PAYMENT CARD DEPOSITS - 8032.6

Agencies/Departments shall adhere to the following procedures for depositing card payments (e.g., credit cards, debit cards, Automated Teller Machine [ATM] cards, Smart cards [monetary value stored on the card itself]) for both the state’s Master Service Agreement for payment card processing and an agency/department’s individually contracted processor. The contracting agency/department should ensure that any contract or agreement with the processor includes provisions that are consistent with the following procedures:

1. Agencies/Departments accepting payment cards shall establish a Zero Balance Account (ZBA) at the main branch of an approved depository bank and process all payment card transactions through the ZBA. For information on establishing a ZBA, see SAM Section 8002. For a list of approved depositories, see SAM Section 8031.
2. The payment card processor will transmit the daily payment card transaction amounts to the agency/department’s ZBA and make all transaction data available to the agency/department. At the close of each business day, the bank will electronically transfer the agency/department’s ZBA net amount into the appropriate demand depository account. The bank will supply periodic statements to the agency/department for reconciliation purposes. The processor will not make any unauthorized debits to the agency/department’s ZBA.
3. Each business day, FI$Cal will automatically process the net payment card amount transferred into the demand depository account for the previous day’s activity directly into the agency/department’s centralized State Treasury System (CTS) account. This process eliminates the need for agencies/departments to submit deposit slips for payment card transactions.

FI$Cal will automatically create ZBA deposits for credit transfers and Agency Trust Adjustment deposits for debit transfers to the agency/department’s CTS account.

Agencies/Departments are responsible for reconciling their ZBA activity and should direct any payment card questions or disputes to the payment card processor.