Glossary - S

A type of safe usually located in groups inside a financial institution vault and rented to customers for their use in storing valuable items.

A document signed by a lender indicating that a mortgage has been fully paid and all debts satisfied. The document must be filed with the County Recorder (or Recorder of Deeds) to clear the title.

A charge assessed by a depository institution for processing transactions and maintaining accounts.

Fees paid at a loan closing. May include application fees; title examination, abstract of title, title insurance, and property survey fees; fees for preparing deeds, mortgages, and settlement documents; attorneys’ fees; recording fees; estimated costs of taxes and insurance; and notary, appraisal, and credit report fees. Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the borrower receives a “good faith” estimate of closing costs within three days of application. The good faith estimate lists each expected cost either as an amount or as a range.

Credit unions call savings accounts share accounts because at a credit union you are a part owner of the credit union. By example, if you own a piece of a company you own a share of stock. If you have an account at a credit union, you have a share account.

A form of savings instrument where the member agrees to maintain the deposit in the credit union for a specific period of time in exchange for interest payments. Early withdrawal of the share certificate generally includes an early withdrawal penalty.

Credit unions call checking accounts share draft accounts. Share draft accounts are a transaction accounts.

A card signed by each depositor and customer of a financial institution, which may be used as a means of identification. The signature card represents a contract between the financial institution and the depositor.

A combination of “SMS” and phishing. Smishing uses cell phone text messages or SMS (Short Message Service) to deliver a message in order to get you to divulge your personal and financial information. The method used to obtain information in the text message may be a web site URL; however, it has become more common to see a phone number that connects to an automated voice response system.

An area defined on a Flood Insurance Rate Map with an associated risk of flooding.

A check/share draft presented to a paying financial institution 180 days (6 months) or more after the original issue date. Financial institutions are not required by the Uniform Commercial Code to honor stale-dated checks/share drafts and can return them to the issuing financial institution unpaid. The maker of a check/share draft can discourage late presentment by writing the words "not good after X days" on the back of the check.

The organization in each State that supervises the operations and affairs of State financial institutions. Complaints against a state chartered credit union must be directed to the state banking department where the credit union is located.

A credit union organized under the laws of a State and chartered by that State to conduct the business of banking. Most state chartered credit unions are federally insured but a few have private deposit insurance guaranteed by an insurance company.

A summary of all transactions that occurred over the preceding month and could be associated with a deposit account or loan account.

An order not to pay a check or share draft that has been issued but not yet cashed. If requested soon enough, the check will not be debited to the payer's account. Most financial institutions charge a fee for this service.

Loans made, insured, or guaranteed under any program authorized by the Higher Education Act. Loan funds are used by the borrower for education purposes.

A substitute check is a paper copy of the front and back of the original check. A substitute check is slightly larger than a standard personal check so that it can contain a picture of your original check. A substitute check is legally the same as the original check if it accurately represents the information on the original check and includes the following statement: “This is a legal copy of your check. You can use it the same way you would use the original check.” The substitute check must also have been handled by a financial institution. Substitute checks were created under Check 21, the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, which became effective on October 28, 2004.