Choice 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,” and “Lender” mean Whatcom Educational Credit Union. 
The word “Card” means any one or more credit card(s) issued to you under the Credit Union’s WECU® Choice 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 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, ext. 7360. 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.
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 Whatcom 
Educational Credit Union, 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 Call Center.

7. Interest Charge. An Interest Charge will be imposed on the portion 
of purchases included in the New Balance that remains unpaid within 25 
days after the closing date (within 23 days for the February statement due 
March 10th). 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 unpaid purchase transactions from the date of purchase. Your Account 
has a variable rate feature and the Periodic Rate and corresponding Annual 
Percentage Rate (Interest Rate) and the number of payments may change 
as a result. 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 number of the 

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Choice Visa Credit Card Agreement

monthly payments you will make. 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. We add a margin to 
the index, based on your creditworthiness. The margin for purchases, cash 
advances and balance transfers will fall within a range based upon your 
credit worthiness: 9.9% to 19.9%. 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 monthly Periodic Rate (the Annual 
Percentage Rate divided by 12; for example, an APR of 9.9% would have 
a Periodic Rate of 0.825%), 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 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), using convenience checks 
and balance transfer coupons, and authorizing transactions with your 
account number over the phone or Internet. 

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. 

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 $10.00 or more, refund it on 
your written request or automatically after 90 days. 
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. 
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. 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. 
16. 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. 
17. Credit Card Billing Rights. 

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Choice Visa Credit Card Agreement

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.

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 

• Account information: Your name and account number.

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 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 beven made in your home state or within 
100 miles of your current mailing address, and the purchase price must 
have been more than $50. (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 at the above address. 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. 

• 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 

wecu.com

800-525-8703

PO Box 9750
Bellingham, WA 98227-9750

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Insured by NCUA
07/2018