In February of 2011, Zone4 completed the transition off of printed remittance cheques and now makes remittances via direct deposit.  This is a feature that had been requested by clubs for a number of years.  Direct Deposit eliminates all of the delays and problems inherent in cheques and clubs are be able to get their remittance funds much faster and easier than before.  This notice is to outline the features of the remittance system and to provide instructions for what information you need to submit in Zone4.

What are the Advantages of Direct Deposit?

• Collected funds are remit directly into your club's bank account with no delay for mailing or depositing cheques.
• Direct Deposited funds are not put on hold by your bank, as is often the case with cheques, so you have access to the money right away.
• No more dependency on the mail system and no risk of lost or misplaced cheques.
• The ability to specify more than one bank account for your club and have funds from different registrations remit to different accounts.
• More secure as remittances are performed through encrypted bank systems instead of through paper cheques with a signature.

What does my club need to do?

• You need to login to your Club Services account on Zone4.ca and go to the new Club Settings -> Remittance Information section.  Here you must specify your club's remittance account by typing in the Bank Transit, Institution Number, and Account Number from the bottom of a void cheque from your club.  You must also upload a scanned image of that cheque into the system. The image can be one of the following image file formats (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, TIF, JPEG).  Zone4 will review the numbers you've entered along with the scanned image to ensure they are correct before approving your remittance account.
  

How will the deposits work and what will they look like in our club's bank account?

• One of the key points to note is that Zone4 will continue to make separate remittance statements and separate remittance deposits for different registrations and on a similar schedule as is currently performed.  This will function very similarly to the way it did before for printed cheques so that you can keep your accounting for different events separate.  As such, clubs may see multiple deposits on the same day if they have more than one registration with collected funds needing remittance.  You will still get the same remittance e-mail notices you do now so that you can easily correlate the different deposits to their specific remittance statements.  The deposits themselves should show up similarly to what's seen below as "Accounts Payable ZONE4.CA REMIT" but the exact display is dependant on each club's bank.

Is the system secure?

• Yes, in fact it is much more secure than cheques for a number of reasons.  Firstly, Zone4 stores both your cheque image as well as your three account number fields in encrypted form that cannot be read or accessed outside your Club Services account area.  Secondly, Zone4 submits deposit information using highly secured software provided by Scotiabank and information is only passed through encrypted channels.   Keep in mind also that the only information that Zone4 stores about your bank account are the numbers that are plainly visible at the bottom of every cheque your club has ever written so every person who you've ever written a cheque to has the same information that Zone4 will have (and in fact those that have received signed cheques from you also have your club's signature so they have more sensitive information than Zone4 will have.)

How do the Multiple Remittance Accounts work?

• Although most clubs will only ever need to specify one account, Zone4 designed the system to allow for multiple remittance accounts to be specified.  In Club Settings -> Remittance Information, you can submit account details for more than one account.  Once multiple accounts are entered, you can select which specific account you want to remit to when editing a specific Club Registration.  Note: for security purposes, once a registration has been approved for Live Mode, the remittance account cannot be changed by the club and the request must go through Zone4.  This is to prevent inadvertent changing of the remittance account.
  

Is there any cost to this?

• No, there is no charge for this feature as Zone4 is happy to continue to offer the highest level service in the best interest of you the clubs.

Can we still get printed cheques?

• No, the transition to direct deposit is an all-or nothing change and Zone4 has chosen to move to direct deposit as it is in the best interest of clubs and a long sought after feature.

How soon do we need to submit a scanned void cheque and account information?

• As soon as possible.  Now that Zone4 has transitioned to direct deposit, your club's information must be submitted as soon as possible in order to receive remittance funds.  The good news is that because direct deposit is so fast even if it takes you a week to submit the your information, your next remittance will be deposited before a cheque would make it to you via the old method.

What if no one in the club has a scanner to scan a void cheque?

• You can use a digital camera to take a picture of a void cheque as that often works just as well as a scanner.  if you still do not have something available, then you can mail a copy of your void cheque to Zone4 at 298 Three Sisters Dr, Canmore, AB, T1W 2M9.

What if our club's bank account doesn't have cheques and we don't have a void cheque image.

• You can submit a scanned image of whatever bank statement or document that contains the Institution Code, Bank Transit, and Account Number.   Zone4 just needs the scanned image as proof that the numbers submitted belong to the correct bank account and to also serve as a second set of eyes to confirm the numbers before any deposits are made.

Please feel free to contact Dan Roycroft at 403-609-4968 if you have any questions or concerns.  Thank you for using Zone4 and all the best in the coming year.