S. wrote a check at Kmart earlier this month and it was denied. No reason was given—just “denied.” It turns out a separate company, Certegy, made the decision, so S.—who writes, “I’ve never had a bounced check”—tried to track down someone at Certegy who could tell her what was wrong with her checks.
I’ve never heard of Certegy, until April 6. I went to K-mart to purchase some items, wrote a check (which I have done there dozens of times before), and it was declined. Huh? I mean WTH?! I’ve never had a bounced check, I have over draft protection anyways. I called the toll free number, of course it’s automated, they won’t give you a reason, the recording just said “Precautionary Measures”, sooooo, what the heck is that all about? I cashed a check elsewhere a few minutes later, just fine.
I emailed K-Mart complaining about being the embarrassment it caused me. I emailed Certegy also, all I received from both was a form letter giving me instructions how to obtain more information about my particular situation. OK, so, I requested a letter through USPS which was suppose to explain WHY my check was declined. This is the response I received (you guessed it, another form letter).
Dear Ms. XXXXX,
This letter is written in response to your inquiry regarding our recent inability to authorize your check. Initially, we want to assure you that we understand the concern this can cause, and we apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.
Certegy Check Service (CCS) is a check authorization service. Our clients throughout the United States utilize the service to help reduce losses incurred through retail practice of check acceptance. For many CCS clients we assume liability should an authorized check subsequently be dishonored. CCS maintains a computerized file containing both returned check information and driver’s license or checking account number. In addition to this information, over 40 years of check authorization and resulting loss experiences CCS has developed guidelines for authorizing acceptance of checks. Our system determines the potential risks associated with with checks. Many proprietary factors are evaluated and in making decisions for check approvals. We also track check writing based on many factors, including check sequence number,, check writing activity and check amounts. This process is designed to protect consumers and retailers and to prevent unauthorized individuals from writing checks on otherwise valid accounts. Unfortunately, valid check writing patterns can occasionally overlap with these patterns resulting in out inability to authorize a valid check such as yours.
Regarding our inability to authorize your check, although there were no returned checks on file, the check fell outside of approval guidelines. Unfortunately, we did not have any addtional information at the time to override the concern, and we again sincerely apologize.
In closing, we do appreciate and understand your concerns. Please contact our Customer Care Department at 800-352-5970 if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
CERTEGY CHECK SERVICES, INC.
Customer Care DepartmentThe check fell outside WHAT approval guidelines? Does this scream discrimination or am I being just plain stupid?
So let’s see—according to Certegy, they use the following methods to decide whether or not Kmart should accept your check:
- they keep a “computerized file containing both returned check information and driver’s license or checking account number”
- they’ve used “over 40 years of check authorization and resulting loss experiences” to develop guidelines for authorizing checks
- some proprietary factors!!!
- some sort of pattern matching based on things like “check sequence number, check writing activity and check amounts.”
It seems the only factor that could have resulted in your rejection would be something in their “proprietary” bucket. Still, despite all of that fancy-sounding pattern matching and database tracking, they admit to false positives that impact your ability to get a check accepted at a retailer you shop at on a regular basis:
- “Regarding our inability to authorize your check, although there were no returned checks on file, the check fell outside of approval guidelines. Unfortunately, we did not have any addtional information at the time to override the concern, and we again sincerely apologize.”
It doesn’t sound like discrimination as much as incompetent “proprietary” technology. What’s surprising is how impossible it was for you to get a clear answer—even after following their instructions, you still don’t know why the check was refused and whether it will happen again.
Of course, we’re not sure why Kmart would do business with Certegy in the first place, for lax security:
Certegy Check Services Inc. disclosed last summer that a database administrator had sold the personal and financial information of 8.5 million consumers to data brokers over a five-year period. The check-processing firm didn’t nab the DBA until a retailer reported a link between check transactions and marketing solicitations that some of its customers had received.
That’s right, Certegy didn’t even catch the theft over a five-year period. A retailer did the “pattern matching” and pointed out the connection.
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Put that along with coupons; I hate people paying with coupons, I always feel like giving them the difference so that they leave the cashier right now and keep their precious coupons.
maybe some people don’t value their time, I do value mine. Too many things to do
I had the same thing happen at a couple different stores with Certegy. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. Seems that the routing # on my checks didn’t match what they had (different cities – where I opened my bank account, & where I live & bank now – but same bank). They also said that if you order your checks from one of the companies that makes the ‘cutsie’ ones (instead of your bank), that can cause problems. P.I.T.A.
