Choice and Secured Variable Visa Credit Card Agreement

This Agreement covers this Visa Credit Card account, issued by Whatcom Educational Credit Union (WECU). In this Agreement the 
words “you,” “your,” “yours,” “applicant,” and “Borrowers” mean any person who signs the application for this Account, any joint obligor, 
guarantor, authorized user, or the person whose name is embossed on the Card. The words “we,” “us,” “our,” “Lender,” and “the Credit 
Union” mean WECU. The word “Card” means any one or more credit card(s) issued to you under the Credit Union’s WECU Choice Visa 
and Secured Variable Visa Card program. If you sign an application for this Account or sign or use any Card or PIN, or allow others to use 
the Card or PIN, you and they will have accepted this Agreement just as if you and they signed it, and you and they, jointly and severally, 
will be bound by the following terms and conditions and Account Interest Rates and Charges disclosures accompanying this Agreement, 
which will govern this Account.

Keep this document for future use. This notice contains information about your rights and our responsibilities under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

TO REPORT A LOST OR STOLEN VISA CARD: During regular business hours call WECU. After hours and weekends call 800-682-6075.

1. Responsibility. If we issue you a Card, by signing or using your 
Card or account number for any transaction, you agree to repay all 
debts and the Interest Charge arising from the use of the Card 
and the Card account. For example, you are responsible for charges 
made by yourself, your spouse and minor children. You are also 
responsible for charges made by anyone else to whom you give the 
Card, and this responsibility continues until the Card is recovered. 
You cannot disclaim responsibility by notifying us, but we will close 
the account for new transactions if you so request and return all 
Cards. Your obligation to pay the account balance continues even 
though an agreement, divorce decree or other court judgment to 
which we are not a party may direct you or one of the other persons 
responsible to pay the account. Any person using the Card is jointly 
responsible with you for charges he or she makes, but if that person 
signs the Card he or she becomes a party to this agreement and 
is also jointly responsible for all charges on the account, including 
yours.
2. Lost Card Notification. If you believe the Card has been lost or 
stolen, you will report it immediately. During regular business hours, 
call the Credit Union at 360-676-1168 or 800-525-8703, press 1. 
After hours and on weekends call 800-682-6075.
3. Liability for Unauthorized Use. You agree to notify us 
immediately, orally or in writing, of the loss, theft or unauthorized use 
of your Credit Card. If you notify us of your lost or stolen credit card 
after discovery, you may not be liable for any losses related to credit 
transactions. You may not be liable for an unauthorized transaction, 
as long as you have exercised reasonable care in safeguarding 
the Card from risk of loss or theft, and upon becoming aware, you 
promptly report the loss or theft to us, otherwise your liability for 
unauthorized credit card transactions shall not exceed $50.00.
4. Credit Line. If we approve your application, we will establish a 
self-replenishing Line of Credit for you and notify you of its amount 
when we issue the Card. You agree not to let the account balance 
exceed this approved Credit Line. Each payment you make on the 
account will restore your Credit Line by the amount of the payment, 
which is applied to principal. You may request an increase in 
your Credit Line only by written application to us, which must be 
approved by our credit committee or loan officer. By giving you 
written notice our credit committee may reduce your Credit Line from 
time to time, or with good cause, revoke your Card and terminate 
this Agreement. Good cause includes your failure to comply with this 
agreement or our adverse reevaluation of your credit worthiness. 
You may also terminate this Agreement at any time, but termination 
by either of us does not affect your obligation to pay the account 
balance. The Cards remain our property and you must recover and 
surrender to us all Cards upon our request and upon termination of 

