°®ÎÛ´«Ã½

Cash Management

Foreign Checks

°®ÎÛ´«Ã½ will not accept checks for deposit that are not drawn on US or Canadian banks.

1. All checks must have the 'magnetic code' across the bottom of the check and the originating bank must be a US or Canadian bank.
2. Payments from foreign entities need to be either drawn on US banks (the US bank must be the originating bank, not a foreign entity issuing a check that is "DRAWN ON" a US bank), make their payment with an international money order or pay via credit card.

The last check accepted from a foreign bank was from the Bank of Greenland and drawn on a Bank of America International account. Bank of America charged $120.00 to collect the funds. The original check amount was $742.80. The $120.00 had to be charged back to the department that deposited the check and it was up to them to try to collect those funds.

Canadian Checks

All Canadian checks must be placed on a separate deposit slip that is listed as 'CANADIAN' and be accompanied by a copy of the check with the deposit accounting numbers listed.

Canadian exchanges are processed by our bank on a daily basis. We work hard to process the exchange to the student/department as soon as we get the information from the bank.

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Incoming EFTs, ACH, and Wire Transfers

An EFT is an Electronic Fund Transfer and can refer to various forms of electronic payments.  Including but not limited to: ACH Payments (Automated Clearing House,) Wire Transfers, Book Transfers, and eCommerce credit card payments.  Here we will show guidance for incoming payments and what steps you should take for each.

Please remember we do not send our bank account number unencrypted electronically.

Image description:  Flowchart asking various questions to determine if a payment should be an ACH, Wire Transfer, or Book Transfer.

 

Wire Transfers

Wire Transfers should be used for:

• One time payments to °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ on behalf of a student or for a °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ department.
• Funds coming from a foreign bank account and in foreign currency.
  Our bank only accepts USD or CAD, all other currencies will be rejected and returned.

To make a Wire Transfer from a vendor to °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ please provide the vendor with our form to fill out and give to their bank.  The account number is purposefully left blank, please have the vendor contact uaf-ofa-cash@alaska.edu to discuss the best way to get our account number to them.

ACH Payments (Automatic Clearing House)

ACH Payments should be used for:

• Recurring payments to °®ÎÛ´«Ã½. 
  Example: Organization is paying for multiple scholarships for students or an agency is making payments towards a project or grant.

ACH Payments require an ACH Agreement from the vendor on their letterhead.  We are not legally allowed to create an ACH Agreement for any vendor, it must be created by the vendor.
If the vendor does not have a standard ACH Agreement there are many templates available online that they can customize for their own use.

An ACH Agreement should have the following:

• Vendor's letterhead with vendor's contact information visible.
• Vendor's payment agreement jargon. 
• Space for °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ to at minimum list - 
  • Account number
  • Routing number
  • Remittance email information and/or contact information
  • Place for bank designee signature

All ACH Agreements must go to uaf-ofa-cash@alaska.edu for review.  Once we have reviewed the agreement it is forwarded to the bank designee.  Please remember only the bank designee is allowed to sign these agreements, any and all agreements not signed by the UA designee are void.  
When sending these agreements to °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ Cash Management please include in your email a brief synopsis of what the payments will be for and, if not listed in the email, the contact name with the vendor.

Book Transfers

Book transfers are a domestic USD fund transfer within the same bank for the same organization.
Example: °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ would like to pay Foundation for an event.  °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ would initiate a Book Transfer to Foundation.

If you would like to make a Book Transfer please email uaf-ofa-cash@alaska.edu with the relevant details.

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eCommerce (Credit Cards)

UA has approved payment gateway, acquirer bank, and Point-of-Sale equipment in order to provide a PCI compliant E-Commerce solutions for University payment card transactions.  Inquiries regarding credit card transactions in person or online should go through the °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ Office of the Bursar uaf-bursar@alaska.edu

Cash Management is able to make inquires and research specific information but the Bursar's Office is the best contact for eCommerce related questions.

Bank Account FAQs - What you need to know

• Due to State of Alaska Regulations as well as Board of Regents Policy we cannot send our bank account information unencrypted electronically.  Please contact our °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ Cash Manager Rachael Hewitt at uaf-ofa-cash@alaska.edu or (907) 474-6412 to discuss the best method to get the vendor this information.
  
  
• We cannot provide the account number to an employee to then relay to the vendor, the account number must come from the °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ Cash Manager to the vendor directly to be properly recorded as to be in compliance with our bank's guidelines.
  
  
• ACH cannot be sent in foreign currency as ACH is limited to the US.
  
  
• °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ does not have a IBAN (International Bank Account Number) as the US does not have IBAN capabilities.
  
  
• We cannot use vendor's third party portals.  This is due to third party portals being high-risk, NACHA* rules & recommendations, and other factors.   For more information please view our
  Example: If the vendor uses another company such as Bill.com for their electronic payment needs we cannot provide the third party vendor our account number.  Any portals must be maintained and operated by the vendor themselves, otherwise they will need to make their payment with another method.
  *NACHA is the National Automated Clearing House Association that manages the ACH network.
  
  
• Our bank account number cannot be present on agreements, invoices, receipts, or any other documentation that is sent electronically unencrypted.  A truncated version showing only the last 4 digits is acceptable.

Never send full bank account numbers electronically unencrypted.  Truncate, it's safer!

If you have any questions on the materials above please feel free to reach out to °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ Cash Management at uaf-ofa-cash@alaska.edu 

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Unidentified ACH Deposits & Checks

The university often receives payments in the form of ACH deposits or checks that are unclear as to which department they belong. These monies are held in a general ledger account until they are claimed.

It is important to track incoming revenue to ensure the transactions process correctly and posts to the appropriate area. Otherwise, the revenue may end up in this holding place without anyone knowing of its existence.

You can review the current list of unlocated ACH deposits in the FGIGLAC Banner screen:

• Enter 103010 for the fund and 0773 for the account code
• You may either scroll through the list or search for a specific amount by clearing the screen and entering the value in the "Amount" box
• Please note, amounts may vary if fees were applied

Alternatively, we maintain a spreadsheet with the information and update the list weekly.

 

 

Our staff are happy to answer any questions about foreign and unidentified checks.