SureBalance Checking

Community First Credit Union membership is open to anyone who lives, works, or attends school in one of the following Florida counties: Baker, Brevard, Broward, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Martin, Nassau, Orange, Palm Beach, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, or Volusia.

Membership is also open to any relative of an existing or eligible Community First Credit Union of Florida member. We also offer membership to select employer groups, including employees of Brooks Rehabilitation, Miller Electric Company, and Web.com. Not sure if you qualify? Contact us.

Your SureBalance Checking Account

When you are approved for a SureBalance Checking Account, the credit union will automatically issue you a Visa Debit Card that may be used for Point-of-Sale (POS) purchases and ATM transactions including deposits and withdrawals. Your debit card is not associated with a rewards program.

Authorization Holds for Debit Card Transactions

The available balance in your account plays a significant role in the functionality of your account. The available balance will determine if you have sufficient funds in your account at the time of authorization. When you make a purchase with your debit card, the merchant may seek the credit union’s prior authorization for the transaction. We may place a hold against some or all of the funds in the account linked to your debit card if and when an authorization request is obtained. This authorization hold will be subtracted from your available balance (generally in real time as they are received by the credit union throughout the day). The amount of the authorization hold may differ from the actual transaction amount because the actual transaction amount may not yet be known to the merchant when the authorization request is submitted (such as gas station, restaurants, and other service industry purchases).

The credit union will place a debit card authorization hold on your account for up to three (3) business days from the time of the authorization.  Please note most transactions post to your account and release the authorization within 24 hours.

Effect of Holds on Your Available Balance and Overdrafts.  Holds placed on your account for pending electronic transactions, such as hotel or rental car deposits, holds placed on any deposits to your account, any pledges of your account and any minimum account balance requirements may reduce your available balance and may cause your account to become overdrawn regardless of your actual balance.  The Credit Union can decide whether an overdraft occurs based on your available balance or your actual balance as determined by the Credit Union in its sole discretion from time to time.  However, you should assume that any item which would overdraft your account based on your then-current available balance may create an overdraft.

Other Terms and Conditions

You may not order personal checks to draw against your SureBalance Checking Account. You may use our Online Banking service to check on your account balance, transfer funds, set up account alerts, and other financial management programs. Additionally, you can use other Online Banking services such as online Bill Pay. Overdraft Privilege is not available with your SureBalance Checking Account. You are responsible for all transactions you authorize, including any ACH transactions or payments you unintentionally or inadvertently authorized, and any losses, charges or penalties incurred as a result.

To help you avoid overdrawing your account, check and ACH transactions will be declined and returned unpaid when you don’t have enough money in your account. This may cause your account to have a negative balance and/or incur a non-sufficient fee. It is very important to understand that you may still overdraw your account even though the available balance appears to show there are sufficient funds to cover a transaction.

In most cases, this account will prevent you overdrawing; however, your account could still have a negative balance if:

• Your debit card is used to pay for a meal and then a tip is added to the authorized amount that appears on your receipt
• Your debit card is used to purchase gas at the pump and is authorized for $1 first, then the full amount is charged after you pump the gas
• Any previous deposit to your account is returned unpaid or otherwise reversed from your account

You may incur fees related to this account, including but not limited to our normal checking account fees, online banking fees, and non-sufficient funds fees. Please see the Consumer Fee Schedule for the current fees that may apply to your account. 

Your use of your SureBalance Checking Account is governed by the terms of this Clarity Statement and the Consumer Membership Agreement. Please refer to the Consumer Membership Agreement for additional terms related to your SureBalance Checking Account.

Your best defense against fraud

Community First monitors fraudulent or suspicious account activity and may proactively contact a member about this activity, we will never call and ask for confidential information such as your entire account number or PIN.

Contact 904.354.8537 if you have provided confidential information.

How it works:

The system allows you to receive automated fraud alerts, text messages, emails, and even automated calls that easily walk you through reviewing suspicious activity on your card.

Our system enables:

1. Immediate alerts - When suspicious activity has been detected on your account, we don’t wait for an agent to dial your number – our automated system will contact you by text, phone or email.
2. 2-Way Communication - You can take action the second you receive your alert – by texting the provided command word, or interacting with the automated system on the phone; simply follow the instructions to answer questions regarding your recent card activity.
3. Real-time Support - Our live agents are ready to assist you at any time to ensure you receive the best defense exactly when you need it.You do not need to register for this service, alerts will be sent to you automatically. Please review and update your mobile phone number and email address in Online / Mobile Banking, so we can send you important fraud alerts about your account.

• Your social security number
• A valid U.S. driver’s license, passport, or state ID
• If this is your first account with Community First Credit Union, an initial deposit of $5 in a Share Savings Account is required to establish membership.
• Account information to fund the new account (credit, debit, or a U.S. bank account).

You cannot write checks with a SureBalance Checking account. However, you can easily transfer money and pay bills using our free Online and Mobile Banking services.

Looking for an account with check-writing capabilities? Consider our Advantage Checking or Bonus Debit Checking options—both are free to open with no monthly maintenance fees.

The Save My Change program^*** allows you to save every time you swipe your debit card. When you enroll, we automatically round up your debit card purchase to the nearest whole dollar amount and put the change in the savings account of your choice.

Essentially, Save My Change is the equivalent of a change jar for your debit card. You can easily enroll by opting into Save My Change in Online or Mobile Banking.

Log into Online Banking or our Mobile Banking app.

• Navigate to the menu and select Account Management
• Click or tap Save My Change and enroll

That’s it. Now, you'll save every time you swipe the debit card for your enrolled Checking account. Don’t forget to log back in and track your progress in Online or Mobile Banking.

All Community First Checking accounts can receive direct deposits up to two days early with Priority Pay^**. So, if your paycheck is a direct deposit, you can get it sooner, too! Other than enrolling in direct deposit, there’s no action required to have your payment posted earlier.

The early posting of each direct deposit is contingent upon Community First receiving the funds from the sender, and in most cases, it is available a day or two early.