this Agreement.
5. Credit Information. You authorize us to investigate your credit 
standing when opening, renewing or reviewing your account, and 
you authorize us to disclose information regarding your account 
to credit bureaus and other creditors who inquire of us about your 
credit standing, to the extent authorized in our bylaws.
6. Monthly Payment.
A. Minimum Monthly payment. We will mail you a statement 
every month if your account has a balance. You agree that you will 
pay each month not less than the minimum monthly payment on 
or before the scheduled monthly due date. The minimum monthly 
payment will be 3.0% of your outstanding balance (“New Balance”) 
or $20.00, whichever is greater. If your outstanding balance is 
$20.00 or less, you agree to pay the balance in full. You may pay 
in full for all your purchases and cash advances each month, 
or you may repay in monthly installments. We can accept late 
payments or partial payments, or checks, drafts, or money orders 
marked “payment in full” without prejudice to our rights under this 
Agreement, which are hereby explicitly reserved. A credit posting 
from a merchant or reversal of fees do not constitute a minimum 
payment. The minimum monthly payment may be allocated at 
the Credit Union’s discretion to pay off lower rate balances, such 
as promotional offers, before higher rate balances, such as cash 
advances or purchases. Payments in excess of the minimum 
monthly payment will be allocated first to higher rate balances, 
as applicable. From time to time, we may allow you to skip your 
minimum monthly payment due. If you choose to skip this payment, 
Interest Charges will continue to accrue in accordance with this 
Agreement. Payments received at WECU, PO Box 9750, Bellingham 
WA 98227 at or before 5:00pm Pacific Time on any business day 
will be credited to your Account as of that date; payments received 
by mail at that address after 5:00pm Pacific Time, on a weekend 
or federal holiday will be posted to your Account as of the next 
business day. Payment crediting to your Account may be delayed up 
to five days if your payment is received by mail at any other address 
or not accompanied by the remittance portion of your Account 
statement.
B. Payment method. You may make your monthly payment by 
either an electronic or manual payment method. Electronic payment 
methods include payment transfers made through Online Banking, 
Telephone Banking, periodic preauthorized debits or payroll 
deduction. Manual payment methods include payments made in 
person, by mail, or telephone instructions through the Contact 
Center.
7. Interest Charge. An Interest Charge will be imposed on 
purchases included in the New Balance that remain unpaid on the 

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10th day of the month following the billing cycle. This “grace period” 
allows you to avoid an Interest Charge on purchases for a billing 
cycle. However, if you do not pay the New Balance for purchases 
within the grace period, your Interest Charge will accrue on any 
purchase transaction from the date of purchase. Your Account has 
a variable rate feature and the Periodic Rate and corresponding 
Annual Percentage Rate (Interest Rate). The Interest Rate is based 
on the value of an index and can change monthly effective the first 
day of the billing cycle. The index is: The Wall Street Journal Prime 
rate on the first day of each month as published in The Wall Street 
Journal, divided by 3 and rounded up to the nearest .50%. We 
add a margin of 8.4, 11.4 or 18.4 to the index. The margin we add 
is based on your creditworthiness. The total of the index plus the 
margin amount that we add is the Interest Rate. The Interest Rate 
includes only interest and no other costs. Any increase or decrease 
in the Interest Rate will affect the amount and number of the monthly 
payments you will make. The amount of the margin and the current 
Interest Rate that will apply to your Account will be disclosed with 
your Card.
Interest Charges are calculated at the daily Periodic Rate (the 
Annual Percentage Rate divided by 365; for example, an APR of 
13.4% would have a daily Periodic Rate of 0.036712%), on the 
average daily balances of purchases, balance transfers and cash 
advances in the account. We figure the Periodic Interest Charge 
on your Account by applying the Periodic Rate to the “Average 
Daily Balance” of the account including current purchases and 
cash advances for your Account. We take the beginning purchase 
and cash advance balances of your Account each day, add any 
new purchases and cash advances and subtract any payments or 
credits, unpaid Interest Charges and unpaid late charges to get 
the daily balance. We then add up all the daily balances and divide 
by the number of days in the billing cycle to get the Average Daily 
Balance. The Interest Charge is determined by multiplying the 
average daily balance by the number of days in the billing cycle 
and applying the Periodic Rate to the amount. No Interest Charge 
is imposed on purchases to the extent payments and credits 
for purchases are made on or before the 10th day of the month 
following the previous billing cycle.
8. Other Charges. Your account will be subject to other charges 
including, without limitation, a NSF check charge $5.00; a late 
charge of up to $25.00 will be assessed if your payment is not 
received within 10 days of the date due; copies of drafts $12.00; 
plastic replacement cost of $5.00.
9. ATM Fees. If you use an ATM to obtain a cash advance and 
the ATM is not operated by us, you may be charged an ATM 
surcharge by the ATM operator or an ATM network utilized for such 
a transaction. The ATM surcharge may be charged to your account if 
you complete the transaction.
10. Default. You will be in default if your payments are not made 
when due. You will also be in default if your ability to repay us is 
materially reduced by a change in your employment, an increase 
in your obligations, bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings involving 
you, your death or your failure to abide by this Agreement, or if 
the value of our security interest materially declines. We have the 
right to demand immediate payment of your full account balance 
if you default, subject to our giving you any notice required by law. 
To the extent permitted by law, you will also be required to pay our 
collection expenses, including court costs and reasonable attorney’s 