@PricklyPete:
@evslin:
I will gladly, on my own dime, personally make a trip down to wherever you are, and carry around several hundred dollars worth of unrolled pennies. I will then, at your invitation, accompany you to various stores, and stand in front of you in line and pay for various things in cash with my large bags full of unrolled pennies. Since some merchants may not accept these pennies for reasons (which may very well be illegal), I will also carry around several hundreds of dollars in unrolled dimes and dollar coins. I will also carry a significant quantity of $2 bills, since these seem to confuse cashiers.
In the spirit of the average check-writer, I will take an unreasonable amount of time to count out my small coinage/$2 bills. Since these are forms of legal tender, this is obviously my prerogative to pay for merchandise in this fashion, even if it requires counting out 50,000 pennies. I do reserve the right to return and request a cash refund of any items I happen to purchase, as I may experience buyer’s remorse.
In return, you should agree to be perfectly honest as to whether I have inconvenienced you by paying with small change rather than with more reasonable legal tender. If you do feel at all inconvenienced, you would agree to pay for all of my travel-related expenses, and additionally agree to shred all of your checkbooks. Using bill-pay services to automatically mail checks will still be permitted.
But seriously? “Like you all have never held anybody up for anything, ever.” No, I actually have NOT ever held anybody up for anything, ever, when there was not a logical reason to do so. Nor do I care if anyone else holds ME up in line if they have a logical reason to do so themselves. Paying for things with an inefficient, outdated mode of payment when it gains me absolutely nothing to do so is NOT a logical reason, nor should it be for anyone else, in almost all cases. (Please see my post above, there are certainly exceptions where using a check is perfectly fine.)
And I am completely serious about traveling down to wherever the hell you are and carrying around giant bags of small change. It’d be fun. And you’d probably get annoyed pretty quickly at the few places I found that would let me spend 30 minutes in line counting out pennies for a $500 purchase while you waited behind me. I would sincerely apologize in advance if I were to spill said pennies, and have to recount them, wasting even more of your time. So, please, do extend me an invitation to your hometowns if you seriously would not consider this an inconvenience to you at all.
@ThomasD3:
I see nothing wrong with coupons. As I have stated in previous posts, I quite do value my time, but not when it impinges on the financial benefits of someone ahead of me in line. Coupons save them money. So I have no problem with them spending a little more time and using coupons.
Checks are, of course, a different matter. Unless I have failed to come across some magical 5%-off-all-purchase checks that some posters act like they have, that would, indeed, be quite reasonable to use instead of a credit/debit card or cash.
@ideagirl:
Check-hater here, reporting for duty.
I AM minding my own business. When you take a minute to fill out the check, then I or one of my employees has to verify all the info on it, then run it through the check draft machine, it totals up to at least two minutes. Swiping a card NEVER takes that long, sorry.
So yeah I hate check-writers and I AM minding my own business. I am ALSO minding my own business when I am STANDING BEHIND YOU in line, waiting to buy my $1 milk, as you spend and extra two minutes writing a check for a single pack of cigarettes.
Checks have their place. You need to buy a new TV or something? Pay a mortgage? OK cool, break out the checks.
You’re in line at K-Mart? Come on; leave the checkbook at home please, for everyone’s sake!
Certegy has really weird guidelines. We have a little stack of cards to hand out to people when/if their checks get declined that list the codes and reasons. I’ve never gotten the code for bad check history on any customers. Mostly it’s just Code 2, which states that there is no information on the customer and that they can’t process it.
@bohemian: @parad0x360: Old Navy changed their check procedures a few years ago so that they just swipe the check in their machine and it instantly debits the checking account. My mother found out about this when she payed by check and they swiped it and handed it back to her. She was annoyed. She liked paying with checks for the paper trail it left. She told the cashier if she had known that, she would have just used her debit card.
@ideagirl: @acasto: Yes, but it takes retailers a few minutes to process checks, which is a world of difference when compared to debit or credit cards. And while you and I can fill out a check in 30 seconds, there are a lot of people out there who are inept when it comes to check writing and are sooooooo slow when filling out theirs. “What day is it? Oh, I have to write down who I’m paying it to?” Yes, because that’s why it’s there. Now, could you please hurry so I can get along with typing your information and check number/Driver’s license/amount on check? Oh, now there’s a line behind you. Great.
I work at US Bank and a few months ago we seemed to have a lot of people coming in with issues related to certigy. Certigy had lost customer information and sent out letters to a bunch of people. And we’ve had people have checks denied who also have never had issues with bounced checks.
Low check number? Are you freaking kidding me? You can order checks with whatever number you want, and they think the freaking number is an issue? My first check I wrote IN MY LIFE was number 500.
