Positive Pay is a fraud prevention service for businesses that involves Town & Country cross-referencing check and ACH transactions against a list of authorized payments provided by the business. The value of this service is scaled directly in tandem with the volume and total dollar amount of check and ACH transactions that come and go to and from a Business’s account. Deciding when it’s time to consider a Positive Pay solution can be tricky. Positive Pay has a monthly recurring fee associated with it and requires daily attention to fully utilize its benefits. The fee is relatively negligible, but the labor hours that a business may need to dedicate to servicing can create an aversion to signing up.

It is challenging to convey the value in a one-size-fits-all perspective when it comes to Positive Pay. The data on business check fraud isn’t very accessible or defined due to the variety of reporting methods used by different businesses and how they categorize losses, which makes it difficult to balance the risk value aspect. According to the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Report, in 2024, roughly 63% of organizations were victims of check fraud. Additionally, as of 2023, small businesses with fewer than 100 employees had a median loss of $150,000 due to check and ACH fraud. That $150,000 figure is a general estimate for the lifespan of the businesses, not the total for a year. The reason it is so challenging to paint a one-size-fits-all qualifier is that it is truly beneficial for any business with high ACH and/or check volume. The hours required to service the solution can be integrated into standard accounting daily processes to reduce the impact on day-to-day operations and, in fact, will save time in the long run. If you, as a business owner, have ever needed to contact your financial institution to return/dispute an ACH or check, you know that process can be very time-consuming.

ACH Positive Pay typically requires less explanation. ACH Positive Pay enables users to establish dollar amount threshold rules, which trigger exceptions when a transaction exceeds the set threshold. As a business, you can review them to allow them to post or have them return, much like Check Positive Pay.