fees.
11. Accessing Your Account. You may access your Account by 
using your Card and Personal Identification Number (PIN), balance 
transfer coupons, or authorizing transactions with your account 
number over the phone or Internet. Additionally, you may access 
your available balance via Online or Mobile Banking.
A. Card use. To make a purchase or cash advance, you must 
comply with the Credit Union’s procedures for authorizing such 
transactions. You may present your Card to a participating Visa 
plan merchant, to us or to another financial institution, and sign the 
sales or cash advance draft which will be imprinted with your Card. 
You may complete the transaction by using your PIN in conjunction 
with the Card in an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) or other type 
of electronic terminal that provides access to the Visa system. You 
may authorize a purchase transaction with merchants by providing 
your Card account number and expiration date for transactions 
over the telephone or Internet. The monthly statement will identify 
the merchant, electronic terminal or financial institution at which 
transactions were made, but sales, cash advance, and credit or 
other slips cannot be returned with the statement. You will retain 
the copy of such slips furnished at the time of the transaction in 
order to verify the monthly statement. The Credit Union may make a 
reasonable charge for photocopies of sales slips you may request. 
You may not use the Card for any illegal or unlawful transaction, 
including Internet gambling transactions, and we may decline to 
authorize any transaction that we believe poses an undue risk of 
illegality or unlawfulness.
B. Balance transfer coupons. If the Credit Union approves, you 
may access your account and obtain advances by signing a balance 
transfer coupon and authorizing the Credit Union to pay off existing 
obligations of other financial institutions. Your use of a balance 
transfer coupon will be shown as a credit advance on your monthly 
statement. The Credit Union may not complete your balance transfer 
request if the transfer advance would exceed your credit limit or your 
account has been terminated or suspended.
C. Online and Mobile Banking Cash Advance. You must be 
enrolled in Online Banking in order to access your line of credit 
via Online or Mobile Banking. Utilizing the transfer function within 
Online or Mobile Banking to access your line of credit will result in a 
cash advance and be reflected as such on your monthly statement. 
WECU may not complete your transfer advance request if the 
transfer advance would exceed your credit limit or your account has 
been terminated or suspended.
12. Returns and Adjustments. Merchants and others who honor 
the Card may give credit for returns or adjustments, and they will do 
so by sending us a credit slip, which we will post to your account. 
If your credits and payments exceed what you owe us, we will hold 
and apply this credit balance against future purchases and cash 
advances, or if it is $1.00 or more, refund it on your written request 
in good faith after six months.
13. Currency Conversion / Foreign Transactions. Purchases 
and cash advances made in foreign countries will be billed to 
you in U.S. dollars. The currency conversion rate for international 
transactions as established by Visa International, Inc. is a rate 
selected by Visa from the range of rates available in wholesale 
currency markets for the applicable central processing date, which 
may vary from the rate Visa itself receives, or the government-
mandated rate in effect for the applicable central processing date.

