SAN JUAN — Banco Popular announced significant changes to its overdraft practices, including eliminating the charge for insufficient funds for returned transactions. The bank becomes the first financial institution from Puerto Rico to eliminate this fee.
Banco Popular also eliminated overdraft fees on transactions of five dollars ($5.00) or less paid against insufficient funds, as well as the fees charged for maintaining overdrawn accounts. Transactions greater than five dollars ($5.00) paid against insufficient funds will continue to be charged the overdraft fee of $15.00.
The changes, effective August 26, 2022, apply to retail and commercial accounts.
“We evaluate constantly the needs of the communities we serve. These changes are the result of a continuous effort to identify opportunities where we can make banking easier, safer and more equitable for our customers,” said Javier Ferrer, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Popular.
Over the years, the bank has made changes to its overdraft practices to benefit its customers. Some of these include the implementation of daily limits on overdraft fees on both paid and returned transactions, and the elimination of overdraft finance charges.
Banco Popular has a variety of products and services available for its customers to avoid overdraft fees. For example, for consumer accounts, “Cuenta Popular” available in Puerto Rico, and the “Popular Checking Account”, available for Virgin Islands clients, has no overdraft fees and is certified by Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, a prestigious non-profit entity. This was achieved after the bank met the Bank On National Account Standards for transactional accounts that are considered safe and affordable.
The institution also offers reserve lines of credit, which allow transactions to be authorized when there are insufficient funds without generating an overdraft fee. It also provides Mi Banco Alerts, where customers can choose to be notified when their account falls below a certain balance. In addition, customers can check their balances through Mi Banco Mobile or Web Cash Manager, at Banco Popular’s more than 550 ATMs or by calling TeleBanco Popular®.
For more information, please visit popular.vi/overdraft-policy/