SECTION 14: Returned Checks/ACH Payments
Last updated: May 2024
I. General
- Checks and ACH payments (i.e., electronic debits to a customer’s bank account) are returned to the Cashier’s Office for a variety of reasons. The most frequent reasons for a returned item include: non-sufficient funds, account closed, no account/unable to locate, invalid account number, stale-dated (at least 180 days old), post-dated, and stop payment.
- The departmental account to which the payment was originally credited will not be charged back to the department unless payment for the returned item cannot be collected in the time frame described in the returned item process outlined below.
II. Returned Item Process (In General)
- Upon receipt of a returned item, the Receivables Department will attempt to notify the debtor of the returned item by mailing and/or emailing the debtor a Notice of Returned Item. A returned item service fee of $25 will be added to the outstanding balance of the returned item. The debtor will be given three weeks to pay the balance of the returned item in full. If the debtor has not paid the balance in full by the end of the three-week period, a second notice will be mailed and/or emailed to the debtor extending the deadline by an additional three weeks.
- An outstanding balance on the returned item at the end of the six-week period will be charged back to the department that originally received the credit for payment. The chargeback process is completed on a monthly basis. Notice of the chargeback will be attached to the E-Doc in EBS. Only the original amount credited to the department will be charged back.
- Any payment received by the department for a returned item should be forwarded to the Receivables Department, Hannah Administration Building, 426 Auditorium Road Rm. 360. Do not deposit the payment for the returned item into the department’s account. Debtors with questions regarding returned items should be directed to the Receivables Department, 517-355-3313, returneditems@ctlr.msu.edu.
- Acceptable forms of payment on a returned item include cashier’s check or money order. Replacement checks will not be accepted. Partial payments on returned items are not accepted.
- Departmental billings still outstanding after 90 days from the date the materials were sold or services were rendered are considered delinquent and should be immediately submitted to the Delinquent Receivables Department via a collection advice form signed by the unit administrator or unit administrator designate. Please refer to the Manual Business Procedures Accounts Receivable Section for instructions and details on this process (Manual of Business Section 10)
- When three or more check payments from the same payer have been returned to MSU, departments are required to ensure all future payments to the University from the payer must be made in the form of cashier’s check or money order.
III. Returned Items From Students
- When a returned item is identified as payment applied toward an account belonging to an MSU student, an enrollment and diploma hold is immediately placed on the student’s account. A returned item service fee of $25 will be added to the student’s account.
- When two or more payments made towards a student’s account have been returned within one year, the student will no longer have ACH payment as an available method of payment on their student account for one year from the date of the first returned payment.
- If the student’s account remains unpaid, other actions are possible, as outlined in Student Life and Academic Programs.
