Overdrafts

If a bank honors a check written by a political committee with insufficient funds in its checking or savings account, no contribution from the bank results as long as the overdraft:

• Is made on an account subject to automatic overdraft protection;
• Is subject to a definite interest rate which is the usual and customary rate; and
• Is subject to a definite repayment schedule.

An overdraft that does not meet the conditions is a prohibited contribution. Note that if the overdraft protection is based on a line of credit extended by the bank, draws on that line of credit must be disclosed on Schedule C-1.

Reporting bounced checks

If a committee reports the receipt of a check and later finds it cannot be negotiated because of insufficient funds in the donor’s account, the committee deducts the amount from its next report as follows:

• If the receipt was not itemized in a previous report, deduct the amount of the check from the total for unitemized contributions (Line 11(a)(ii) on the Detailed Summary Page).
• If the receipt was itemized previously, itemize the return of the check as a negative entry on a Schedule A for the appropriate line number.

Checks received and returned by the bank in the same reporting period do not need to be reported.