Pay

What step of the Purchase-to-Pay process are you in today?

Paying:

The Disbursement Services staff is responsible for the payment of goods and services to suppliers as well as reimbursements to individuals for costs incurred as part of University business. With an emphasis on maintaining controls, we provide innovative approaches to streamlining the payment process especially for frequent, university-wide purchases.

The payment cycle consists of two steps:
1) processing of the invoice/payment request
2) issuance of the payment.

There are multiple types of Payment Requests (must be originals)

AP/PO invoice
University Demand Check
      Check Requests
      Travel Advances & Reimbursement
      Stipends
ACH Payment Request

and various Payment Options

Check
Electronic Funds Transfer
Pcard
ACH
Wire Transfer

Your payment request type and payment options are tied to your purchasing method. Use the table below to determine your options for payment:

If your purchase type is...	...then your payment request type is	Payment Options -See below for details-
1180	Requisition Form for Internal Charges submitted to the Office of Financial Affairs	Transfer of charge from one center to another on the GL via journal entry
Consultants	Contract and Payment Form for External Consultants < $5,000	Check, wire transfer
Consultants > $5000 Paper Requisition (S-req)	PO- Invoice - Voucher process	Check, EFT, wire transfer
Demand Check-Check Request	Check Request form	Check, EFT, wire transfer
Demand Check-Travel Advance or Reimbursement	Travel forms	Check, wire transfer
Demand Check-Stipend	Stipend form	Check
eProcurement PMM Paper Requisition (A-req, C-req, or S-req)	PO- Invoice - Voucher process	Check, EFT, wire transfer
PCard	Credit card payment	Credit card payment

Click here for information on additional requirements for payments to foreign companies and individuals.

Submit a request to stop payment or void a check

Note: for internal control purposes, ALL suppliers should mail original invoices to

Vanderbilt University
Disbursement Services
VU Station B 401810
Nashville, TN 37235-1810

Sending invoices directly to Disbursement Services also saves you time. You can access all your invoice information in the Invoice Summary (Vouchers) report in InfoView AP/PO.

Payment Options

(Standard payment terms for suppliers/third parties are 45 days from the date of payment request)
Checks
This is the default payment method.

Checks for payment of AP/PO invoices are printed each Tuesday night and issued to the supplier via US Mail on Wednesdays.

Checks for payment of demand check requests are printed every night and are available for distribution the following day.

For internal control purposes, all checks payable to a supplier/third party are to be mailed directly to the supplier from Disbursement Services. Suppliers are not allowed to pick up checks directly from Disbursement Services. On occasion a department may have a valid business purpose for picking up a supplier's check for distribution; in these cases, Disbursement Services may extend permission to the department on an exception basis with proper documentation.

Demand checks payable to an employee or student may be picked up from the Disbursement Services office by an authorized representative of the University. A valid Vanderbilt ID is required to be presented at the time of pick up.

Electronic Funds Transfer
Payment of AP/PO vouchers may be made through a bank-to-bank electronic transfer of funds in lieu of a check. Any suppliers interested in this option should contact Disbursement Services for more information.

Pcard
The Procurement card is both a purchasing method and a payment method and is the preference for small dollar and retail purchases.

ACH
The ACH Network is a nationwide batch-oriented electronic funds transfer system for the interbank clearing of electronic payments for participating financial institutions. The most common payments made through this system are federal and state tax deposits. Any suppliers requesting ACH processing for their payments should contact Disbursement Services for prior approval. These payments are not processed through the University's payables system, and therefore are not viewable in the PDS Infoview reports.

Wire Transfer
A wire transfer is a transfer of funds through a third party broker directly to a payee's bank account. This type of payment is most often used to pay a supplier using a foreign bank account or in non-US currency. Additional processing fees apply for all wire transfers.

To request a wire transfer the payee should indicate this as the preferred method of payment on their invoice and include all relevant banking information. The following banking information must be provided on documentation direct from the payee:

Bank Name:
Bank Address:
Account Name:
Account Number:
IBAN or SWIFT Code:

Once initiated by Disbursement Services, based on established payment terms, the funds are received by the recipient bank within 1-3 business days. The recipient bank releases the funds to the supplier according to their banking practices, which may vary from company or country. Please allow sufficient time for these banking delays

For a complete list of Procurement & Disbursement contacts and area of specialties click here.