If your business or nonprofit collects payments using either checks or electronic debits, then you need to be confident in the funds you are receiving. That is where Positive Pay can help. In this article, we'll discuss the benefits of Positive Pay on company checking accounts, as well as walk you through the steps needed to add our fee-free Positive Pay services to your organization.

Key Takeaways:

• Positive Pay is a product that helps reduce fraud on business checking accounts.
• Positive Pay is available to businesses and nonprofits at no additional cost as part of Amplify's signature fee-free banking services.
• Our commercial bankers will help you establish Positive Pay permissions and checks on your account.
• Use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker and adding Positive Pay to your organization.

What is Positive Pay?

Positive Pay is a product that helps detect both check and electronic debit fraud on your checking account(s).

• Check Positive Pay is a fraud prevention tool that protects your bank account against checks written out of the account. 
  • When preparing to issue a check, you’ll first enter the check details into Check Positive Pay (check number, dollar amount, payee name, issue date and the account the check was written out of). 
  • When the payee/recipient presents the check for payment, the details of the check will be compared to what was entered into Check Positive Pay.
  • If there are any discrepancies (for example, the dollar amount does not match to what was entered), this will trigger a “check exception.” You’ll be able to log into our commercial banking platform to review the check exception and decide whether the check is paid or not paid. 
  • You’ll have until 2:00 PM CT to make this decision. If no decision is made by the cutoff time, the check will be automatically rejected (not paid).
• ACH Positive Pay is a fraud prevention tool that protects your bank account on ACH Debits that are initiated outside of Amplify. 
  • When a vendor/third party attempts to ACH debit your bank account, this will trigger an “ACH Exception.” 
  • You’ll then be able to review the ACH exception within our commercial banking platform and decide whether the ACH exception is paid or not paid. 
  • For vendors/third parties who are allowed to debit your account, you can create an ACH Rule, which is a maximum dollar amount that a specific vendor/third party is allowed to debit your account.

For more information on Positive Pay services, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.

How does Positive Pay work?

The first step to enabling Positive Pay is to work with an Amplify representative to add this service to your business or nonprofit’s online banking services.

• Setup. A commercial banker will schedule a discovery call with you to establish your specific needs. There are agreements to sign. Allow 1-3 business days to activate it.
• Enable Positive Pay in online banking. Our commercial banking team will turn the access on in your commercial banking platform and provide training on the new screens.

Once Positive Pay has been added to your account, follow the steps below to ensure your check payments and electronic withdrawals are processed correctly.

• Checks. As you write/print checks, the check information needs to be manually entered or imported. As checks are presented to your account for payment, they will be matched to the information you provided.
  • If the information matches, the check will get paid.
  • If the information does not match, you will be notified via email and/or SMS to prompt you to review the item in our commercial banking platform.
  • You will make a decision to pay the item or return it as unauthorized.
• Electronic withdrawals. We will add your list of approved vendors, if applicable. As electronic withdrawals are presented to your account for payment, they will be matched to the approved list.
  • If the information matches, the item will get paid
  • If the information does not match, you will be notified via email and/or SMS to prompt you to review the item in our platform.
  • You will make a decision to pay the item, pay and add it to the approved list, or return it as unauthorized.

For more information on Positive Pay approvals and denials, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.

What are the benefits of Positive Pay?

Positive Pay is a treasury management service designed to improve the security of your organization. Here are a few of the commercial benefits:

• Fraud prevention. Positive Pay helps prevent fraud from happening.
• Enhanced security. By proactively monitoring transactions and flagging any discrepancies or irregularities, Positive Pay provides an additional layer of security to safeguard your funds in your business checking account(s).
• Cost savings. Detecting and preventing check fraud early can help avoid financial losses associated with unauthorized transactions. In addition, if there is fraud activity on your account, you will not be required to close your account (which can be costly and time consuming).
• Efficiency. Reduce the time and effort required for manual review and verification allowing you to focus on your core operations.
• Peace of mind. Knowing that your business checking account is being monitored assures you that your funds are being protected against potential fraud attempts.
• Convenience. Using the mobile app allows you to review any discrepancies found on the go.

To discuss the benefits of Positive Pay for businesses, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.

Is Positive Pay a good fit for your business?

We recommend that any business or nonprofit with a business checking account add Positive Pay to their business checking account. If you would like to discuss your specific use case for Positive Pay, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.