If the credit union accidently returns an item, the following steps should be taken: 1) Launch Tool #1875 Work ACH Exceptions or Tool #1876 Work ACH NSF/Returns . 2) Click on the Return/NOC Maint button (or Return Maintenance). 3) Find/highlight the ACH Item you wish to delete and select Change . (NOTE: you won't be able to do this if the item has already been processed) 4) Select the Delete button 5) Once the item is deleted, someone from your accounting team MUST make an entry to   More...

If an item is originated by the credit union, the items CANNOT be returned using a return code. Instead, your credit union can Call the other financial institution to have them reject the debit so it will send back the item to the originating credit union, OR Your credit union can do another ACH Origination and reverse the FI information to send the credit or debit back.

It is NOT suggested that a CU place a stop or a reversal on a Fiserv ACH debit. If a Credit Union places a stop on a Fiserv ACH debit or a reversal of a Fiserv ACH debit, the following will occur: --The member’s bill pay service will be frozen. --No pending or recurring payments will be sent from the member’s bill pay. --The amount of the stopped/reversed payment will become a collection item with the Fiserv Collections Department. --The member will need to personally call the Fiser  More...

Xtend SRS Bookkeeping has a policy of using a period in the account number box so the return can be sent and the Fed will not reject the return.

There are mandatory fields which need to be filled out differently for dishonored returns. Make sure to have the original item information as well as the dishonored return item information as this will help to speed up the process. You may need to add this manually and choose the appropriate code for your reason. CU*Answers cannot advise which code to use or the ACH rules that surrounds each item. If you need further guidance, please feel free to reach out to the FRB directly. The ACH return   More...

The Social Security Administration uses several company IDs for its ACH transactions. Previously two recommendations were made to handle the changing Company IDs, namely to create records for all possible Company IDs with duplicate distribution records or to transfer the distributions with the Automated Funds Transfers (AFT) system. With the 16.10 release a process was implemented that will no longer require either of these complicated solutions. Going forward only one Company ID will need to   More...

Yes. There is an Amortization Default option available in each of your Loan Product Code configurations which allows credit unions to default amortization criteria such as: Delinquency Fine Code, Rate, Payment Frequency, # of Payments etc. The system will then default this value into the applicable fields when creating a new loan request. These defaults are intended to provide consistency for all new loan requests, but can be changed/edited during the loan request process if necessary.

The FRB produces six sets of files each business day on weekdays, Monday through Friday, except for Federal Holidays. CU*Answers posts the files as follows: CU*Answers receives the first and sixth set of files overnight and posts them by 8:30 AM ET. As this posting is a combined posting, two Receive reports and one Posting report are produced. CU*Answers receives the second set of files by noon and posts by 1:00 PM ET. Same-day credits must be posted with this file. CU*Answers receives the thir  More...

A 1096 IRS Tax Form is required if an institution is filing your IRS Tax file using paper format. Since CU*Answers transmits your IRS Tax File electronically this form is not required to be completed. Reports (P1099 x, P1098 x , P5498 x) are generated automatically for each form type are generated when our Operations Team creates the files for the IRS in February and May. These reports contain the totals for each tax form type created.

For online credit unions, contact a Client Service Representative or complete the It's Me 247 Configuration Change Request Form (see the link below; requires Microsoft Word) to activate this flag. You can also define how long the stop pay orders will remain on file before being purged, in # of days or months. For self-processors, this is done using OPER Tool # 5356 Online Banking Configuration and OPER Tool #5511 Audio Response Configuration . IMPORTANT: If you have already activat  More...

With the 16.10 release a new cross-reference system was implemented that automatically funnels all incoming company IDs from the Social Security Administration and treat them as if they came from one, consistent company ID we’re referring to as the “Primary ID.” In cases where the Depositor ID is the same, for example a husband and wife, these ACH transactions will be handled by the same master ACH distribution record under the Depositor ID since duplicate Depositor IDs are no  More...

Previously, credit unions used Code 38 for “Return to Maker”, but this code is no longer available in the system. This change was initiated by a Reg CC change in 2018. Now, if you are presented with a situation where you need to return a check to another institution, it is recommended that you use one of these codes to clarify the reason for the check return. Some codes allow you to make the change in CU*BASE. Others require that you contact your Check Item Processor. Read below for   More...

Since the system will be unable to respond with a balance, it will also be unable to log the text message against the member's account number, which means it cannot be included when fees are tallied. So although the member may still be charged by their mobile phone provider for text messages they send, they will not be charged the usual text message fees by the credit union via CU*BASE (nor with the credit union be charged for that item).