I’m surprised at all the “Oh, just use your debit card” responses. I thought we’d pooh-pooh’d debit card use in here: [consumerist.com]
I don’t like to carry checks around. Extra stuff to worry about losing, kinda bulky, I don’t get my 1% cashback on them, etc. Speaking of which, to quote Speedwell, “Well, I always write a check for my rent. At my complex, the alternative is to fill out a form authorizing them to charge my credit card each month”
Man, I would have LOVED to put my $750 rent on Discover and get my 1% cashback. Not having to worry about getting the check to the office every month and getting $90 back each year would’ve been nice.
@ellastar:
In regards to Old Navy apparently instantly debiting your account… awesome. If all merchants simply did an instant EFT on your checking account and handed you back your check, perhaps people would stop writing them.
I would have to wonder about the legalities of this, though, although Old Navy apparently has it figured out. I assume it could be something as simple as the cashier stating “Since you’re paying with a check, I need to to okay that we can charge that amount to your checking account”, if even that is required. (Cue look of surprise on check-writer’s face when check is then handed back with the receipt, funds having been already debited.)
@parad0x360: J&R Electronics in New York City does the same thing–if you pay by check, they’ll run the check right there at the register and withdraw the funds from your account. It’s like they’re a little point-of-sale bank. It was freaky the first time it happened to me (several years ago), but since then I haven’t written any checks in retail situations.
I don’t know what they pay to have that system in place, but I’m sure it must cut their bounced check rate down to 0%.
@teh: Credit cards are actually safer by quite a lot.
@randombob: $1 milk? Where?
[icanhascheezburger.com]
Not a debit card fan by any means, but Certegy sucks. Had them deny a check for AT&T Wireless (no info on file). The bank had a branch in the same plaza. AT&T refused to take the check in any form, even a call from my personal banker wouldn’t persuade them.
Having the phone in-hand, I stood my ground and said that’s the only form of payment I have and if they wanted money, they could carry the check over to the bank branch and I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help. If not, tough, they could cancel the account. They eventually cashed it at the bank branch and took it back to the store as cash. Strange.
@Snarkysnake:
However, checks are considered negotiable instruments and are governed by Articles 3 and 4 of the UCC. Personal checks never functioned as money. There is a distinct and significant difference between money (something used to gauge the value of something else) and a negotiable instrument (which specifies how much of that something used to gauge the value of something else). Checks are, as long as the merchant accepts them, as valid as credit cards as a method of payment.
@InfiniTrent: You say that plastic is safer, but if someone steals your credit card or forges one, that’s considered a second form of ID in many places. So they create a fake ID and your credit card and can perpetrate identity theft against you. A paper check is never a form of ID, so you don’t have that risk.
@MayorBee:
I would be far more concerned with someone withdrawing up to my balance (or well past it, with quite a few overdraft fees applied) from a checking account, than with someone stealing my credit card and using it as a second form of ID.
Consider that a thief can simply create a credit card with no more information than my name and use that as their second ID. In fact, even just using a check would leave me open to this, since they can just create a credit card with my name and whatever valid or invalid number on it; in my experience with non-picture secondary IDs, all they care about is that you have a piece of some sort of plastic-like substance that happens to have your name on it. They’re extremely unlikely to RUN that credit card and do an pre-auth charge on it to make sure it is actually valid.
So I would say you are MORE vulnerable to fraud from using a check, since both checks and credit cards reveal your name, and thus allow a fake secondary ID to be created. And on top of that, checks generally reveal your address as well. And of course, checks will allow your bank account to be mistreated at will, as noted above.
I’d rather trust my credit card company in this situation. Our banking system is much more of a pain to deal with when fraud is involved, and fraud is far too easy when you have someone’s routing number and account number in this country, not to mention their full name and address for whatever other nefarious purposes you have in mind past simply withdrawing all of their money.
Been there and got the T-shirt to prove.
I was with good ole Dad at a department store (national chain). Dad has had the same checking account since Moses was in charge of issuing checks. I think his personal check numbers are well over 15000. There ain’t no problem with money in the checking account (6 digits) and if there was he has overdraft protection that can tap into his savings accounts. He has lived at the same residence for more than 40 years and owned his own business employing for most of that time.
And his check is rejected.
Yep, he ain’t in the system.
That got him all fired up. Really pissed off. So he bought the ice cream stand in the mall. Weird? No. First day as the new owner of the ice cream stand he started a new policy…. the ice cream stand would give a 10% discount to all employees of the stores in the mall that paid for their ice cream by check…. except the employees of the national chain as their checks were no good and would not accepted under any condition.
Got him into all kinds of hot water with the mall owner, but all of sudden the national chain (at least that one store) stopped using the check clearing house. Dad sold the ice cream stand for no profit, but what the heck he got his point across quite nicely.
