HOT TOPIC QUESTIONS Can t get money out of the ATM? Make sure you know your PIN number. This is a 4 digit number that you created when you activated your card. Do not try more than twice because it will lock you out for 24 hours after the third try. Also, remember to select Withdrawal from Checking from the menu and make sure you take out increments of $10 s and $50 s. How to transfer money out of the account? Answer: Money cannot be transferred out of your account online. However, there are a few different options. (1) Money can be withdrawn from the ATMs on campus anytime up to $500 every 24 hours. (2) A faster option would be to take the NW-SCC One Card to any bank and do a Cash Advance from your card (up to $2,500 a day). You will be charged a minimum $5 fee or 1% of total transfer from Higher One for this transaction in addition to any fees the bank may charge. How am I getting my refunds? Answer: All refunds are sent by Northwest-Shoals to Higher One. Higher One then sends out the money according to the refund option that was selected during activation. The NW-SCC One card is the fastest, with same day turnaround. However, you can also receive your refund via direct deposit to any bank account (2-days) or have a check mailed to you (7-10 days). If you are unsure of which option you chose, you should log into your account and verify. These options can be changed at any time. How do I change the refund option? Answer: The refund option can be changed at anytime. To change your refund option log on to your account at www.nwsccone.com. Under the option [Profile], click on refund preference, You may select to have your refund placed into a OneAccount, a third party bank, or have a check mailed to your primary address. Remember the paper check option will cost $7.00 for every check that is printed. Why is the money going to the NW-SCC OneCard? Answer: Often, the term your money went to the OneCard is used when describing NW-SCC refunds. In actuality, NW-SCC pays your refunds through Higher One (the company that produces your NW-SCC OneCard). Higher One pays your refund to you in the manner you ve selected on our www.nwsccone.com profile. How do I reset my password and unsuspended my account? Answer: To reset your password, log on to the www.nwsccone.com, click Trouble logging in? Supply the requested information about your e-mail address and card information to verify identity. You will then be given 4 numbers. A second set of numbers will be sent to your e-mail address. Together all 8 numbers will be your temporary password. This method can also be used to unsuspend your account. If you wish not to unsuspend your account this way your account will unsuspend automatically in 24 hours. If you do reset your password, be sure to change the numeric code that Higher One supplies, with a password you will remember.
How long does it take the money to hit my account after making a check or money order deposit? Answer: Due to the location of Higher One, it may take several days before your money is placed into your account. Check deposits are sent overnight to Higher One. For this reason it will take about 2-3 business days before the money is put into your account. How is the NW-SCC OneCard related to the OneAccount? Answer: Your NW-SCC OneCard is used to access your OneAccount. In order to use the OneAccount, all you have to do is select to open a OneAccount when you activate your NW-SCC OneCard. Once you have activated your OneAccount, the NW-SCC OneCard also functions as a debit card. This provides you the power to pay wherever MasterCard is accepted; over 24 million locations worldwide. The OneAccount is a debit card (not a credit card) so you also won t have to worry about a bill at the end of the month. Payments are deducted automatically from your OneAccount at the time of your purchase. Why must I activate my NW-SCC OneCard? Answer: Activation of the ID card verifies to Northwest-Shoals Community College that you have received your card. Also the NW-SCC OneCard is your official college identification card. The ID must be presented to university officials upon request. Activation of the OneAccount is only an option. If your card is not activated and you were to receive money from the college you would have no access to it. How to activate your NW-SCC OneCard? Answer: One you receive your NW-SCC OneCard, the activation process takes place online at https://www.nwsccone com. Click the secure link and enter your card number. The online activation process is where you can set your preferences for receiving money from Northwest-Shoals Community College. What does CVV2 mean? Answer: If you need to reset your password for any reason. You might run into a question asking you to enter your CVV2. CVV2 is the Security Code that is printed directly on the back of your card. It is the last three digits that appear after the 4-digit number in the signature panel on the back of your card.