No, CU*BASE cannot automatically remove the 08 Payment Stopped code from an ACH distribution record. ACH stop payments are tricky. Since an ACH stop payment is only valid for a specific payment, the system would have no way to determine which payment it was applicable for as it’s not easily identified by simply using the posting date. Often the information needed is located in other optional fields of the ACH record such as company descriptive date. For instance, if a member is NSF for  More...

Prior to the 16.10 release, the SSA began using multiple Company IDs, and it was recommended that credit unions consider using Automated Funds Transfers (AFTs) to handle distributions. Beginning the 16.10 release a new cross-reference system will be implemented that will automatically funnel all incoming company IDs from the Social Security Administration and treat them as if they came from one, consistent company ID we’re referring to as the “Primary ID.” With the changes ma  More...

Yes. You can pull a credit report for any service using the online credit bureau process. Using Tool #53 Process Member Applications, use action code CR to pull the report without creating a loan request and application. We can then create Member Services denial notices for debit cards, checking accounts, ATM cards, etc.

Use of the Force Monthly Statement' option on the member's MASTER record will allow for member to receive a monthly statement instead of the quarterly/annual statement they may qualify for based on your overall statement configuration settings. Remember that this is intended to be used only in rare occasions where there are exceptions to your rules. If you find that your staff is setting this flag on frequently, you might need to (a) revisit your general configuration settings or (b)   More...

My Virtual StrongBox has an extensive library of technical documentation and video for members directly within the user interface. From time to time members may experience technical difficulties. The primary method for requesting assistance is directly through your client portal link provided by My Virtual StrongBox. Please visit https://virtualstrongbox.zendesk.com to create a profile to share with your administrative teams.

Not every feature that potentially shows account details on an employee's account is governed by the Employee Account Security controls. Apart from technical impracticalities, our basic philosophy has been that employees who are given access to “sensitive” features (like Collections, or posting payrolls, etc.) should be trusted employees, and they should be allowed to use the tools to do their job. If they have to be hobbled or monitored, then perhaps they shouldn’t be tr  More...

No. CU*BASE accounts payable payments made via ACH do not pay any attention to any limits entered in CU*BASE via Tool #569: Online/Mobile/Text Banking VMS Config > A2A Transfers . However, all ACH transactions that we send to Magic-Wrighter on your behalf, whether for a member or via the accounts payable system, are considered part of the same pool of transactions to which Magic-Wrighter's daily limits DO apply. Therefore, if your credit union gets a failure-to-process error on a large  More...

OFAC is defined in the NACHA Operating Rules and Guidelines Chapter 3, Section 1 pages OG15-OG21. There is a difference between OFAC procedures for ACH transactions and the verification of parties with which a financial institution does business. For ACH purposes, only the addenda information on cross border transactions (IATs) require an OFAC scan for both RDFIs (receiving depository financial institutions) and ODFIs (outgoing depository financial institutions). As far as OFAC compliance goes  More...

You can manually add a secondary transaction description to any posted transaction by using Tool #918 Update Trans Desc IRA/HSA Post Codes. Just enter the account number, select the transaction you posted, and click the Description/Stmt option to enter in a secondary transaction description as it came in on the original ACH item. (Make sure you do this before that month's statements are produced, of course!)

The pending transaction can be found by printing the warehoused ACH transactions (Tool # 693 Print Warehoused ACH Transactions ). In this case there was a pending withdrawal for the member's 000 account. It can be found on the PACHSU report as an invalid account. However, the program for pending transactions only uses the company ID and the Depositor Id to look up an entry in the ACHSUS and ACHDST file. So that was enough information to see the P for Pending without actually being able to   More...

This happens when there is an invalid ACH item that can't be posted at all (bad account number, for example). Even if you subsequently update it, when reposting if the item can't pay due to non-sufficient funds, the NSF fee will not automatically be charged. The ACH item will also not show in the member's transaction history. That's because NSF fees are only charged when the item originally comes in, not via the ACH Exceptions re-post feature, to prevent these fees from being   More...

For online credit unions, contact a Client Service Representative or complete the It's Me 247 Configuration Change Request Form (see the link below; requires Microsoft Word) to activate this flag. For self processors, this is done using OPER Tool #5356 Online Banking Configuration and OPER Tool #5511 Audio Response Configuration . IMPORTANT: If you have already activated PIB and your members have a PIB profile, remember that the ability to view ACH records is controlled by the member&#  More...