What is SoundPay?

SoundPay (also known as Positive Pay) is a fraud prevention tool used by Martha's Vineyard Bank to help deter check and ACH fraud. SoundPay enables a company to help with risk management by protecting it against negative activity such as forged, altered, or counterfeit checks and ACH fraudulent debits and credits - as well as potential losses and other liabilities to the Bank. Martha's Vineyard Bank does not charge customers for the SoundPay service, but other banks do.

How does it work for checks?

  • Companies can upload a list of checks issued with the check number, dollar amount, and account number of each check.
  • Companies are notified daily of account activity to review.
  • SoundPay compares the list to the actual checks presented for payment and flags any that do not match.
  • The company decides if the check should be paid or returned. Checks marked for return are processed by Martha's Vineyard Bank.
  • Without SoundPay in place, counterfeit checks could be paid or go unrecognized.

How does it work for ACH?

  • It is a separate service than checks in SoundPay.
  • Companies are notified daily of account activity to review.
  • Companies can maintain an approved list of other companies permitted to debit and/or credit accounts.
  • To help protect your account from unauthorized and potentially fraudulent ACH debit or credit entries, companies can maintain a block list of other companies to not pay ACH debit and/or credits to their accounts.
  • ACHs marked for return or on the block list are processed by Martha's Vineyard Bank.
  • Without SoundPay in place, fraudulent debits or credits could be processed and go unrecognized.
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