How do I activate my replacement NW-SCC OneCard? Answer: After you report the loss of your NW-SCC OneCard, you should receive your replacement card in the mail. If your original card was already activated you do not need to repeat the same process. Simply log on to your NW-SCC One account and update your status under profile. What should I do if I don t receive my NW-SCC OneCard? Answer: When a card is ordered, you should receive that card in about 7 10 days. If you have not received your card, contact the NW-SCC Cashier s Office on either campus. We will check the status and estimated arrival date of your card order. If the card was not received, we will reorder it and have it sent to the correct address or to the college and we will contact you when it arrives. $.50 Debit card transaction fee Why does Higher One charge it? All Banks are charged when their customers select to enter their PIN when making a purchase. Typically when banks pass these charges onto their customers, they disguise them under some other category such as a monthly checking account fee, maintenance fee, adding it to check costs or a variety of other ways that do not allow the customer to avoid this fee. Higher One educates students about this fee and how to avoid it by encouraging them to select swipe & sign, which will never charge their account. This is important because when making purchases using signature verification, the transactions are covered by MasterCard s Zero Liability Insurance. Remember the NW-SCC OneCard is NOT A CREDIT CARD, it is a Debit MasterCard Card attached to the OneAccount checking account and choosing to open a OneAccount is 100% optional. When purchases are made using a PIN, they are not covered under MasterCard s Zero Liability protection. Zero liability means cardholders will not be held responsible for unauthorized purchases to an account --- provided a PIN is not used as the verification method for the unauthorized transaction. We continuously educate students to swipe and sign. Additionally, when the card is used like a debit MasterCard, the merchants pays a small percent fee, not the customer. Higher One clearly illustrates the OneAccount fees on the front page of www.nwsccone.com under the link OneAccount Banking Fee Schedule as well as multiple locations inside the site.
What can be done to not incur the fee? Students can avoid the PIN fee by selecting Credit when making purchases with their OneCard. As long as purchases are authorized using a signature rather than a PIN, no charges will be applied to the student. Will Higher One consider waiving the fee in the future? Higher One is always evaluating the benefits and fees associated with the OneCard and appreciate any customer input Overdraft Fees Will a transaction be declined if the CH doesn t have enough funds? In some cases a transaction will be declined, but in others it will not. The reason is largely dependant on the merchant and the accountholder. First and foremost, if an accountholder is diligent in managing their account maintaining an accurate record of transactions and account balance, they can ensure they don t make purchases or write checks when sufficient funds are not available to cover the transaction. The other variable in this is the merchant. Some businesses don t check for sufficient funds before pushing through transactions. Other businesses, such as gas stations, are allowed to collect more money than what was originally confirmed to be available. While still other businesses are allowed to hold purchases made on a certain date and push them through at a later date. Higher One has no control over the merchants and how & when they push transactions through so unfortunately we or any other bank using the MasterCard or Visa network can t promise that a transaction will be declined if funds are not available. How do these fees happen? Examples of how these fees happen include: o Customers writing out checks without ensuring there are sufficient funds to cover them
o o o Merchants not checking for sufficient funds before pushing through a transaction, rarely merchants do this. If they are shown to be abusing this their relationship can be terminated by MasterCard and Visa. Merchants pushing through a transaction even when we say no Merchants who are not required to put transactions through until 30 days or more after the actual transaction was made. How does Forced Pay or how do small merchants get approval for purchases that could cause overdraft situations? Merchants Collect without Asking. Because of MasterCard rules, merchants are allowed to force the collection of money from the OneAccount without asking first if there is enough money in the account. If the transaction was not authorized by you and you did not receive goods or services we can reverse the transaction, collect the money back from the merchant and return it to you. In the meantime, the OneAccount may be overdrawn. How do we compare to other banks? Overdraft charges are a common fee charged by most banks. Higher One has recently lowered the fee charged for a customers first Overdraft. The fee only increases if a customer Overdrafts within 12 months of a prior Overdraft. Inactivity Fee How is this fee incurred? The fee is charged to any account where there has been 9 months of inactivity. In order to better accommodate the semester year, Higher One recently extended the inactivity period from 6 to 9 months. Once an account reaches 9 months of inactivity, a $19 fee will be charged the account. The account will continue to be charged this fee until it reaches a zero balance, at which time it will be closed. At no time will the inactivity fee place the account in negative standing or force an overdraft fee. For example, if an account reaches 9 months of inactivity and has a balance of $9 a fee of $9 will be charged to
the account to bring it down to zero, at which time it will be closed. A student may reopen the OneAccount at anytime for no charge. Why is it necessary? Higher One pays a fee to keep all accounts open as part of being FDIC insured. Having open accounts with no activity is costly to the company and its customers. Higher One wants to protect our active customers and keep fees down for them. Rather than increasing other fees for our active customers to cover these costs, Higher One has chosen to close inactive accounts. How does it compare to other institutions? This is a common fee charged by banks including Citibank, Wachovia and US Bank to name a few.