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- COVID-19 Federal Reserve Financial Services Customer Assistance Package
COVID-19 has disrupted all of our daily lives, both personally and professionally. We recognize that our financial institution customers have had to enact extraordinary modifications to their payments operations and we are here to provide you and your customers with meaningful support during this difficult time.
In an effort to provide some relief and assistance to our customers, we offered a COVID-19 Federal Reserve Financial Services Customer Assistance Package, which was available May 1 through July 31. This package was designed to provide you and your customers with meaningful support during this time.
We carefully considered which of our services would be the most useful to our existing customers of all sizes as you operate in a contingency mode with remote staff. Detailed information about each of the former package components is listed below.
1Does not include Same Day exception returns; a $0.35 FedLine originated return fee will be applied.
2Includes encrypted email delivery fees
*UPDATED August 3, 2020* Prior to the termination of the package, we endeavored to contact financial institutions who enrolled in the Customer Assistance Package contacted with instructions for either retaining or removing the Check and ACH services. Additionally, the FedLine Solutions components of the package require End User Authorization Contacts (EUACs) to remove subscriber access or decommission VPN devices via the Connection Management Center (CMC).
Brief descriptions of each of the services included in this package are listed below. Additionally, brief use cases are provided for each of the services as well. If you have additional questions about a service, please contact your account executive.
This service pushes Payor and Return payment information – much of which can be useful for mitigating fraud – via secure email delivery at a designated time(s) to financial institutions and/or their corporate customers. Reports may contain information for payments that have yet to be presented to the receiving institution. Only financial institutions whose items are separately sorted (each cash letter contains items drawn on only one institution) electronic cash letters (FedReceipt® or PDF) are eligible to receive the report.
| Report | Description |
|---|---|
| DFI – Advanced Notice Return | The timing of Return cash letters sent to a BOFD may be problematic when the BOFD must release Regulation CC holds on a deposited check at the open of business on the second day following deposit. This report enables the BOFD to assess the impact of a check return item potentially as early as the afternoon before it would normally be presented. The BOFD may be able to extend funds availability holds to reduce risk of loss. |
| DFI – Advanced Notice Payor | This report offers early awareness of large checks the evening before they settle, for cash management and/or potential customer fraud impact. |
| Corporate Payor | This report is a Reverse Positive Pay option that allows corporate customers to review check details the morning of presentment via a secured email push. A PDF of the check image offers opportunity to look for altered checks. Early delivery helps business customers meet return timeframes and corporate cash managers make informed funding decisions. |
This service pushes reports to originating and receiving financial institutions, and/or corporate customers of those financial institutions, via secure email delivery at the end of the FedACH processing day (2:15 a.m. ET). These reports are available to financial institutions for FedACH activity on designated RTN(s), even if through a third party processor(s).
| Report | Description |
|---|---|
| ACH Originated Batch | Provides batch level details of originated work to ODFI and/or Originators via secure Email delivery to assist potentially remote DI staff with reconcilement and out of band activity identification. |
| ACH Originated Entries | Provides entry level details of originated work to ODFI and/or Originators via secure Email delivery to assist potentially remote corporate employees and DI staff who may need to research/validate originated ACH activity. |
| ACH Received Entries | Provides entry level details of received work to RDFI and/or Receivers via secure Email delivery to assist potentially remote corporate employees and DI staff who may need to research/validate received ACH activity. |
| ACH Remittance Advice Summary | Provides human-readable reports of summary level addenda information (e.g. invoice or healthcare trace information) via secure Email to potentially remote Originators and/or Receivers for validation/accurate posting of ACH entries. |
| ACH Remittance Advice Detail | Provides human-readable reports of detailed level addenda information (e.g. invoice or healthcare trace information) via secure Email to potentially remote Originators and/or Receivers for validation/accurate posting of ACH entries. |
| ACH Return Item Report | Provides return item details to ODFI and/or Originators via secure Email so that potentially remote corporate staff can determine good funds and terminate services/goods delivery as needed. |
| ACH NOC Report | Provides corrected ACH information (e.g. account number change), to ODFI and/or Originators via secure Email so that potentially remote corporate staff can make updates within time constraints in Nacha rules. |
Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI) Alert Service provides notice by email of unusual conditions within incoming FedACH batches and/or files and/or within the institution’s receiver’s items. The service compares each outbound file and the batches it contains against the thresholds you have defined and, at the time of each FedACH Service file distribution, sends email alerts to your designated points of contact on any batches or files exceeding your thresholds. These alerts are available to RDFIs for FedACH activity on designated RTN(s), even if the DFI uses a third party processor(s).
| Alert | Description |
|---|---|
| Reversals | As corporations face increased liquidity concerns, RDFI intraday alerts for Reversals can help RDFIs ensure that the Reversal requests are within Nacha guidelines prior to processing. |
| Debit Batches Exceeding Defined Criteria | Allows RDFIs to receive email push notifications intraday of large debits so that operations staff can validate and/or process critical returns timely and accounting staff can manage Fed positions. |
FedACH customers have the ability to manage FedACH exception cases via the FedACH Exception Resolution Service accessed through their FedLine Web® or FedLine Advantage® Solutions. FedACH exceptions are defined as disputes, notifications, questions or requests for additional information either from a financial institution or on behalf of an account holder of the institution.
With Full Service Participation, DFIs can both open exception cases with other institutions and respond to exception cases sent to you from other institutions. Cases may be opened in the Exception Resolution Service within two years of the processing date for any FedACH transactions. The Exception Resolution Service allows financial institutions to electronically attach documentation and securely exchange that information with each other.