Create EFT Payment File
The Create EFT Payment File function produces an electronic funds transfer (EFT) file that contains all the information necessary to make the payments specified in the file by EFT. The file is suitable for sending to the ACH network member institution that submits EFT payment files for your organization.
You also can create a mail merge file of EFT data with which you can produce a personalized letter to each income beneficiary who has received a payment by EFT.
To create an EFT payment file:
1. Click Payments > EFT Files in the Menu Bar.
2. Click Create EFT Payment File in the Report Type area.
3. Indicate in the Include/Exclude/Other area whether you want to use the check date as the effective entry date or use a single effective entry date for all payments in the file. See Notes below for more details.
4. Enter other selection and sort criteria for the records to include in the file. There is help available on each field.
5. Click OK. If you get an error log, see Notes below.
6. Open or save the file, as needed.
7. Click 
to close the File Output page.
8. Click Yes to record an Issued Date and an Issued Type of E in every check record that contributed to the payments included in the EFT Payment File. Click No if you prefer not to record this data.
Notes:
· The format of the EFT Payment file reflects the Exclude Debit Records from EFT Payment File, EFT File Blocking Factor, and EFT File Custom Header information entered in the EFT Files area under Payments > Settings.
· Payments included in the file are those with a payment address with a Use EFT field marked and either a Prenote field set to N (no prenote needed) or a Prenote field set to D (prenote done) and a Prenote Date (the creation date for the prenote file) that is more than 11 days prior to the EFT Payment File creation date, will be included in the file.
· The Effective Entry Date is the date that you would like associated with the payments included in the EFT Payment File. The ACH bank will release the funds into each beneficiary's account on this date. You can choose to replace the Effective Entry Date with a specified date while creating the EFT Payment File, or you can use the Check Date associated with each Batch in the file. This date is inserted in the Company/Batch Header Record of the file in positions 70-75.
If you choose to specify the Effective Entry Date, enter a date that is a business day, not a weekend or holiday date.
· Use the log window to troubleshoot any errors in your EFT data prior to creating an EFT Payment File. The log indicates the person key and the Gift Key to identify the gift along with a brief explanation of the problem.
You can print the error log or save the log in a file that you can print or review later.