Protect Your Church’s Finances with Positive Pay
Churches and ministry organizations handle donations, payroll, and vendor payments regularly. With the rising risk of check and ACH fraud, it’s more important than ever to safeguard your funds. That’s where Positive Pay comes in.
How Check Positive Pay Works
When your church issues checks, you can enter them manually or upload a file into your business banking platform. Each time a check is presented for payment, the system compares it to the issued checks.
If there’s a mismatch, like a changed amount or payee, it’s flagged as an exception. Your church is notified by text or email and can log in to review the exception, then choose to pay or return it. If no action is taken before cutoff time, the system applies your default decision.
How ACH Positive Pay Works
ACH Positive Pay works similarly but for electronic payments. You can set up rules, like authorized payees or transaction limits for automatic approval. Any ACH transaction that doesn’t meet your rules is flagged, and your church is notified. You then log in to review and approve or return each exception. Transactions not addressed before cutoff follow the default action you’ve set.
Understanding the Difference
To better understand how each option helps protect your account, take a look at this basic comparison chart:
Check vs. ACH Positive Pay
Purpose
How it works
Exceptions
Action
Automation
Check Positive Pay
Protects against altered or unauthorized checks
Compares each check presented to the list of issued checks
Flagged if the check amount or payee doesn’t match
Business decides to pay or return each exception
Compares each check against issued list
ACH Positive Pay
Protects against unauthorized electronic (ACH) transactions
Uses rules to automatically approve or flag ACH debits
Flagged if the transaction doesn’t meet rules
Business decides to pay or return each exception
Can automatically approve transactions that meet rules
Why Positive Pay is Valuable
- Prevent fraud and losses: Stop unauthorized or altered payments before money leaves your account.
- Save time: Reduce hours spent manually reviewing checks or ACH payments.
- Peace of mind: Protect the funds that support your mission and community outreach.
With Positive Pay for checks and ACH transactions, your church can confidently manage its finances while staying protected from the ever-present threat of fraud.
To find out more about Positive Pay contact us at businessdevelopment@cfcumail.org.
