by Karen Rowland, Senior Vice President, Corporate Services
At Central Bank, we pride ourselves on our customer service. We can say with sincerity that our customers are our number one priority. As part of this dedication to those we serve, we want to be sure we are working to keep our customers informed about how they can help to protect themselves from fraud, as well as how they can better detect when they have been victims of fraud.
Today I would like to focus on businesses and check fraud. Despite diligent front-line staff, fraud does still sometimes occur. What more could you be doing to prevent fraud from impacting your business? How can you better detect fraud on your business account? I’ll offer some suggestions to help answer these questions for you.
Positive Pay Check Verification
Central Bank offers the Positive Pay service to our business customers to help reduce check and ACH fraud. When checks or ACH debits are presented for payment, the Positive Pay system automatically alerts you by email or text if either check exceptions or ACH exceptions require review and a pay/return decision. You can make such decisions, view images of checks in question, analyze reconcilement reports and submit electronic issued check files all via the web in a secure paperless environment. Since you provide your issued checks to us, our Positive Pay system also provides Automated Reconciliation of your check activity.
Business Online Banking
While online banking should not be relied upon for fraud detection, it can be a great resource to see what checks have posted to an account before the monthly statement has been issued. If you notice any suspicious checks (or any other transactions for that matter) contact us directly so we can begin investigating the check or transaction in question.
A Dedicated Team of Central Bankers
Central Bank also has a dedicated team of Security specialists working behind the scenes to monitor accounts for suspicious activity. When they detect suspicious activity on your account, they contact you to verify the transaction in question. With your help, we feel these checks and balances can serve to help us identify, and in some cases prevent, fraudulent activity.
Focus on the Customer
At Central Bank, we serve customers across Kentucky. We are a customer-focused community bank that is constantly working to keep up with the latest developments and trends in the banking industry. This means you’ll not only talk to someone locally when you call us, but you’ll receive superior service. Our top priority is working to help protect and serve our customers. To find out more about how we aim to serve businesses in the community, or to learn more about any of the services listed in this article, just contact me at krowland@centralbank.com or give a call to 859-253-6368.