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Positive Pay

To meet our banking requirements and eliminate common fraud attempts, the University of Washington is implementing the Positive Pay process with our Payroll account at Wells Fargo Bank. This process will go into effect on Wednesday, May 21, 2003. Most of this process will be handled completely behind the scenes, but there are two immediate impacts for employees who receive paper paychecks and emergency checks.

  • For the information to be available at the bank, we will have to send the data files electronically to the bank twice a day during business hours. This affects the pick up availability of emergency checks. The Payroll Office will not be releasing emergency checks to an employee or their department until the Positive Pay file has been received by the bank. Then the employee will be able to cash the check. Departments need to inform employees that an emergency check is a 1-2 day turnaround. This is our standard time for processing checks, but we are often able to process them in a shorter time frame. Due to the Positive Pay requirements, we cannot release a check until a file is received at the bank.

    ** Please note: A request that comes in on a Friday afternoon will not be available until the following Monday.

  • With Positive Pay in place, we will no longer have an "alert" on the payroll account and Wells Fargo Bank branches will no longer have to call to verify if a check can be cashed. This will eliminate the inconvenience that several employees have encountered in the past.

    Thank you for understanding as we implement this new process. If you have additional questions, please see our web site or email prtrain@u.washington.edu. Updated information about the Positive Pay process and emergency checks will be available online on May 16, 2003.

    FAQ

    What is Positive Pay?
    The University of Washington is implanting Positive Pay for the Payroll Account at Wells Fargo. This process allows Wells Fargo to get daily updates from the university about what checks have been written for employees. With Positive Pay, the information about each payday or emergency check is available online at the bank before an employee receives the check.

    Why do we need Positive Pay?
    There are two very important reasons for positive pay. The first is convenience for employees. The bank is able to verify the correct employee name and the dollar amount of the check so that funds can be released without a phone call to the Payroll Office. This means less time waiting while cashing a paycheck.

    The second is security for the University of Washington. With Positive Pay, check fraud is diminished because the bank has up to date information every day about what payroll checks have been processed.

    Does this change the emergency check process?
    Yes, there is a small change in the process. Since the information is transmitted to Wells Fargo twice during business hours, emergency checks will only be available after the information has been sent to the bank. When an emergency check has been processed and the information is received at the bank, the department or employee will be notified that the emergency check is available. Remember, the turn around time for an emergency check is 1-2 days.

    What time are emergency checks available?
    Checks will be available after 11:00am or 4:00pm depending on when the information has been transmitted to the bank.