Do your job responsibilities include handling Automated Clearing House (ACH) exception cases? Are you tired of the time-consuming communication and documentation exchange to resolve them? We recently launched the FedACH® Exception Resolution Service to help reduce many of these labor-intensive processes. When both financial institutions participate in the service, it allows you to resolve an ACH exception case from open to close, including securely sharing documentation, via your FedLine Web® or FedLine Advantage® Solution.
Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (Off-site) was one of the first organizations to sign up for the service. The Utah-based company operates eight different financial institutions across 11 western states. Vice President Judi McClelland recently shared her organization’s experience with the new service.
"I am sympathetic to the challenges of working with other institutions to resolve exceptions,” McClelland explained. “Our biggest issue has been the timeliness of responses from other financial institutions and their requirement to send documentation via fax. When the Exception Resolution Service became available and we started learning what it would entail, I was very excited to get on board with it.”
Overcoming hurdles
When the service launched in April, Zions was prepared to begin using it to handle its average load of 100 exception cases per day. As with any new service, though, Zions had to overcome some hurdles. “Zions attended the Federal Reserve Banks’ webinar training for the Exception Resolution Service. We borrowed material from the Federal Reserve Banks’ training and tailored it to our internal processes and conducted training for all of our staff to get them comfortable with the service before it ever went live,” McClelland recalled. “Because we did a lot of pre-work, it became a natural part of our workflow, so it wasn’t difficult for our staff to begin using the service.”
Zions also had to update its internal processes and the database it uses to manage ACH exceptions. “We’ve added an element to our workflow for exporting the documentation and other information so that we can load necessary documents into the Exception Resolution Service when needed,” McClelland said. “Now it’s just become part of our overall routine.”
Our staff love the Exception Resolution Service. They’ve never had anything that works as easily as it does. When institutions use it to its full benefit, we can close cases in a couple days versus the weeks that it took in the past.
Zions Bancorporation, N.A.
Getting started
When the Exception Resolution Service launched, all existing FedACH Information Services Subscribers were automatically enrolled in a Partial Service Participant mode. This mode allows financial institutions to only respond to ACH exception cases they receive through the service. The Full Service Participant mode provides the same functionality as the Partial Service Participant mode as well as the ability to open ACH exception cases.
Financial institutions interested in signing up for the Full Service Participant mode should have an authorized signer complete Part 6F (PDF) of the FedACH Participation Agreement. Additionally, End User Authorization Contacts (EUACs) should review their Subscribers’ roles and determine if additional individuals should be granted the “Exception Resolution Service” role.
Additional resources
More information about the Exception Resolution Service is available in the Quick Reference Guide, and detailed instructions for using the service are available under FedACH via the Training link in FedLine Home. Please contact your account executive or FedACH and Check Services Customer Support with questions.
Note
The Federal Reserve Banks do not sponsor or endorse any of the non-Federal Reserve Bank-related products, parties or entities discussed in this publication.
