Positive Pay is an effective tool that helps to protect your business checking account(s) against loss due to check fraud and/or ACH debits. It can protect against counterfeit and alterations on checks that you issue and notify you when an electronic debit is presented.

Positive Pay increases both the effectiveness and timeliness of fraudulent check detection relying on posted proof files to identify altered checks. When ACH Positive Pay is added, you can also be alerted to incoming ACH debits. The solution provides alert notifications at user selected intervals allowing for review to determine if the item(s) should be paid or returned.

FMFCU’s Positive Pay web application features and benefits:

• User friendly design
• Issued check management (check file import and manual input)
• Check issue maintenance (stop payment and voided checks)
• Additional users setup and maintenance
• Exception and approval logs

Definitions/Vocabulary

• File Processing Format: Indicates the format of the issued check file. A standard format will be provided to businesses that do not have a current file format to match.
• Issued Item: This is the term the Positive Pay service uses for check that has been distributed for payment.
• Standard File Format: The standard order and format in which a file uses when importing into Positive Pay.
• Fixed: A file format where each column is the same width.
• Delimited: A File format where each piece of information is separated by the same character, usually a comma.
• Cutoff Time: The time by which all exception decisions must be complete to not revert to the default rule or pay or return.
• Exception Decision: The decision to pay or return a check issue item that is being presented as a non-matching exception.

How it works

Any checks presented to FMFCU for payment that were not listed as issued, or whose amounts or check number does not completely match the issued checks that you have entered, become exceptions for you to review.

1. Contribute. Accountholder imports check information originating from your check payment system or manually enters issue information.
2. Query. As payments are made on a daily basis, Positive Pay allows the credit union to match the disbursements. As FMFCU receives a check, Positive Pay processes and queries the item against the Positive Pay source data entered by the member business.
3. Notification. If payment information is changed or altered compared to the information contributed by the business, you, as the user, will be alerted in real time, for investigation and a pay or return decision. Users with approval permission can approve an exception decision transaction.

Holiday Calendar

Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union will close the following holidays observed by the Federal Reserve Bank and will not accept files for processing on these days. Entries should not have an effective date on these days.

• New Year’s Day (January 1)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Third Monday in January)
• President’s Day (Third Monday in February)
• Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)
• Juneteenth National Independence Day (June 19)
• Independence Day (July 4)
• Labor Day (First Monday in September)
• Columbus Day (Second Monday in October)
• Veterans Day (November 11)
• Thanksgiving Day (Fourth Thursday in November)
• Christmas Day (December 25)

Note: If January 1, July 4, November 11, or December 25 fall on Sunday, the following Monday is a standard Federal Reserve Bank holiday.

Timeline/Cutoff/Deadline

All exception items must be decisioned, and if applicable, approved, by the 12:00 noon ET cutoff time. If an exception item is not decisioned, by the cutoff time, the system default decision will be applied. After the cutoff time, users must contact us to alter the automated decision.

QUESTIONS?

For questions, please call FMFCU’s Treasury Solutions Department at 484-259-1000 ext. 58148.