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. Unlike other banks, Martha's Vineyard Bank does not charge customers for the SoundPay service.

How does SoundPay 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.

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.