See ACES Screens and Online Pages for an example of pages or screens used in this chapter.
EFT is an option provided to clients to have cash benefits directly deposited into their own checking or savings account at any financial institution that accepts EFT transactions.
Clients receiving cash assistance from the following programs can choose to have EFT:
Monthly issuance - funds are available the first banking day of the month.
Daily issuances - funds are available after 9:00 a.m. on the third banking day from the issuance date.
Banking days are Monday - Friday excluding Federal holidays.
Once an EFT benefit has been deposited in an account, it cannot be voided or canceled. This is true even if the benefit is not yet available to the client.
Authorized representatives are notified by Letter 038-02 (Cash Assistance Payee Remittance) each time an EFT benefit is generated for the Assistance Unit (AU).
Letter 039-01 (Reject Pre-Note / Direct Deposit) is used to notify the client of a rejected pre-note or returned deposit.
Field staff should delete an EFT pre-note when information is received that the account has been closed or changed.
ACES determines the Issuance Method on reinstated or reopened cash Assistance Units (AUs) based on the following rules:
Example #1:
Because the original AU closed more than 12 months ago, the issuance method will be EBT (or warrant depending if the worker coded an Authorized Representative (AREP) in the case when finalizing.)
In the above scenario, the issuance method will continue to display in ACES as EFT until nightly batch runs, where the method will flip to EBT or warrant.
Example #2:
Because the AU has been closed less than 12 months, when the AU is finalized, the issuance method will be EFT - unless EFT information was deleted from the Electronic Funds Transfer Registration (EFTR) screen, then benefits will be issued via EBT.
EFT enrollment information displays on the Electronic Funds Transfer Registration page. To view the Electronic Funds Transfer Registration page, complete the following steps:
EFT Direct Deposit information can only be entered or updated by designated Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) / EFT staff, and only upon receipt of DSHS form 14-432 (Direct Deposit Enrollment).
Field staff can view the EFT information using the following options on the Electronic Funds Transfer Registration page in ACES.online.
Historical EFT enrollment information can be view on the Electronic Funds Transfer Registration page in ACES.online. For more information on how to view this information, see How do I view Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) enrollment and bank status information?
Once an Assistance Unit (AU) is active and an Electronic Funds Transfer Registration page has been created, ACES generates a prenote during nightly processing.
The Prenote Sent Date field is filled the day after central office inputs information.
The pre-note is sent to the client's financial institution to confirm that the account number, routing number, and account type are valid for that institution. When the pre-note is accepted by the financial institution the EFT Registration Status field changes from Prenote Pending (PP) to Prenote Successful (PS) within ten banking days from the pre-note input date. Once a pre-note is successfully processed, the first EFT deposit is made the first of the month following the ongoing month at the time the pre-note is completed.
State Supplemental Program (SSP) auto enrollment requires State Office EFT to manually update EFT Registration Status to SSP Prenote Authorization (SA).
When there is a discrepancy in account information between the Electronic Funds Transfer Registration page in ACES.online and the Liquid Resource page in ACES 3G, Alert 075 - EFT / RES1 BANK ACCOUNT MISMATCH - COMPARE EFTR /RES1 is generated as this may be an eligibility factor.
EFT enrollment information displays on the EFTR screen.
To view the EFTR screen, complete the following:
EFT Direct Deposit information can only be entered or updated by designated Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) / EFT staff, and only upon receipt of DSHS form 14-432 (Direct Deposit Enrollment).
Field staff can inquire or delete EFT information using the following options on the EFTM screen:
To delete an EFT, complete the following steps.
Once an Assistance Unit (AU) is active and an EFTR screen has been completed, ACES generates a pre-note during nightly processing.
The Prenote Sent Date field is filled the day after central office inputs information on the EFTR screen.
The pre-note is sent to the client's financial institution to confirm that the account number, routing number, and account type are valid for that institution. When the pre-note is accepted by the financial institution the EFTR Status changes from [PP] - Prenote Pending to [PS] - Prenote Successful within ten banking days from the pre-note input date. Once a pre-note is successfully processed, the first EFT deposit is made the first of the month following the ongoing month at the time the pre-note is completed.
State Supplemental Program (SSP) auto enrollment requires State Office EFT to manually update EFTR Status to [SA] - SSP Prenote Authorized.
When the account number and account type entered on the EFTR screen does not match the account number and type entered on RES1 screen workers receive Edit 1961 - EFT ACCOUNT AND RES1 ACCOUNT DON'T MATCH.
When there is a discrepancy in account information between the EFTR and RES1 screens, Alert 075 - EFT / RES1 BANK ACCOUNT MISMATCH - COMPARE EFTR /RES1 is generated as this may be an eligibility factor.
See ACES Screens and Online Pages for an example of pages or screens used in this chapter.