This project enhances the existing deposit holds features so that a credit union can opt to release funds differently for amounts above a certain $ amount threshold (such as $5,000), on a single deposit.  For example, if a member deposits a $17,500 check, the system could be instructed to hold the first $5,000 for 3 days, and the remaining amount ($12,500) for an additional 4 days, or a total of 7 days (3+4).

To accomplish this, we will take advantage of how our current uncollected funds records already work.  Two separate hold records would be created, and the Reg CC next-day release, if applicable, would apply only to the first one.  In a nutshell, we’ll be doing automatically what many CUs do now, manually, to handle holds on large deposits.

The above sample shows how a deposit of $17,500 would be handled, if a CU had set the new flag to add 4 days to any deposits over $5,000.  Notice how the Reg CC release date on the first $5,000 is set to the next day (this sample assumes the CU is using calendar days), but the hold on the remaining $12,500 has a Reg CC release date that is the same as the release date for the entire hold (meaning an additional $225 will not be released out of that amount).

This will be a new, global setting that affects how ALL deposit holds are placed, no matter how other channel-specific settings (teller, mail/direct, RDC, and ATM) are configured.  There will also be an override setting added to the Electronic Deposit Hold Group code so that CUs can assign different parameters for brand-new accounts, for example, or in other special situations.

This technique means we don’t have to change the hold days input fields that currently appear on Teller and Mail/Direct Post screens, which allow tellers and MSRs to manually input a hold.  Instead of requiring the user to figure out the hold below a certain $ amount and the hold above that amount (and maybe even the $ amount itself), with this global flag the CU can say that the teller simply has to decide on the standard hold for any check, and the system will tack a certain number of additional hold days for any amounts above the CU’s general threshold (typically $5,000).  This also makes it easier if the $5,000 guideline changes to $7,500, or $3,000, or whatever, down the road.

Some caveats:

• We will be supporting changes to the way release dates are communicated on member receipts but ONLY for the new vertical receipt format being introduced with Xpress Teller, like this:

Funds held: $     5,000.00 available 07/06
Funds held: $   12,500.00 available 07/10

• Horizontal receipts will show only a single release date like now, using the latest date (so 07/10 in the above sample).
• Will not be changing the way holds are placed on transactions via national shared branch teller.
• If a CU uses this, they will not be able to use the 6-tier holds by check amount functionality in our holds configurations.
• Remember that although we don’t have a mechanism for different tiered holds based on $ amount for business memberships vs. individuals, since CUs can configure and assign different EDHG codes, they can still treat organizations differently if they so choose.

Status as of May 2023: PS#56948 was implemented with the 23.05 release. 

Chefs for this recipe are Dawn Moore and Keegan Daniel.