Positive Pay: How Banks Stop Check and ACH Fraud Before It Happens
Check and ACH fraud cost banks and their business customers real money every year. Here's how Positive Pay works, and how our partnership with Advanced Fraud Solutions brings it to Linker-powered banks.
What Positive Pay actually does
Positive Pay is a fraud-prevention tool that compares checks and ACH transactions presented for payment against a list of what a business customer actually issued. If a check or transaction doesn't match, wrong amount, wrong payee, an item that was never issued at all, it gets flagged for review before it clears, instead of after the money is already gone.
For growing businesses, that gap matters. Check fraud and ACH fraud are still among the most common ways businesses lose money, and by the time a fraudulent item clears, it's often too late to recover the funds.
Why we partnered with Advanced Fraud Solutions
We chose Advanced Fraud Solutions because they built their platform on modern, published APIs, not legacy file transfers, and they've spent close to two decades focused specifically on check and payment fraud prevention for financial institutions. That focus shows up in the details, like Image Analysis: an optional layer, driven in part by AI and machine learning, that reviews the actual image of a check for signs of tampering, catching a category of fraud, payee alteration, that standard positive pay checks alone can miss. (AFS reports this type of payee manipulation shows up in a significant share of the positive-pay-related fraud they see.)
What's included
Check Positive Pay
Every check presented against a business account is checked against what was actually issued, amount, check number, and payee, before it clears.
ACH Positive Pay
The same protection extends to ACH transactions, giving business customers control over which debits are allowed to post.
AI-Driven Image Analysis (optional)
Powered in part by AI and machine learning, check images are reviewed for signs of alteration or tampering, catching fraud that matches on paper but isn't legitimate.
Built for the customers who need it most
Any business that writes checks or processes ACH transactions is a target for fraud, and Positive Pay is one of the most requested protections among growing commercial and business banking customers. Offering it isn't just about stopping fraud; it's often the feature that signals a bank is serious about business banking.
Positive Pay is not just about fraud defense. For Treasury teams, it's a way to attract valuable business accounts and generate non-interest income.
Want to offer Positive Pay to your business customers?
Talk to our team about adding Positive Pay to your Linker-powered business banking experience.
Frequently asked questions
What is Positive Pay?
Positive Pay is a fraud-prevention service that matches checks and ACH transactions against what a business actually issued, flagging anything that doesn't match before it clears.
Does Positive Pay stop all check fraud?
No single tool stops all fraud. Positive Pay is designed to catch the most common forms, altered amounts, forged checks, and unauthorized ACH debits, and Image Analysis adds protection against payee tampering specifically.
Is Positive Pay only for large businesses?
No. Any business that writes checks or processes ACH payments can benefit, and it's increasingly expected by business banking customers of any size.
How is this different from standard fraud monitoring?
Positive Pay is proactive: it checks items against what the business actually authorized before the transaction clears, rather than flagging suspicious activity after the fact.
How do I get this for my bank?
Positive Pay is available to Linker-powered banks through our partnership with Advanced Fraud Solutions. Talk to our team to get started.