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FAQ's |
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What is Pay America and how can it benefit my company? |
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Pay America Payment Solutions (Pay America Direct Deposit and Official Pay America
Check) are convenient and cost-effective alternatives to traditional banking products
that will simplify processes and reduce your payroll payment costs. With Pay America
Payment Solutions, you’ll enjoy a single source for direct deposit and payroll check
service and support. Pay America collects the payroll funds from your company’s
payroll account with a single debit for all direct deposit transactions and a single
debit for all check payments. We print the payroll checks drawn on a Pay America
bank account and send the direct deposits to your employees’ bank accounts. It’s
that simple. Your company will save time and money by eliminating the need to reconcile
checks against your payroll account, reducing bank fees and eliminating check fraud.
Pay America manages the process and provides a monthly report identifying outstanding
checks. |
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At what point in the payroll cycle will my payroll account
be debited? |
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Your payroll should be submitted at least 72 hours prior to the payroll check date
to ensure your employees have access to their checks/funds on pay date. Typically
your account will be debited one business day prior to payroll check date. Work
with your Pay America payroll support team to determine the exact timing. |
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Do I have to change my bank or my payroll account? |
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Your bank is still your bank! Your corporate bank account and all your established
working relationships remain intact. There is no need to change your bank or your
payroll account, nor do you have to open any additional accounts. |
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How will I receive checks and pay stubs/earnings statements
after processing, and when are employee funds available for withdrawal? |
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Checks and pay stubs/earnings statements arrive pre-signed and ready for distribution
to your employees. Employee funds are available at the opening of business on payroll
check date. |
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What happens when checks over 180 days are presented for
payment? |
In most cases, the bank will not honor these checks. Official Pay America Checks
are imprinted Void after 180 days.
Pay America will return these funds to you via ACH credit, and a stop payment fee
will be charged. When you receive your monthly reconciliation report, we recommend
that you contact and remind your employees to cash their check(s) before the 180-day
limitation. |
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How do employees get the correct routing and account number?
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It is important that routing numbers
are not taken from the deposit slip. These numbers are normally
internal routing numbers and will not be sufficient to get your employees pay in
the proper account.
In any case, when the employee can’t provide a voided check, have that employee
call their bank’s ACH department and ask what the proper direct deposit routing
number is.
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Will pre-notes be sent to validate employee bank account information? |
Yes, pre-notes will be sent to ensure a smooth transition to Pay America Direct
Deposit.
A pre-note is a test transaction that is sent to your employee’s bank account to
ensure that the account numbers are valid. You will be notified if a pre-note transaction
is rejected so corrections can be made to avoid sending a direct deposit to an invalid
account. |
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How will I be notified of changes that need to be made to
my employees’ direct deposit information? |
Notifications of Change reports (NOC’s) are generated by the employees’ financial
institutions (RDFI’s) and reported directly to Payment Solutions Support whenever
there is information regarding an ACH transaction that requires an update. The NOC
reports require your immediate attention.
- You will receive a faxed report entitled "Notification of Change – Direct Deposit"
detailing errors encountered while pre-noting your client’s employees.
- Review the changes/corrections with your client.
- Have your client correct the inaccurate information so future deposits are not returned,
and counsel them that it is recommended that the new account information undergo
a pre-note.
- For more information regarding NACHA rules regarding NOC’s and Return Items, please
visit:
NACHA
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An employee says their direct deposit has not posted - what
should I do? |
First, make sure the employee is listed as a direct deposit on your Payroll Register.
If the employee is not listed as direct deposit recipient, they have probably been
issued a check.
If the employee is on the register, but still in the pre-note status, they should
have been issued a check. If the employee is included as a direct deposit recipient,
and is not in pre-note status, the first step is to have the employee call the ACH
Department of their bank. This department handles all questions regarding direct
deposits, and is the only place that will be able to tell them when their deposit
will be posted and what problem caused the deposit to not be available electronically
(ATM., etc).
In most cases, there is a bad routing or account number or a problem with the employee’s
account (i.e. the account has been closed or not set up for direct deposit) and
the employee will be able to resolve the problem without getting several people
involved.
f there are changes to be made with respect to their account information, they should
bring it to your attention, and the account should be put back into a pre-note status
after changes/corrections have been completed. |
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What happens if an employee’s direct deposit is rejected
by their bank? |
Occasionally, a direct deposit will be returned, even after transactions successfully
processed with the same information. This could mean that the employee may have
failed to notify you that they have changed their account number, closed their bank
account, or a previously reported NOC was not responded to.
- You will be notified, by phone, of the return on the same date the rejected item
re-credits to the Payroll Trust (this is normally within 3-5 business days of the
original settlement date)
- You will also be sent, via fax, a report entitled "Confirmation of Pay Returns-ACH
Transactions"
- Your customer will receive an ACH credit to the account on file, typically the next
day.
- You should ensure that the employee receives their pay via an alternate method,
typically by issuing a manual check.
- You should remove the invalid account information from the payroll system immediately,
and have their employee provided update account information (if available).
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What happens if an employee is paid in error or an inaccurate
check is processed? |
Pay America will process stop payments and reversals for you. All you need to do
is complete and fax the applicable stop payment form to the number shown. You will
receive confirmation that your request has been received and processed. Follow your
district’s procedures for voiding and reissuing payroll checks.
You can access the most updated versions of Pay America’s stop payment processing
forms by visiting the Pay America web-site at:
www.payamerica.com |
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Who will perform the check reconciliation? |
Pay America provides you with a monthly report detailing un-cashed checks for your
records. You should see a reduction in operating costs for account management and
bank reconciliation since employees are paid on Pay America’s bank account, not
yours.
You’ll only need to reconcile your total payroll amount against your bank account. |
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What is Positive Pay? |
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Positive Pay is an effective tool used to prevent check fraud. After checks are
issued and before they are distributed, Pay America transmits a Positive Pay file
to participating banks containing critical information such as check numbers, dates,
amounts and account numbers. When the check is presented for payment, the bank compares
the check information to the Positive Pay file information. Checks that do not match
the Positive Pay file will not be honored unless the bank gets Pay America’s approval. |
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How can I get more information? |
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Feel free to contact your Pay America representative
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