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14. Plan Merchant Disputes. We are not responsible for the 
refusal of any plan merchant or financial institution to honor your 
Card. We are subject to claims and defenses (other than tort claims) 
arising out of goods or services you purchase with the Card only 
if you have made a good faith attempt, but have been unable to 
obtain satisfaction from the plan merchant, and (a) your purchase 
was made in response to an advertisement we sent or participated 
in sending you; or (b) your purchase cost more than $50.00 and was 
made from a plan merchant in your state or within 100 miles of your 
home. Any other disputes you must resolve directly with the plan 
merchant.
15. Inactivity.  After 12 months of inactivity, as a fraud prevention 
measure, WECU will place a block on your Credit Card. If you wish 
to unblock your card please contact WECU.
16. Security Interest. You grant the Credit Union a security interest 
under the Washington Uniform Commercial Code in any goods 
purchased with your Card. You agree that all collateral you have 
given the Credit Union to secure other consumer loan obligations 
(except dwelling secured loans), in the past and in the future, will 
secure your obligations under this Agreement. In addition, by signing 
the Card Application, you have given the Credit Union a security 
interest in all your deposits, present and future, and all accounts 
(except Individual Retirement Accounts) with the Credit Union and 
you agree, upon default, the Credit Union may apply all that is 
secured to pay any amounts due under this Agreement, without 
further notice to you.
17. Effect of Agreement. This Agreement is the contract that 
applies to all transactions on your account even though the sales, 
cash advance, credit or other slips you sign or receive may contain 
different terms. We may amend this agreement from time to time 
by sending you the advanced written notice required by law. Your 
use of the Card thereafter will indicate your agreement to the 
amendments. To the extent law permits, and we indicate in our 
notice, amendments will apply to your existing account balance as 
well as to future transactions. 
18. Credit Card Billing Rights.
What To Do If You Find A Mistake On Your Statement.  
If you think there is an error on your statement, write to us at the 
Credit Union address on your statement.
• Account information: Your name and account number.
• Dollar amount: The dollar amount of the suspected error.
• Description of the problem: If you think there is an error 
on your bill, describe what you believe is wrong and why 
you believe it is a mistake.

You must contact us:
• Within 60 days after the error appeared on your statement.
• At least 3 business days before an automated payment is 
scheduled, if you want to stop payment on the amount you 
think is wrong.

You must notify us of any potential errors in writing. You may call us, 
but if you do, we are not required to investigate any potential errors 
and you may have to pay the amount in question.
What Will Happen After We Receive Your Letter.  
When we receive your letter, we must do two things:

(1) Within 30 days of receiving your letter, we must tell you that 
we received your letter. We will also tell you if we have already 
corrected the error.

(2) Within 90 days of receiving your letter, we must either correct 
the error or explain to you why we believe the bill is correct.

While we investigate whether or not there has been an error:
• We cannot try to collect the amount in question or report 

you as delinquent on that amount.

• The charge in question may remain on your statement, and 
we may continue to charge you interest on that amount.
• While you do not have to pay the amount in question, you 

are responsible for the remainder of your balance.

• We can apply any unpaid amount against your credit limit. 
After we finish our investigation, one of two things will happen:
• If we made a mistake: You will not have to pay the amount 
in question or any interest or other fees related to that 
amount.

• If we do not believe there was a mistake: You will have to 
pay the amount in question, along with applicable interest 
and fees. We will send you a statement of the amount you 
owe and the date payment is due. We may then report you 
as delinquent if you do not pay the amount we think you 
owe.

If you receive our explanation but still believe your bill is wrong, 
you must write to us within 10 days telling us that you still refuse to 
pay. If you do so, we cannot report you as delinquent without also 
reporting that you are questioning your bill. We must tell you the 
name of anyone to whom we reported you as delinquent, and we 
must let those organizations know when the matter has been settled 
between us. If we do not follow the rules above, you do not have to 
pay the first $50.00 of the amount you question even if your bill is 
correct.
Your Rights If You Are Dissatisfied With Your Credit Card 
Purchases. If you are dissatisfied with the goods or services that 
you have purchased with your credit card, and you have tried in 
good faith to correct the problem with the merchant, you may have 
the right not to pay the remaining amount due on the purchase. To 
use this right, all of the following must be true:

(1) The purchase must have been made in your home state 
or within 100 miles of your current mailing address, and the 
purchase price must have been more than $50.00. (Note: 
Neither of these is necessary if your purchase was based on an 
advertisement we mailed to you, or if we own the company that 
sold you the good or services.)
(2) You must have used your credit card for the purchase. 
Purchases made with cash advances from an ATM or with a 
check that accesses your credit card account do not qualify.
(3) You must not yet have fully paid for the purchase.

If all of the criteria above are met and you are still dissatisfied with 
the purchase, contact us in writing. While we investigate, the same 
rules apply to the disputed amount as discussed above. After we 
finish our investigation, we will tell you our decision. At that point, if 
we think you owe an amount and you do not pay, we may report you 
as delinquent. 

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wecu.com | 800-525-8703 | PO Box 9750, Bellingham, WA 98227