New members: Important information about using your AAC account

Welcome to AAC. 

As a new member, we want to share with you some helpful information  so you can get the most out of your new account:

Contents

1. Adding funds to your account
2. Vouchers
3. Low balances
4. AAC Cards
5. Gift Aid 
6. Regular reports
7. Ad hoc reports
8. Text messages
9. The settings page
10. Compliance

1. Adding funds to your account

To start using AAC  (or to top up your account when it’s running low) you will need to add funds to your account. There are two ways to do this:

         1. Simply make a bank transfer from your bank to your AAC account using the following details:

Account name: Achisomoch Aid Co. Ltd.
Account number: 2033 2003 Sort code: 20-29-60
(Please quote your AAC account number as a reference when transferring funds.)

You can add funds to your account from any UK bank account held in your name or from a company bank account of which you are a director. (If you are depositing funds from a company for the first time, we may require some additional information from you).
If you are sending funds from a non-UK bank account please be in touch with us at compliance@achisomoch.org as we may need additional documentation for this. 

        2. Use our Open Banking facility, which will enable your funds to reach your account in minutes. You will see this option on your account dashboard. The first time you use this facility, or when using a different bank account,  it can take up to 3 hours for the funds to show on your account.

In all cases you can receive a SMS notification when funds arrive into your account (activate this by visiting your account settings).

2. Vouchers

In addition to online donations, AAC offers three types of charity vouchers or cheques..

Prepaid – These have the amount/value already printed and the full cost of the book is deducted from your account immediately
Pre-printed, and ‘blank’ – These vouchers need to be completed with the charity name (and in the case of blank vouchers, also the actual amount/value completed by you in words and digits). The amount of each voucher is only deducted from your account once the charity presents the voucher to us.

These books are ordered via your online account at https://clients.achisomoch.org/vouchers.php 

• When filling out a voucher, please ensure that it is fully and clearly completed so we can process it.
• If you postdate a voucher please underline or circle the date so we can easily recognise the voucher as post dated.
• Vouchers are for your personal use and are not transferable or assignable. Loss of vouchers should be reported promptly as we do not undertake to check all signatures.
• The preprinted and blank vouchers are automatically scanned into the system, and you can see a copy of the original voucher via your online account. 
• Prepaid vouchers are treated like cash and cannot be replaced if lost or damaged. Please keep this in mind when ordering prepaid vouchers. (These prepaid vouchers have an expiry date on them and must be presented to us by the charity before that date).

It should be appreciated that grants made to charities via the online service will usually reach the charity significantly faster and with less effort than via a voucher.

3. Low balances

Grants that you make via your online account (including standing orders), or vouchers will only be paid out to charities when you have sufficient funds in your account. If there are insufficient funds to cover the voucher, it will remain ‘pending’, and you will receive weekly reminders to top up your account. 

We are unable to allow for pending donations to accumulate on your account and In setting up your account, you agree to keep your account adequately funded at all times.

If you have more than one transaction pending, the oldest transaction will be processed first. Please note that if a payment remains unpaid for more than one month, AAC reserves the right to cancel the transaction and advise the charity accordingly.

4. New AAC cards

You can use AAC Cards on charities’ payment terminals to make secure donations from your AAC account. You can easily order your free cards right now by logging into your account. 

There are two card types available: The AAC Open Card which enables you to donate any amount from your account, and AAC Fixed Amount Cards which donate set amounts when tapped against the terminal (such as £3, £5, etc).  Learn more about AAC cards and compatible terminals here.

5. Gift Aid

• Gift Aid claims are submitted weekly for those donations that are eligible. 
• You will receive an annual report in April detailing the amount of Gift Aid claimed on your donations. If this exceeds the amount of tax paid in that year it is your responsibility to inform us as soon as possible
• If you are no longer eligible for Gift Aid or have changed address,please let us know immediately so we can update your account settings.

6. Regular reports

You will be emailed a statement just after the start of each month detailing all your transactions (“in” and “out” of your account). You can also retrieve old statements on your account..

7. Ad hoc reports

Using the app or online system, you can display many reports on  screen or export information in Excel, pdf, or CSV format.and apply sophisticated filtering options (For example: to list all donations you’ve made more than £50 to ‘Charity X’ since 2022, etc.)

All your transactions are available to view on your account, online, at any given time.  

8. Text messages

We can automatically inform you by SMS when your balance is running low, a large grant is made or a large donation has been paid into your account. You can set the threshold for these events on the “settings page” of your online account. 

9. The setting page

Please keep your personal details up-to-date and accurate – you can edit your address, phone number and email address on your setting page. If you change address, we will need an updated gift aid form which you can complete at https://achisomoch.org/newga/.

10. Compliance

All grants are automatically monitored, and our compliance team may contact you occasionally to check on specific payments.

Remember if you have any problems, please be in touch with us on phone, email or check our FAQs that can be found in your online account.