Protocol for Performing EFT in GiftWrap

 

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is a commonly used method for transferring funds from one bank account to another. Transferring funds electronically takes the place of printing a physical check drawn off one bank account and sending it to the person to whom the check is payable. For each beneficiary, GiftWrap offers the option of making payments by check or EFT.

While transferring funds by EFT simplifies the payment process in the long run, it requires entry of additional information up front, absolute accuracy of that information, and strict adherence to the accepted protocol for transferring funds by EFT. For example, unless your institution is a member of the Automated Clearing House network, you will need to contract with such an institution (most likely a bank) to send your EFT information. The rules for performing EFT are published by the National Automated Clearing House Association in ACH Rules: A Complete Guide to Rules & Regulations Governing the ACH Network. You may obtain a copy of this detailed and technical book by contacting the National Automated Clearing House Association.

Laid out below are the steps you should follow to assure that the EFT payments you make using GiftWrap go smoothly.

• Step (1): Perform this step once before you start making any payments by EFT, but rarely, if ever, after that.

• Steps (2)-(5): Perform these steps only when adding a new address at which beneficiaries will receive their payments by EFT.

• Steps (6)-(7): Perform these steps each time you make payments by EFT.

1. Enter EFT Settings
Click Setup > Organization, and then double-click the organization that will be paying some or all of its beneficiaries by EFT. Enter the information for the items listed in the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Information tab. These items identify the institution and account(s) from which money will be drawn (the originator) and the ACH network member institution that will be handling the actual transfer of EFT information (the destination). Also, be sure to enter complete routing information for each gift type and each pooled income fund listed in the Gift Type EFT Detail grid.

The above information is maintained on a per organization basis. As a result, you will rarely, if ever, need to change any of these values once you have set them.

2. Enter EFT Information on individual active beneficiaries
To make payments to an individual active beneficiary by EFT, GiftWrap requires the active beneficiary to have a Payment Address that includes specific additional information. This information is entered in the Address Information window for the beneficiary Payment Address. The requirements for the Payment Address are:

• enter the beneficiary bank account number in Bank Account

• mark Use EFT

• enter the 9-digit routing number of the bank where the beneficiary maintains the account in which payments will be deposited (Route #)

• select the type of account (c for checking or s for savings) in which the payments will be deposited (Account Type)

• ACH prenoting is optional. If you wish to send a prenote prior to making electronic transfers to the beneficiary, set Prenote to I so that the beneficiary's EFT information will be included in the next prenote file you create. If you do not wish to prenote, set Prenote to N (No prenote needed).

3. Select EFT payment addresses for active beneficiaries
After entering EFT information for a beneficiary Payment Address, select this Payment Address as the address to which gifts make payments to the beneficiary. This selection is made in the Payment Address field of the Association Information page for the beneficiary. This Association Information window is accessed through the Payments/Taxes/Association list on the Gift Information page. The Payment Address field is available for active beneficiaries only (persons with gift associations of Bene-A or Donor/Bene-A).

For example, if a person's Payment1 address contains EFT information, select Payment1 as the payment address for each gift of which the person is an active beneficiary. This is done on a per gift basis for each active beneficiary. If a beneficiary wishes, you can set up some gifts to make payments to the beneficiary by EFT and other gifts to make payments by check, or split the payments among different addresses.

4. Print an EFT Prenote File Summary
Before an individual can begin to receive payments by EFT, the payer may send a prenote file that verifies information about the target bank and account to which payments will be sent. The ACH considers this step optional. The EFT Prenote File Summary summarizes the information that will be contained in the prenote file so that you can confirm that the information is complete and correct before you send the prenote file. The EFT Prenote File Summary also provides lasting documentation of the beneficiaries for whom prenote information has been sent. How to print EFT Prenote File Summary.

5. Create and send an EFT Prenote File
As mentioned in step (4) above, before you send payments to a beneficiary by EFT, you may send payer and payee information regarding the beneficiary's payments in a prenote file. The prenote file is sent electronically by the ACH network member institution that you have selected to submit EFT payment files for you. How to create an EFT Prenote File.

Once a beneficiary payment address has been prenoted, it need not be prenoted again unless any of its EFT information changes (e.g., the beneficiary changes banks). Consequently, as part of the prenote file creation process you are given the opportunity to mark the payment addresses being included in the current prenote file. The marked addresses won't be included in subsequent prenote files, but payments being made to these addresses will be included in subsequent EFT payment files. Marking means entering the prenote file's creation date into each payment address Prenote Date field and changing each payment address Prenote field to D (Prenote Done).

In general, you will want to take advantage of this automatic marking feature. However, keep in mind that once these payment addresses have been marked, you will not be able to include them in a subsequent prenote file or prenote report without first editing their Prenote fields manually.

Once you have created the prenote file, send it to the ACH network member institution that will be submitting EFT payment files for you. You may send the file by email or copy it to a CD and send the CD .

6. Print an EFT Payment File Summary
The EFT Payment File Summary summarizes the information that will be contained in the EFT payment file so that you can confirm that the information is complete and correct before you send the payment file. The EFT Payment File Summary also provides lasting documentation of the payments that are sent by EFT. How to print an EFT Payment File Summary.

 The EFT Payment File Summary, like the EFT Payment File described below, includes all payments for payment addresses that:

• have their Use EFT field marked;

• have their Prenote field set to N (not needed);

• have their Prenote field set to D (done) and their Prenote Date field set to a date (the creation date for the prenote file) that is more than 11 days prior to the date on which you are printing the EFT Payment File Summary.

The purpose of the waiting period is to assure that the target banks included in any recent prenote file have had ample time to inform the ACH Operator (that sends your prenote files) of any problems with the EFT information you sent. For example, if today is 12/15/2004, a beneficiary prenoted on 11/15/2004 will be included in the report, but a beneficiary prenoted on 12/5/2004 will not be included.

7. Create and send an EFT Payment File
The EFT Payment File contains all the information necessary to make payments by EFT to all the beneficiaries included in the file. How to create an EFT Payment File.

Once you have created the EFT Payment File, send it to the ACH network member institution that submits EFT Payment Files for you. You may send the file electronically or copy it to a CD and send the CD.

8. Print advices for EFT payment recipients (optional)
If you wish, you can print advices for all your beneficiaries who receive payments by EFT so that you can notify each of them that their payment has been made. GiftWrap comes with several standard advice styles to choose from. If none of these styles works well for you, you can have PG Calc create a custom advice style for you. How to print advices.

 

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