Quick Start Guide: Positive Pay and ACH filters

Positive Pay is an effective fraud management solution that’s designed to help you catch problems before they start by comparing your issued checks and ACH payments against those presented for daily payment and reporting any discrepancies to you. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

 

Resolving exception items

To resolve your exceptions, log in to Business Banking Online and follow these steps:

1. Below the Accounts section, there is now a section called Positive Pay. Click on the hyperlinked account and a new pop-up screen will take you to the upgraded Positive Pay portal.
2. To view exception items, click Exception Processing at the top left of the new screen, then choose Quick Exception Processing. If you select Return, choose a return reason.

Note that if a check clears as an incorrect check number or amount, you’ll need to email PositivePayAlert@ubt.com to get the item(s) corrected.

 

Importing a file/adding an item

1. In the Positive Pay portal, off to the left, click on Transaction Processing to expand Options. 
2. Choose Submit Issued Check File to import a file or Add New Issued Check to enter in an individual item.
3. Click Browse to search for the file on your computer or enter in the individual check information. Please note that if you have more than one account, you’ll need to verify the Account ID so that the checks are sent to the correct account.
   
    

Adding a new ACH filter rule

In the Exception Processing section, expand the options and then select the appropriate pay/return decision for each exception.

• If you select Return, choose a return reason. 
• If you have an ACH exception item, you will need to click Add ACH Rule to add the item to the list of approved companies. If you choose to pay the item, it will not automatically add the item to the approved list.

Please note that if you need to add/remove an ACH rule, go to System Reports and click on ACH Authorization Rules. A rule can be added by clicking the “+” in the upper right-hand corner. A rule can be removed by clicking on the three vertical dots to the right of the line item for the ACH rule.

Positive Pay Payee Match

Payee Match for your company’s Positive Pay feature allows for additional protection against fraudulent checks that try to clear the account(s). For optimal use of the payee match feature, here are some suggestions:

• Make sure you have 12- or 14-point font
• Use Verdana, OCR A, OCR B, or Arial for font type
• Ensure there is a light-colored check background
• There should be no watermark on the “Pay To The Order of” or “Payee” name area of the check
• The words “PAY TO THE ORDER OF” must be printed to the left of payee names
• Letters must have enough space between them so that they are not touching each other
• Additional lines of data should be spaced so the characters do not touch the payee name

When checks clear, the Positive Pay system looks for “PAY TO THE ORDER OF” on the check and works to read the payee name after that printed field. Handwritten checks will almost always create a payee exception since most checks are created at the depository bank.

Click here to watch a demo.