Every day your business waits for check payments to arrive, be processed, and clear in a day your capital sits idle. Lockbox services eliminate these delays by moving payment collection and processing to your bank - cutting days from your cash conversion cycle and reducing administrative overhead. This strategic treasury management tool transforms your receivables process from a back-office function into a working capital accelerator.

Priority supports Lockbox Deposits, allowing Program Managers and their Customers to direct check payments to a bank-managed lockbox address. Once received, the bank scans the check and any accompanying documents, and deposits the funds directly into the corresponding Passport Account. The check image and correspondence documents are then made visible within Passport for both the Program Manager and the Customer.

Your lockbox address is provided separately as part of your Passport onboarding. Contact your Program Manager or Passport support for your designated lockbox details.

How it Works

When a check is sent to your lockbox address, Passport system processes the deposit end-to-end and makes the transaction visible at both the Program Manager and Customer level. Here is how the flow works:

1. Mail Receipt Your customers send check payments to your designated lockbox address — a secure P.O. box managed by the bank's processing team rather than your business address.

2. Extraction and Scanning The bank extracts checks and any accompanying documents from envelopes and creates high-resolution digital images of each item. These are shared with Passport in a file processed by the Lockbox Inbound Processor.

3. Escalation and Matching For each check record in the file, Passport creates an external transaction and routes it to the PayOps team for review. The PayOps team identifies the corresponding Passport account and matches the external transaction to it. Based on their review, one of the following actions is taken:

Accept: The PayOps team matches the external transaction to the identified Passport account. A transaction of type CHECK is created in PROCESSING status, and funds are moved to the Check Deposit liability account. The escalation is moved to the Resolved tab with status Matched.
Mark as Reserve: If the PayOps team cannot identify a matching Passport account, funds are moved to a Check Deposit Reserve account via the Move to Reserve action. The escalation is moved to the Resolved tab with status Reserved.

4. Fund Realization Once matched, the transaction moves to COMPLETED status after the Check Deposit realization interval is met. This interval is configured at the Program Manager level via the Account Realization Interval Check Deposit setting.

Why is realization important? Passport's bank partner credits the account as soon as a lockbox check is processed, then initiates a debit from the check issuer. In the event the funds cannot be retrieved from the issuer's bank account — due to insufficient balance or a stop payment — Passport will receive a reversal. The realization interval provides a buffer to account for this risk before funds are made available.

5. Visibility in Passport Once the deposit is processed, the check image and any correspondence documents are visible within Passport. Program Managers and Customers can view the check image and download associated documents directly from the transaction record using the View Image option.

Reversals

In the event a check cannot be cleared — for example, due to insufficient funds or a stop payment — Passport's bank partner will debit the account and a reversal will be triggered. The PayOps team handles reversals by navigating to the transaction detail view and clicking Mark as Returned.

The outcome of a reversal depends on when it is received relative to the realization interval:

Scenario	Transaction Status at Time of Reversal	Outcome
Reversal received prior to realization	`PROCESSING`	Transaction is marked `FAILED`. Funds are debited from the Check Deposit Liability account and credited back to the processing account. The corresponding external transaction is marked `RETURNED`.
Reversal received post realization	`COMPLETED`	Transaction remains in `COMPLETED` status. Passport checks the customer's configured Exception Account for Check Credit Return preference. If a Passport account is configured, funds are debited from it to initiate the return. The corresponding external transaction is marked `RETURNED`.

When an external transaction is marked as Returned, the return recovery flow defined within the system is triggered automatically.

Viewing a Lockbox Deposit in Passport

Once a Lockbox deposit is processed, it appears as a CHECK transaction of type EXTERNAL under the Collect listing at both the Program Manager and Customer level.

To access the check image and correspondence documents:

Navigate to the Collect listing under your Program Manager or Customer profile.
Locate the transaction with method CHECK and type EXTERNAL.
Click on View Image to view the check image.
Download any attached correspondence documents from the same view.

Transaction Visibility

The table below summarizes what is visible to each party once a Lockbox deposit is processed in Passport.

What	Program Manager	Customer
Transaction of type `CHECK` (`EXTERNAL`) in Collect listing	✓	✓
Check image via View Image	✓	✓
Correspondence documents (downloadable)	✓	✓
Deposit amount credited to Passport Account	✓	✓

Transaction Statuses

The table below describes the possible statuses of a Lockbox Check Deposit transaction.

Status	Description
`PROCESSING`	The deposit has been matched to a Passport account by the PayOps team. Funds are held in the Check Deposit liability account pending realization.
`COMPLETED`	The realization interval has been met and funds have been successfully credited to the Passport account.
`FAILED`	A reversal was received prior to realization. Funds have been returned and the transaction could not be completed.

Best Practices

Practice	Description
Use the Correct Lockbox Address	Ensure your customers are directed to the correct lockbox address for your Passport product. Using an incorrect address may result in processing delays or misrouted payments.
Include Clear Remittance Information	Instruct your customers to include remittance details — such as account number or customer ID — with their check payments. This helps the PayOps team accurately match deposits and reduces the likelihood of escalations or funds being moved to Reserve.
Configure Your Realization Interval	Work with your Passport account team to configure the Account Realization Interval Check Deposit setting appropriately for your business. A well-configured interval balances fund availability with reversal risk.
Configure an Exception Account	Set up an Exception Account for Check Credit Return at the customer level to ensure that post-realization reversals are handled smoothly without manual intervention.
Monitor Your Collect Listing	Regularly check your Collect listing in Passport to stay up to date on incoming deposits and confirm that funds have been credited as expected.
Retain Correspondence Documents	Download and store correspondence documents associated with each deposit for your own records, particularly for audit or reconciliation purposes.
Contact Support for Unmatched Deposits	If you are expecting a payment that has not appeared in your Collect listing within a reasonable time, reach out to Passport support to investigate whether the deposit is pending manual review or has been moved to Reserve.