New Holiday Reunions and Traditions: COVID-19 Edition

Home Blog New Holiday Reunions and Traditions: COVID-19 Edition

Posted On: October 19, 2020 by Peoples Bank of Kankakee County in: Family General Seasonal

Ever since COVID-19 struck the world, the way we communicate with family and friends as we know it has completely changed. With the holiday season quickly approaching, the need to be socially distanced can get in the way of the annual family get-together you’re used to. This year can be the start of new and exciting traditions along with creative reunions so you and your loved ones can remain connected while staying safe.

COVID-19 Friendly Reunions

To begin, we’ve provided you with some fun reunion ideas for the families that want to spend time together this holiday season while keeping social distancing in mind.

Online Reunion: The most obvious and simple option for a COVID-19 friendly reunion is to use a video chatting service such as Zoom. This is a fun way to visually catch up with your loved ones online while remaining a safe distance apart. To make the reunion even more fun, each family can set up their device at the end of the dinner table so you can have a virtual “family dinner” with some fun conversation.
Yard Reunion: Pick a day with nice weather and break out the lawn chairs! Have each family pack their own meals and bring lawn chairs. Set up the groups of chairs to be 6 feet apart, sit in a big circle and enjoy your family dinner!
Game Night Reunion: With today’s advanced technology, playing online games with multiple players is easier than ever. You can either play basic games like Pictionary over Zoom, or you can tune into one of these virtual games on your own devices. Who doesn’t love a fun family game night?

COVID-19 Friendly Traditions

Nobody is 100% sure when things will go back to normal, so one way to look at this year in a positive way is to create new holiday traditions.

Social Media Group: While social media platforms make it easy to stay updated on all of your friends’ and family members’ lives, creating a specific group for your family can make it even more personal. Choose a social media platform such as Facebook and create a group including your loved ones. Here, you can post status updates, photos, videos, comments, live videos, etc., all year round. Not only is this a great way to communicate during the holidays at a distance, but it keeps family members connected beyond the holiday season.
Use the Mail: Take it back to simpler times by writing letters to your loved ones. This is a great idea if you have young children, too, since they can draw pictures for their grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members. Because giving Christmas gifts hand-to-hand may not be an option this year, another tradition to start is to send heartfelt and creative care packages. Find a cardboard box and decorate it with drawings, notes, candy and holiday goodies such as hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, candles, etc. This can become a fun tradition for family members of any age!
Baking Contests: Using your new social media group, a fun family activity is to put on a contest between families or individual family members. For Christmastime, you can have a holiday cookie decorating contest where each person posts a picture of their finished result. You can have designated judges, or all the participants can cast their votes to find the winner. The best part about this tradition is that it can be done any time of the year! Instead of Christmas cookies, you can do a caramel apple decorating contest for the fall, an Easter egg decorating contest for the spring and so on.

This pandemic may be messing up your typical family reunion and holiday traditions for the year but try looking at it in a positive light and a find ways to make new memories. Just as your daily life is changing due to COVID-19, we are continuously making changes to how we operate to ensure a safe banking experience for our customers. To stay updated on these changes, visit our website and contact us with any questions. Happy memory-making from Peoples Bank of Kankakee County!

An overdraft occurs when you do not have enough money in your account to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway. We can cover your overdrafts in two different ways:

We have standard overdraft practices that are available after your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing.
We also offer an overdraft protection plan, Overdraft Protection Sweep, a link to a savings account. It may be less expensive than our standard overdraft practices. To learn more, ask us about this plan.

This notice explains our standard overdraft practices.

What are the standard overdraft practices that come with my account?

After your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing, we do authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions:

Checks and other transactions made using your checking account number
Automatic bill payments

We do not authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions unless you ask us to (see below):

ATM transactions
Everyday debit card transactions

We pay overdrafts at our discretion, which means we do not guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of transaction.

If we do not authorize and pay an overdraft, your transaction will be declined.

What fees will I be charged if Peoples Bank of Kankakee County pays my overdraft?

Under our standard overdraft practices:

We will charge you a fee of up to $30 each time we pay an overdraft.
The maximum daily overdraft fee per presentment or item paid using the Overdraft Reserve Program is $150.00 per day.
No per item handling fee will be charged on de minimis overdrafts. De minimis overdraft for this policy means transactions that overdraw your account by $30 or less.
There is an overdraft fee of $5 per day that will be charged beginning the 4th consecutive business day your account is overdrawn.

Nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees - if an item drafted by you (such as a check) or a transaction you set up (such as a preauthorized transfer) is presented for payment in an amount that is more than the amount of money in your account and we decide not to pay the item or transaction, you agree that we can charge you an NSF fee for returning the payment. Be aware that such an item or payment may be presented multiple times by the merchant or other payee until it is paid, and that we do not monitor or control the number of times a transaction is presented for payment. You agree that we may charge you an NSF fee each time a payment is presented if the amount of money in your account is not sufficient to cover the payment, regardless of the number of times the payment is presented.

PAYMENT ORDER OF ITEMS - The law permits us to pay items drawn on your account in any order (for purposes of this section "items" means checks, orders and electronic transactions). To assist you in handling your account with us, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process those items. When processing checks and orders drawn on your account our policy is to pay lower numbered checks and orders in numerical sequence, but electronic transactions are paid first in the order received. The order in which items are paid is important if there is not enough money in your account to pay all of the items that are presented. There is no policy that is favorable in every instance. If the smallest items are paid first, you may have fewer NSF or overdraft fees, but the largest, and perhaps more important items (such as rent or mortgage payments) might not be paid. However, if the largest items are paid first, your most important items might be paid but it may increase the overdraft or NSF fees if funds are not available to pay all of the items. We think our policy attains a reasonable balance between minimizing additional costs to you and paying your more important items. We encourage you to make careful records and practice good account management. This will help you to avoid creating items without sufficient funds and incurring the resulting fees.

What if I want Peoples Bank of Kankakee County to authorize and pay overdrafts on my ATM and everyday debit card transactions?

If you also want us to authorize and pay overdrafts on ATM and everyday debit card transactions after your account has been open for 30 days, you may opt in.

You have an ongoing right to change this consent at any time. If your overdraft privilege has been revoked for any reason, the opt-in or opt-out selection may not apply. Please contact your nearest office for more information.

Alternate ways to Opt In/Out or make changes:

By Phone. Our Customer Care Representatives can be reached at 815-936-7600.
By Mail. Peoples Bank of Kankakee County, 333 E. Court Street, Kankakee, IL 60901
In Person. Please visit your local office and ask a representative to help you decide which plan is best for you.