Payments

Synctera ACH

Simple, reliable money movement

With over 29.1 billion payments last year, the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network is the primary way money moves electronically through the U.S. banking system. With Synctera ACH, your customers can use ACH transfers to fund their accounts, pay bills, and move money. Synctera ACH seamlessly enables your bank partner to manage and execute same-day and non-same-day ACH transfers on behalf of your customers.

Benefits

Accelerate time to market: Get your ACH payment program up and running quickly.

Seamless user experience: The powerful Synctera interface makes ACH payments a breeze.

Complete transparency: With near real-time visibility into the ACH process, your bank partner can understand your performance and the impact on their balance sheet.

Manage risk: Enhance fraud controls and ensure outgoing payment volumes align with your bank partner’s risk tolerance.

Streamline operations: Ensure transactions are flowing correctly to the general ledger and enable support teams to effectively troubleshoot customer inquiries according to NACHA rules (NACHA governs the ACH network).

Key features

Incoming ACH processing: Your bank partner receives incoming ACH files that are sent to the Synctera platform to process credits and debits for your customer accounts.

Returns: Execute returns for ACH payments that fail to be processed by the external bank (e.g., non-sufficient funds, invalid account number, payment stopped, account frozen or closed).

Reversals: Process incoming payment reversals.

Exception handling: Troubleshoot payments that cannot be processed and manually resolve these items.

Outgoing ACH processing*: Initiate an API call to send money to external accounts and debit customer accounts. With Synctera, you avoid the complexity of having to create an ACH file in NACHA format; instead, only an API call is required.

Account validation: As a mandatory network compliance requirement, ensure accounts are valid, open, in good standing and that funds are available prior to execution.

Modify/cancel payments: Review, modify or cancel pending outgoing ACH payments prior to processing.

Pre-scheduled payments: Create ACH instructions up to three months in advance of the planned execution date.

Recurring payments: Set up recurring ACH payments on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Settlement account: Create an ACH settlement account to track ACH debits and credits for later settlement.

Partial holds: If you choose to use ACH for account funding, you can create partial holds for a percentage of the ACH transaction. A percentage of the total transaction amount is released in real time so your customers can use the partially released amount immediately. This feature helps drive customer activation and engagement.

Transaction descriptions for transfers to external accounts: You can add a transaction description for ACH transfers that go to external accounts. This allows your customers to easily understand why the ACH transfer occurred. It’s particularly useful for transfers that happen automatically (e.g. if your financial product or FinTech app automatically rounds up transactions and then moves the rounded up amount to savings).

*Synctera “Lead” Ledger is required to execute incoming/outgoing ACH transactions.

How it works

Incoming ACH payments

1. At the end of each day, your bank partner securely transfers a file with incoming ACH transactions to Synctera.
2. Synctera automatically validates and converts the incoming ACH file to the required format.
3. Validated payment instructions are processed and posted to Synctera Ledger.
4. Your customer accounts are credited and debited with the correct amount.

Outgoing ACH payments

1. Outgoing ACH payment instructions are validated automatically and posted to Synctera Ledger.
2. Outgoing payment instructions are converted to the outgoing ACH payment file.
3. Several times a day, Synctera securely transfers the outgoing ACH payment file to the bank partner to be sent to the NACHA network.

Synctera Wire

Give your retail or business customers the ability to make domestic and international high-value transfers in near real time.

Wire transfers are direct point-to-point transfers between any two financial institutions. They’re typically used for higher-value items like property purchases or for settling large institutional transactions. Wire transfers clear immediately. 

Synctera provides the ability for your customers to send domestic and international wire transfers from their accounts and receive domestic and international wire transfers into their accounts.

Benefits

• Create stickier customer relationships and boost customer lifetime value with your business and high-net-worth retail customers by allowing them to transact via their preferred payment method
• Create a new revenue stream by charging a fee, or provide free wire transfers to boost engagement with your other services
• Enable cross-border payments for customers

Key features

• Domestic transfers are made via the Fedwire system and are processed by Synctera
• Incoming and outgoing wire transfers clear immediately, making them appropriate for time-sensitive transactions
• Synctera supports domestic and international wire transfers 

Synctera Remote Check Deposit

Allow your retail and business customers to deposit paper checks without going to a branch or ATM

Paper checks may be declining in popularity as a payment method, but your retail customers may still receive them from time to time, and business customers like doctors and lawyers may receive them quite often. Synctera Remote Check Deposit allows your customers to deposit these checks into their accounts without visiting a branch or ATM.

Benefits

• Allow your customers who receive checks to conveniently deposit and access their funds

Key features

• Your customers capture and upload images of their checks using their mobile phone, tablet, or computer
• Customers' funds are generally available between one and seven days from initial deposit, according to your bank partner’s Funds Availability Schedule

How it works

• Using a mobile phone, tablet, or computer, your customer captures images of his/her check and uploads it to your app
• You push the images and information to Synctera via API
• Synctera sends the image to our Remote Check Deposit provider
• Synctera's Remote Check Deposit provider validates the check using optical character resolution (OCR) and returns the outcome to Synctera
• If the check is validated, Synctera adds the check deposit to Synctera Ledger
• After end of day/cutoff time, Synctera's Remote Check Deposit provider generates anImage Cash Letter (ICL) file and sends it to the Synctera SFTP
• Synctera sends the ICL file to your bank partner via SFTP
• Your bank partner sends the ICL file to the Fed

Synctera Fraud

Defend against fraudsters

For companies offering financial products and services, fraud is an unfortunate reality. Fraud—if not managed with proper oversight and controls—can have a significant impact on your bottom line, as fraud losses are your (not your bank partner's) sole responsibility.

Synctera Fraud provides FinTechs with a scalable fraud program. Seamlessly integrated with the Synctera platform, Synctera Fraud can be launched quickly and easily, keeping you safe from fraudsters as you scale.

Benefits

Reduce fraud and remain compliant: Avoid financial risk and protect your business by identifying and preventing fraudulent events

Increase operational efficiency: Automate workflows and concentrate resources only on those events flagged for review or rejection

Key features

Configurable rules and risk models: Build monitoring rules that align with the risk appetites of you and your bank partner. Create customer risk ratings to enhance accuracy.

Real-time monitoring: Monitor transactions and money movement in real time with relevant customer information at your fingertips, including KYC outcomes.

Pre-integrated: Your scalable fraud program works seamlessly with all of Synctera’s regulatory and compliance services.

Proof of compliance: Track, investigate, and resolve events flagged for review or rejection. Use audit trails and other information to prove compliance with BSA/AML regulations.

Data-driven insights: Understand overall fraud cases, including opened, current status, and time to close. Identify trends and adjust the program to minimize risk.

How it works

1. You and your bank partner work with Synctera to implement and configure Synctera Fraud. Rules for event monitoring are configurable by you and your bank partner to address regulations and risk parameters.
2. Once activated, Synctera sends real-time events and customer information for analysis to our fraud partner.
3. Based on pre-configured rules and risk models, each event is permitted or flagged for review or rejection.
4. A case is created within Synctera Cases for each event that is under review or rejected.
5. You investigate and resolve each case, updating customer and account status through Synctera Cases.