The Disallow Checks/ACH setting on customer accounts in Customer Care and Desktop Client lets you flag accounts with a history of bad check writing. Flagged customer accounts are not allowed to make ACH payments through Desktop Client, Customer Care, and OnlineBill. These customers can only use guaranteed funds for payments (i.e. cash or approved credit card transactions). This can help reduce returned check fees.
Note:
Identifying bad check writers is a manual process and establishing criteria is up to individual carriers.
When the Disallow Checks/ACH setting is toggled, the action, including the user, is logged in Audit Log.
You can toggle this setting manually on an individual account basis, or you can set up the system to automatically set it by account type. Both methods are described below.
Restrictions on ACH Actions
Once a customer account is flagged, any active E-Pay bank accounts will be deactivated and those customer accounts will be prevented from creating new ACH E-Pay accounts. Also, those deactivated E-Pay accounts cannot be reactivated while the customer account is flagged, and ACH E-Pay accounts that are non-recurring cannot be changed to recurring.
Desktop Client - POS
In POS, when working with flagged accounts, customer service representatives (CSRs) will be unable to tender any transactions with the base tender type IDs of 4 (check) and 15 (e-check). Those tender types will not display in the tender screen so users won’t be able to select them by accident. Also CSRs will not be able to create new E-Pay bank accounts.
Desktop Client – Customer Management
Flagged accounts will display an alert that lets users know why they are unable to perform check/ACH activities.
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All ACH accounts are deactivated and cannot be re-activated while the account is flagged. Also for flagged accounts:
CSRs will not be able to create new E-Pay bank accounts.
If the ACH E-Pay account was the only recurring E-Pay account, it will no longer have invoice charges automatically processed. The customer will have to manually make their monthly invoice payment or add a new approved recurring E-Pay account.
CSRs will not be permitted to resubmit ACH E-Pay transactions for flagged accounts. This is prevented in bulk from the E-Pay transaction search screen as well as on the specific E-Pay account transactions for the account.
Note
If Disallow Check/ACH status is removed on the account (checkbox un-checked), the ACH E-Pay accounts will not automatically re-activate. Users will need to manually reactivate them.
Customer Care
Customer Care provides functionality similar to Desktop Client. Flagged accounts will display an alert that lets users know why they are unable to perform check/ACH activities.
All ACH accounts are deactivated. The action buttons for reactivating and making payments are hidden as long as the account is flagged.
Restricting OnlineBill Users
Flagged customers with OnlineBill accounts will be unable to:
create new E-Pay bank accounts.
activate a deactivated E-Pay bank account.
make a one time ACH payment with or without an ACH E-Pay account.
change a non-recurring ACH E-Pay account to recurring.
Note
The user experience for accounts with Disallow Checks/ACH status will vary based on the configured Payment Provider. Different providers allow for varying levels of control. For some providers the IDI platform can hide related controls in the iFrame to prevent ACH actions, while for other providers the IDI platform must allow the controls to be displayed in the iFrame. In this case, users will be permitted to attempt ACH actions and then be shown an error indicating why the action cannot be completed.
Manually Flagging Individual Accounts
You only need to flag the account in one application or the other (i.e. flagging the account In Customer Care also flags the account in Desktop Client and vice versa). You can restrict which users can toggle this setting in both applications.
In Desktop Client the Disallow Checks/ACH setting is available on the Customer Info tab when you add or edit a customer. The setting is unchecked by default (ACH actions are allowed).
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You can restrict/grant access to this setting in Desktop Client, by toggling the Edit Disallow Payment Types permission under Applications > Customer Management > Customers in the user’s permission profile. By default, this permission is enabled (allow toggling of Disallow Checks/ACH setting).
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In Customer Care the Disallow Checks/ACH setting is available in the Basic Information section when you add or edit a customer. The setting is unchecked by default (ACH actions are allowed).
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The ability to toggle this setting may be restricted by adding the Disallow Checks/ACH setting to the Customer Field Configuration, and then specifying which Groups should be restricted.
Automating Disallow ACH/Checks by Account Type
Rather than toggling Disallow Checks/ACH manually on individual accounts, you can set up the system to automatically set it by account type. This is done enabling and configuring the Disable ACH/Checks setting under MANAGE > Settings Payment Restriction in Customer Care.
Two system-defined triggers are created when you enable this setting:
Customer Created - Anytime a customer is created and their account type is one of the account types selected through configuration, this trigger will set the Disallow Checks / ACH check box in both Desktop Client and Customer Care.
Customer Modified - Anytime a customer is modified and their account type is one of the account types selected through configuration, the trigger will set the Disallow Checks / ACH check box in both Desktop Client and Customer Care. The exception is when switching from one configured account type to a different configured account type. In this case the trigger will not re-evaluate since Disallow Checks/ACH will already be set.
These triggers use an action called Update Payment Restrictions. This action uses the UpdatePaymentRestrictions end point to set the Customer ID, and the base tender types of Check and E-Check in the restriction database. Setting these values in the database automatically sets the Disallow Checks /check box.
Neither the triggers nor the action require any further setup. You can view the triggers in Workflow by searching on system-defined triggers.
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Note
If you need to use this functionality but don't have access to Customer Care you'll need to request IDI to enable and configure this setting for you by submitting a service request.