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There are occasions when you may need assistance to clarify an entry on either a Streamline invoice or bank statement. In order to assist you in this process the Reconciliation Team has identified a number of frequently asked questions. We hope these questions and answers will be of assistance in achieving ‘problem free’ reconciliations in the future.
You may also want to refer your Merchant Operating Instructions.
Please remember when you contact our Helpdesk to have as much information relating to your query available at the time of the call e.g. your merchant number, bank account details, the till receipt or voucher, as this could aid the resolution of your enquiry.
Sample reconciliation reports
Verifone reconciliation report (JPG - 45K)
Gemalto reconciliation report including cashback (JPG - 53K)
Gemalto reconciliation report including gratuities (JPG - 106K)
If you are in any doubt as to the authenticity of either a card or a cardholder then you must make a Code 10 call at the time of the transaction - Refer to Section 5 of your
Merchant Operating Instructions.
Q. Why do I need to complete my reconciliation?
Q. Can you confirm if a transaction I have taken today electronically has been processed?
Q. I have a credit on my bank statement, which I do not recognise, and the narrative is one of the following:
SL - Streamline - 2401 £115.75
MV - Streamline - 2401 £115.75
SW - Streamline - 2401 £115.75
Q. If I have a debit on my bank statement, which I do not recognise, and the narrative is for example: “S/LINE 002AB1C2”, what does this mean?
Q. I have paid my manual paper vouchers into my local NatWest or The Royal Bank of Scotland branch and I have not received payment into my bank account.
Q. I have obtained an authorisation code on a transaction but I do not appear to have received a credit.
Q. I have received a Streamline invoice and I do not know what it relates to.
Q. I do not agree with the “Batch Totals” date shown on my Streamline invoice.
Q. I have a terminal that is not supplied by Streamline. Will my report be the same?
Q. What is a cancellation on my reconciliation report?
Q. My reconciliation report shows message totals empty, what does this mean?
Q. Why do I need to complete my reconciliation?
A. If you do not complete your reconciliation/banking daily, the credits to your bank account may be delayed. It is important that you complete an end-of-day reconciliation/banking every day you process transactions through your terminal. This must be completed within the ‘Banking Window’ time allocated to you. If you are not sure when this is, or wish to change the time please contact our Helpdesk and select Option 1 when prompted.
Completing your reconciliation will provide you with:
- An individual total for each card scheme you have taken during the day. If you add up each of your card transaction vouchers by card scheme they should balance to the report. If they do not, you will need to telephone the our Helpdesk - Option 1 on the following working day (excludes Sat/Sun and Bank Holidays) for clarification.
- If there has been a problem with your terminal you may see at the end of the report ‘Cannot Confirm/Totals Do Not Agree’. This indicates that you need to contact our Helpdesk - Option 1 on the following working day for clarification.
- This procedure checks that we have received all transactions taken during the day and also clears the terminal memory to prevent the terminal from storing the transactions and then duplicating them with the next reconciliation is completed.
Q. Can you confirm if a transaction taken today has been processed?
A. We are unable to confirm that a transaction has been processed or confirm totals until the following working day from the time that the transaction was processed. If you have any doubt that a transaction has been processed correctly, check the following:
- Your copy receipt details
- Ensure Reconciliation/Banking is undertaken within your Banking Window
- The totals on your reconciliation report at the end of the day. This will show a total figure of each card scheme taken.
Q. I have a credit on my bank statement, which I do not recognise, and the narrative is one of the following:
SL - Streamline - 2401 £115.75
MV - Streamline - 2401 £115.75
SW - Streamline - 2401 £115.75
A. These relate to transactions accepted through your electronic terminal:
- SL (S/Line) represents all the card schemes listed below.
- MV represents MasterCard, Visa, JCB and Maestro International only.
- SW represents Maestro Domestic and Solo only.
If you would prefer to receive one credit in respect of your daily Streamline transactions, please contact the Streamline Helpdesk to discuss this further.
Streamline is the pre-allocated narrative for a credit to your account. This can be changed to a 10 character narrative of your choice (i.e. for multi-outlet chains you could change to your name or code of your outlet, the town or city of your outlet or even the merchant number) to assist in the recognition of credits.
This is especially useful if you have more than one outlet credited to the same bank account. If you would like to change a statement narrative, please write to:
The Amendments Department
Gateshead Card Centre
PO Box 27
Victory House
5th Avenue
Gateshead
NE8 1HJ
When writing please quote your outlet number(s) and the 10-character narrative you require.
- 2401 represents the date (ddmm) when you took the transactions (in this example 24th January).
- If you accept American Express/ Diners, you will receive separate credits direct from these card schemes.
Q. If I have a debit on my bank statement, which I do not recognise, and the narrative is for example: “S/LINE 002AB1C2” what does this mean?
A. This relates to a chargeback of a card transaction. You should have already received correspondence relating to the entry on your statement from our Chargeback Team e.g. a ‘chargeback’ letter. If you are still unable to identify this debit; please contact our Helpdesk.
Q. I have paid my manual paper vouchers into my local NatWest or The Royal Bank of Scotland branch and I have not received payment into my bank account.
A. Check the total on the receipt section of your paying-in slip. You may have paid your vouchers in with cash and/or cheques and therefore the credit amount on your bank statement will be greater than the total of the vouchers.
- If you still cannot see the payment on your bank statement please contact the branch where the vouchers were paid in. The branch will take the necessary steps to contact us and arrange to credit your account. Please remember that any paper vouchers paid in at a branch are credited to your bank account as ‘uncleared’ funds. Unless you have a specific arrangement with your bank you will not be able to draw on the funds for approximately three working days.
Q. I have obtained an authorisation code on a transaction but I do not appear to have received a credit.
A. Authorisation does not guarantee or process the payment, it simply checks that the card was not reported as lost or stolen and that funds were available at the time of the transaction.
- If you obtain authorisation for a transaction you will need to enter the authorisation code into the terminal and complete the transaction in the usual way.
- Remember to reconcile your terminal within the banking window.
- For paper transactions the authorisation code should be written on the voucher and the card transaction completed in the normal way
Q. I have received a Streamline invoice and I do not know what it relates to.
A. If you have a Streamline facility you will receive an invoice on a monthly basis even if the facility was not used. The invoice will show any charges due to Streamline for the period of the invoice, for example terminal rental. The invoice amount will be debited from your bank account with the narrative S/LINE A / B followed by seven numbers, on or around the 18th of the month.
Q. I do not agree with the “Batch Totals” date shown on my Streamline invoice.
A. The date shown represents the date Streamline processed the transactions and not the transaction date. We do not process transactions over the weekend/Bank Holidays so transactions taken on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or bank holidays will be processed on the next working day.
Q. I have a terminal that is not supplied by Streamline. Will my report be the same?
A. Your layout of your reconciliation report may look slightly different, however the content should be the same. If you have any discrepancies, please call our Helpdesk.
Q. What is a 'cancellation' on my reconciliation report?
A. On certain terminals, transactions that have been cancelled or voided will not show as a Credit or Debit in Totals, but report under 'Cancellations'. This will only show the number of transactions cancelled, not the amounts involved. You need to call our Helpdesk the next working day to find out the individual amounts involved.
Q. My reconciliation report shows the message 'totals empty', what does this mean?
A. This message should only appear if you have not taken any card transactions during the current day. If you do see the message, but believe that transactions should have been processed please call our Helpdesk the next working day after your reconciliation report.
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