Check Guarantee Services:
A cost-effective means
for businesses to safely
accept check payments

• CHECK VERIFICATION Click here for details is a process in which a check writer is electronically checked against a database of check writers who have a history of writing bad checks, have had their bank account closed as a result of bad check writing, or are otherwise an undesirable check-acceptance risk. Verification may provide valuable information to a Merchant contemplating acceping a check from a customer, but offers no guarantee of payment whatsoever. If the Merchant accepts the check and it bounces, the Verification providor may or may not offer collection services at additional cost, and the Merchant will receive payment for the check only if the collection effort is successful.
• CHECK GUARANTEE Click here for details takes the verification process one step further and guarantees that the check is good by reimbursing the Merchant if the check bounces, subject to the terms of the Check Guarantee agreement. If the Guarantee provider guarantees the check upfront and the check bounces, the Merchant will receive payment of the check regardless of whether or not the check is collected by the Guarantor, again subject to the terms of the Agreement.

• CHECK CONVERSION, Click here for details also known as CHECK TRUNCATION, is an enhancement to either of the above. Check conversion is the process of converting a paper check at point of sale into and ACH debit. In other words, data from the paper check is scanned or otherwise electronically processed at the point of sale, then paperlessly processed electronically in a manner similar to that of a credit card. The paper check is voided and handed back to the consumer. The benefit of check conversion is faster availability of funds to the Merchant. For more information on Check Conversion CLICK HERE.

What you need to know before selecting a Check Services Provider:

• Check conversion/truncation may or may not include Check Guarantee protection. Read the contract!
• Stop-pay protection usually is not
included in Check Guarantee programs. It may or may not be available at extra cost. Find out before you sign.
• If your Check Guarantee program DOES include stop-pay protection, understand the difference between "disputed" and "non-disputed" stop-pay. See GLOSSARY for details.

Two types of Check Guarantee:

• Retail face-to-face POS
• E-commerce E-check

Does your business need Check Services?

Only you can decide that. However, after asking yourself the following simple question, the answer should be obvious: Does my competitor accept checks?

If the answer to that is "yes", you need to realize that every time a customers sees a "No Checks Accepted" sign in an establishment, they are being delivered gift wrapped to the competitor of that establishment. It's hard to understand the logic in this since the check would have been just as secure and probably less expensive than a credit card sale which the Merchant would have happily accepted, yet he chose to throw perfectly good business out of the door, probably for good.