1. A bank may charge against the account of a customer an item which is properly payable from that account even though the charge creates an overdraft. An item is properly payable if it is authorized by the customer and complies with any agreement between the customer and bank. 2. A customer is not liable for the amount of an overdraft if the customer neither signed the item nor benefited from the proceeds of the item. 3. A bank may charge against the account of a customer a check that is otherwise properly payable from the account, even though payment was made before the date of the check, unless the customer has given notice to the bank of the postdating describing the check with reasonable certainty. The notice will be effective for the period stated in subsection 1 of section 41-04-34 for stop orders, and must be received at a time and in a manner as to afford the bank a reasonable opportunity to act on it before any action by the bank with respect to the check described in section 41-04-31. If a bank charges against the account of a customer a check before the date stated in the notice of postdating, the bank is liable for damages for the loss resulting from its act. The loss may include damages for dishonor of subsequent items pursuant to section 41-04-33. 4. A bank that in good faith makes payment to a holder may charge the indicated account of its customer according to: a. The original terms of the altered item; or b. The terms of the completed item, even though the bank knows the item has been completed unless the bank has notice that the completion was improper.
41-04-33. (4-402) Bank's liability to customer for wrongful dishonor - Time of determining insufficiency of account. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a payor bank wrongfully dishonors an item if it dishonors an item that is properly payable, but a bank may dishonor an item that would create an overdraft unless it had agreed to pay the overdraft. 2. A payor bank is liable to its customer for damages proximately caused by the wrongful dishonor of an item. Liability is limited to actual damages proved and may include damages for an arrest or prosecution of the customer or other consequential damages. Whether any consequential damages are proximately caused by the wrongful dishonor is a question of fact. 3. A payor bank's determination of the customer's account balance on which a decision to dishonor for insufficiency of available funds is based may be made at any time between the time the item is received by the payor bank and the time that the payor bank returns the item or gives notice in lieu of return, and no more than one such determination need be made. If, at the election of the payor bank, a subsequent balance determination is made for the purpose of re-evaluating the bank's decision to dishonor the item, the account balance at that time is determinative of whether a dishonor for insufficiency of available funds is wrongful.