Answer:
If your bank has "Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum" checking accounts, and you wish to provide different funds availability on these accounts, you must provide an availability disclosure that accurately describes the availability scheme for each account. If that can be done in one disclosure document with differentiated disclosures within it, that's OK, if it won't confuse your customer. It would also be OK to have a separate disclosure for each availability scheme, if that won't confuse your staff.
The Official Staff Commentary to Section 229.16(a) might prove helpful:
"The disclosure must reflect the policy and practice of the bank regarding availability as to most accounts and most deposits into those accounts. In disclosing the availability policy that it follows in most cases, a bank may provide a single disclosure that reflects one policy to all its transaction account customers, even though some of its customers may receive faster availability than that reflected in the policy disclosure. Thus, a bank need not disclose to some customers that they receive faster availability than indicated in the disclosure. If, however, a bank has a policy of imposing delays in availability on any customers longer than those specified in its disclosure, those customers must receive disclosures that reflect the longer applicable availability periods. A bank may establish different availability policies for different groups of customers, such as customers in a particular geographic area or customers of a particular branch. For purposes of providing a specific availability policy, the bank may allocate customers among groups through good faith use of a reasonable method. A bank may also establish different availability policies for deposits at different locations, such as deposits at a contractual branch."
First published on BankersOnline.com 12/06/04
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