WSFS Bank Positive Pay and Your Check Issue File
WSFS Bank offers positive pay to its business and commercial customers as part of its treasury management and cash management services. Positive pay is a check fraud control: you send the bank a list of the checks you have issued, and WSFS compares every check presented for payment against that list. Checks that do not match are flagged as exceptions for you to pay or return.
This page explains how positive pay works at WSFS, what a check issue file generally contains, and how to build a file that matches your account using the free check issue file generator on this site. The exact file layout is set by WSFS when your service is configured, so always confirm the format with your treasury contact before relying on it.
What WSFS Bank offers
WSFS describes its fraud prevention tools inside its Business Online Banking platform, which is where positive pay lives. According to WSFS, the available controls include:
- Check Positive Pay, which WSFS says "arms your business with the information needed to stop check fraud before it becomes a loss" by matching presented checks against the checks you reported as issued.
- Reverse Positive Pay, which WSFS says "alerts you every time one of your business checks is presented for deposit, giving you the ability to accept or deny the check."
- ACH Positive Pay, which lets you review and block unauthorized ACH debits and credits using filters and blocks. This applies to electronic transactions, not paper checks, so it does not use a check issue file.
WSFS publishes short positive pay training videos for these features, including one titled Import Issue File & Enter Check Issues Overview and one titled Check Positive Pay Decisions Overview. You can find them on the official WSFS positive pay training page. If you are unsure which service you have, the WSFS treasury and customer service line is 888.973.7226.
The general shape of a check issue file
A check issue file is the list of checks you have written, sent to the bank so it knows which checks are legitimate. WSFS sets the exact layout for your account, but most positive pay files, including those at WSFS, carry the same core fields for each check:
- Account number, the business checking account the check is drawn on.
- Check or serial number, the number printed on the check.
- Amount, the dollar amount of the check.
- Issue date, the date you wrote the check.
- Action code, marking the record as issued or void.
- Payee name, included only when your service matches the payee printed on the check.
Beyond those fields, the details vary. Your file may be a comma-separated (CSV) file or a fixed-width file, dates may use one of several formats, and amounts may include a decimal point or be expressed in cents without one. For more on these choices, see the positive pay file format reference and the notes on fixed-width versus CSV files and implied decimal amounts. Do not assume field positions or codes from a generic template, because WSFS provides the layout that applies to your account.
The upload workflow in Business Online Banking
At WSFS, you submit your issued checks through Business Online Banking. The general process is:
- Sign in to Business Online Banking and open the positive pay or check management area.
- Import your issue file, or enter individual check issues by hand, as covered in the WSFS "Import Issue File & Enter Check Issues" training video.
- Submit the file before the daily cutoff so the checks are loaded before they are presented for payment.
- Review exceptions, the checks that did not match your issued list, and decide to pay or return each one before the decision deadline.
Cutoff times and exception deadlines are set by the bank, so confirm them with WSFS. Missing the decision window can cause an exception to be paid or returned by default. See positive pay cutoff times and handling exceptions for background.
Build a matching file from your check register
If your accounting software does not export a WSFS-ready file, you can build one here. Take the check register from your software, then use the free custom format builder to map your columns to the fields and layout WSFS gave you. You set the column order, the date format, whether amounts use a decimal point, and the issued and void codes, then generate a file that matches.
This is useful if you mark some checks as void, since the file needs a record with the correct void action code for each one. See handling void checks for details. If your file has already been turned away, the notes on a rejected positive pay file cover the common causes.
Verify your first file with the bank
Treat your first WSFS file as a test. Ask your treasury contact for the exact specification for your account, generate a small file with the builder, and have WSFS confirm it loads cleanly before you depend on it. Layouts differ between banks and even between accounts at the same bank, so a file that worked elsewhere is not guaranteed to work at WSFS. Confirming the format once prevents rejected files and missed checks later. You can check field counts and basic structure with the file validator before you upload.