Online Positive Pay

Our Online Positive Pay service is an electronic tool that enables customers with California accounts to review, every day, potentially fraudulent checks. Online Positive Pay is offered in conjunction with our Full Account Reconcilement service, giving you a complete comparison of your checks-issued information and Bank of America's record of checks presented for payment.

BENEFITS OF ONLINE POSITIVE PAY

• Access Online Positive Pay reports. Online Positive Pay provides three types of exception item reports:
  • Recap Report: Lists all your accounts set up on BAMTRAC and tells you whether exception items have been reported for any of your accounts linked to Online Positive Pay.
  • Detail Report: Provides detailed information on exception items for each account linked to Online Positive Pay. The Detail Report lists the check number and the dollar amount for each exception item, as well as a trace ID number to be used for research purposes.
  • Expanded Report: Provides detailed information on all three exception types (Paid items, INIs, and IDAs). Specific information is included such as check number, dollar amount, and date. IDA exceptions are displayed for viewing and photocopy request purposes only.

• Request photocopies online. You may want to see a copy of a specific check to help determine if it is fraudulent. You can make online requests for facsimile photocopies of exception items using the Photocopy Request function. Photocopies of checks will be faxed to the contact person and fax number you specify. To allow for timely processing, your photocopy requests must be received by 10:00 a.m. Pacific time.

• Return fraudulent checks. If you determine that a PAID or INI exception item is a fraudulent check, you can instruct us to return the check to the depositor unpaid. While viewing a Detail or Expanded Report, you simply enter the line number of the exception item you wish to return. The system displays the information for that particular item and asks you to confirm your request. Upon confirmation, your request is electronically transmitted to the bank, and you immediately receive an online confirmation number for future reference. We then initiate processing to return the check to the bank of first deposit. Return instructions must be received by 11:15 a.m. Pacific time.

Bank of America also offers pay or return default processing. If you select a pay default setting, all items are paid unless you instruct the bank to return the items. Or, if you select a return default setting, all items are returned unless you instruct us to pay them.

• Take advantage of system security. Online Positive Pay is fully integrated with BAMTRAC, which provides multiple levels of passwords and IDs. BAMTRAC's security features enable you to control who in your company can use Online Positive Pay and issue instructions to return items.

Online Positive Pay also offers you:

• Early warning of fraudulent activity. You receive information on potentially fraudulent checks by 5:00 a.m. Pacific time each business day.

• Online review of potentially fraudulent items. You view online reports showing serial numbers and dollar amounts of checks that do not match your record of checks issued.

• Online initiation of returns. When you identify checks you believe to be fraudulent, you can send us online  instructions to return the items unpaid. You receive online, real-time confirmation for each return item transaction.

• Check fraud loss control. By identifying and returning questionable items. you can help control losses from forged and altered checks.

• Protection for multiple accounts. Online Positive Pay can be used with multiple accounts. Information for all accounts can be accessed in a single session.

HOW ONLINE POSITIVE PAY WORKS

• You send us your checks-issued information electronically via data transmission. If you don't have data transmission capability, you may send issue input to Bank of America via magnetic tape, cartridge, or floppy disk. Please see the cutoff times below.
• When checks are presented for payment, the Online Positive Pay system attempts to match each item presented with each item you issued.

• Checks that don't match (exception items) are reported to you early each business day via our online BAMTRAC information reporting service.

*Cutoff time: the time that the input method must be received by Account Reconcilement Operations at 1850 Gateway in Concord, California for same-day processing.

Note: If you use a media other than data transmission and that media is corrupt, processing may not take place on the same day. There's a risk that potentially fraudulent checks may not be flagged.

Online Positive Pay identifies the following types of exceptions:

• Previously Paid and Reconciled (PAID) exceptions are items with serial numbers matching those of items that have previously been paid and reconciled. A PAID exception may be a fraudulently photocopied duplicate of a previously issued check.

• Item Not Issued (INI) exceptions are items with serial numbers that don't match your checks-issued information. An INI exception may be a forged check created by a counterfeiter using electronic publishing and image processing equipment.

• Invalid Dollar Amount (IDA) exceptions are items having a serial number matching that of a check you've issued but a dollar amount that doesn't match. We provide individual handling of IDA exceptions for Online Positive Pay customers.

Although some IDA exceptions are fraudulent checks, the vast majority of these exceptions are checks with incorrectly encoded dollar amounts in the MICR line. Because most IDA exceptions are caused by encoding errors, our staff examines all exceptions of this type individually. If the exception is due to an incorrectly encoded dollar amount, we make the necessary adjustment to your account. If the dollar amount has been fraudulently altered, we return the check unpaid to the bank of first deposit. If the item is not visibly altered and not misencoded, we contact you for disposition.

PART OF THE BAMTRAC SUITE OF PRODUCTS

You use BAMTRAC or BAMTRAC for Windows to access Online Positive Pay, along with many other services. BAMTRAC for Windows provides a single point of access to the entire BAMTRAC family of global information reporting and cash management products. In a matter of minutes, you can retrieve the account or transaction data you want, save and print it, or transfer it to other applications on your PC.

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