CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
DIRECT DEPOSIT GUIDELINES
- Direct Deposit Enrollment
- Maintaining Bank Account Information
- Direct Deposit Processing
- Processing Returned Items
- Account Number and Routing Number
The University provides students and employees (enrollees) with a direct deposit option for student refunds and employee expense advances and reimbursements. An individual’s election to participate in the program allows the University to deposit funds directly into an enrollee’s specified checking account instead of processing a paper check. This election results in a reduction of paper processed by the campus and will save the campus enrollee time and money related to the processing, distribution and deposit of paper checks. All non-payroll direct deposits will be processed in accordance with these guidelines.
Direct Deposit Enrollment
Students and employees can enroll for direct deposit by completing the direct deposit authorization request form found on their respective student or employee Self Service page within the My Fresno State portal. This is a secure site requiring enrollees to enter their email user ID and password for entry.
As part of the enrollment process, the enrollee will disclose in the online form banking information to include the bank routing number and checking account number. Once entered, the routing number and account number will be verified by a third party via secure transmission. The campus will provide the third party with only the bank routing number and account number – no personally identifying information will be provided. The third party will verify only the existence of the specified bank account number at the bank whose routing number is provided. The third party does not validate ownership of the bank account since we are not providing them any information that could identify the enrollee. Therefore, when completing the direct deposit authorization request form the enrollee will be asked to enter the bank account number twice as an assurance that the number is entered correctly.
Enrollees will be required to agree to the Terms and Conditions of the direct deposit program when submitting as well as changing banking information.
By enrolling in the program, an enrollee grants the University authority to credit refunds and reimbursements to the enrollee’s bank account. Enrollment further authorizes the University to debit the enrollee’s account only in a situation where a prior credit was made in error. In either case, Accounting Services will contact the enrollee by phone and/or email notifying them of the action to be taken.
A direct deposit authorization will remain in effect until the enrollee cancels the authorization by returning to the direct deposit authorization request form and selecting the inactivation button. The direct deposit authorization request form can also be used to change bank account information.
Maintaining Bank Account Information
The PeopleSoft database in which enrollee banking information is stored is highly secure from both external and internal access. All banking information is considered private and confidential. Access to the banking information is restricted by security roles as established by Campus Information Systems.
Direct Deposit Processing
Prior to implementing direct deposit, when Accounting Services processed payments one of the steps in the process created a file used for check printing. With implementation of direct deposit, the system creates two files - the check file and an ACH payment file. The ACH payment file is considered private and confidential as it contains enrollee banking and payment information. The file is encrypted and transmitted to Wells Fargo over a secure connection - the file can only be opened by Wells Fargo Bank (the CSU bank) for ACH processing.
Enrollees will be notified of every direct deposit transaction via Fresno State e-mail. Deposits should be posted to enrollee bank accounts the next business day. Accounting Services should be contacted in the event that a direct deposit transaction has not posted to the enrollee’s bank account within 3 business days of notification.
Processing Returned Items
Wells Fargo provides the campus with reports of all ACH rejects and returns, transactions that cannot be processed by the enrollee’s bank due to an error in the bank routing or account number, as when an enrollee closes a bank account or fails to update the direct deposit authorization request form with new banking information. When the campus receives an ACH reject or return, it will immediately notify the enrollee of the situation in hopes that the banking information can be corrected and the payment reprocessed via direct deposit. If this information cannot be timely corrected the rejected or returned payment will be reissued in the form of a check.
Account Number and Routing Number
The image below shows how to locate your account number and routing number.
The line of numbers and special symbols at the bottom of one of your personal checks contains the information you need to make your direct deposit election.
Routing/Transit Number Your routing/transit number is the nine digit number which appears between the |: symbols on the bottom of your check.
Account Number Your account number usually appears to the right of the routing-transit number. It can be up to 17 positions in length and is located to the left of the "||" symbol. If the account number printed on your check contains spaces, you don't need to enter the spaces.
Note: Some banks display the check number to the left of the account number. Be sure you don't include the check number as part of the account number.
