 annual fee – please ask us for more details. We will begin charging interest on the amount you borrow the day that funds are deposited into your account. As with many of our credit line offerings, interest rates are variable.

*Subject to credit approval.