Payments fraud attempts remain stubbornly high, with 79% of organizations targeted in 2024, according to the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey. Check fraud remains the most common threat, and while large banks have faced multimillion-dollar losses, smaller institutions with under $10 billion in assets have still incurred significant losses in the hundreds of thousands.
Source: Datos Insights, Positive Pay Adoption: Trends, Challenges, and What Banks Are Doing About It
More than $ M
$1M to $ M
$100 - $
Positive Pay is a banking service that helps detect and prevent ACH and check fraud by allowing commercial accounts to monitor transactions against check issuance files and ACH criteria. Matching transactions are processed, while discrepancies are flagged for review, requiring approval or rejection.
There are several types of Check Positive Pay, each offering different levels of fraud protection. Standard Positive Pay verifies the check number, amount, and date, while Payee Positive Pay adds payee name validation for stronger security. Reverse Positive Pay gives businesses flexibility by allowing them to review checks after they’re presented, and Teller Validation helps stop fraud in real time at the branch.
When the positive pay system finds an exception, it’s flagged. The business client must review and decide to pay or return it—usually by a set cutoff time. If they don't respond, the default action (pay or return) is followed based on their setup.
ACH Returns occur when an ACH payment is rejected or cannot be processed. Common reasons include:
Financial institutions must process these returns using specific return codes and typically within two banking days for most commercial transactions.
An ACH NOC is a notice sent by a receiving bank or credit union when account information has changed (like a routing number or account number), but the transaction was still processed. The originator (or their financial institution) must update their records within six business days or before the next payment—whichever comes first—to avoid future rejections.