Does the Lessor (Bank) have authority to debit the customers deposit account at the Bank for rent due under the Safe Deposit Lease?
The WBA Safe Deposit Leases provides “Lessee authorizes Lessor to automatically debit any of the Lessee’s deposit accounts maintained at Lessor for the amount of the annual rent when due.” This is sufficient legal authority for the Lessor to debit any deposit account at the Lessor. It provides the most flexibility to the Bank by allowing it to debit any account. Identifying a specific account would be less flexible and could create situations in which the Bank cannot debit an account with sufficient funds because the Bank is only authorized to debit a specifically identified account. (Note: the bank authorization would not satisfy ACH requirements for debiting an account outside of the Bank.