@psychos: Good points there. I was specifically thinking more about the debit/check cards (with the Visa/MC logos) that would allow someone with the card number to drain your checking (and savings if it’s tied to overdraft) account. With those cards, you can be held liable for up to $50. I know most banks won’t hold you accountable for that amount, as long as you report in time. If a bank honors a fraudulent check, however, you’re never liable for any amount of fraud (there’s probably a time limitation on that, as well). You’d still have the same headaches either way dealing with the bank, so that’s a wash.
In my opinion, it’s easier to deal with a bank regarding check fraud than a credit card company regarding credit card fraud. The main reason is that you usually have a physical point of presence for your bank. Unless you have a credit card that’s tied to one of the national banks (BoA, WaMu, Capital One), the option of sitting down face to face with someone isn’t available to you. But, if it’s a CC with great customer service, like I’ve gotten from Amex, then the face to face thing isn’t all that important.
@Dakine: The reason your bank cares, if true, is BECAUSE you have $xxx,xxx in your account. They could care less if you only have $xx,xxx in your account, nevermind only $xx.xx. Either that or your bank is a superhero credit union.
As far as debit/credit cards is concerned, they take too long also. Maybe it’s just me, but every time I’m waiting for 30+ seconds for the store’s pin-pad thing to respond and authorize the purchase, I always think of that Visa commercial. Sometimes I write a check BECAUSE the stupid debit/credit system isn’t working or too slow. Life never works like it’s supposed to.
@Soldmysoul: Because k-mart refused to take the payment when they could have said “that’s BS”, that’s why.
I don’t go to K-mart anymore, but in this case I’d definitely tell them they lost my business and include a copy of the receipt from the competition that DID take my payment.
@StevieD: That’s funny. Tell your dad I laughed and that I wish more people would do things like that.
What’d he get in hot water for? Stores can refuse service to anyone for almost anything (protected classes are an exemption).
HOLY CRAP it’s the year 2008 and people are still using checks at retail stores! Did you ride up to the k-mart in your horse & carriage?
learn2debitcard plkthnx
@MayorBee:
The time limitations you mention are, unfortunately, a problem. With debit cards AND checks, you are potentially out the complete amount of fraud until you get the problem taken care of, which can run from days to weeks depending on the circumstances. Then you have the overdraft fees to fight with on top of that, possible bounced transactions, etc…
I respectfully disagree that having a physical point of presence is an advantage. Then again, I have never been the victim of check or debit card (never used a debit card) fraud, but I’ve heard enough horror stories from friends and read enough as well about funds being locked up for several days while matters were cleared up. This, in my opinion, negates any benefits of having a physical point of presence, as nice as it is. (However, I do my general checking with small local banks for EXACTLY the reasons that you point out, for the many times that I need to do things like write checks and transfer hard funds between accounts. It’s nice to walk into my local bank’s office and be treated like a person while having my problems acknowledged and dealt with sincerely.)
I believe the fact that a credit card does not immediately debit an account outweighs any physical presence factors, in almost all cases. This may differ with smaller credit card issuers with lesser customer service. But as you mentioned, face to face isn’t all that important when you know you’re going to get good customer service, as with Amex. And as much as I hate patronizing large, evil institutions as Amex, I do probably around 85% of my transactional volume with Amex itself, another 10% with Citi where Amex isn’t accepted, and the rest via cash/checks when plastic isn’t accepted at all. This is because I have found that Amex and Citi generally provide excellent customer service, and in the few instances that I HAVE had fraudulent charges with them, they have always immediately put them on hold until the matter was resolved.
@PHX602:
It’s especially annoying at Wal-Mart when ‘ol lady blue-hair insists on filling out the entire goddamn check even though the clerk keeps repeating “THE MACHINE WILL FILL ALL THAT OUT YOU DUMB (someone who doesn’t put the “Ry” in “Country”)”
@Dakine:
How is using unrolled pennies not, in some ways, equal to writing out a check? Can you provide me information as to how using a check directly provides you financial/personal benefit over using a credit/debit card or cash? Using unrolled pennies gives me no such benefit, it simply costs you time. By its very nature, the act of you writing out a check simply costs me time as well, without buying you anything that I can see (in MOST situations; there are exceptions.) If using a check DOES gain you something, then I am quite happy for you to use a check, however much extra time it costs me.
You say writing a check does not cost 31.99% interest like BoA apparently charges you to use your Visa card. I fail to see how you are being charged 31.99% interest unless you are not paying off that card in full every month (and not being a serious delinquent on top of that, considering that ridiculously high interest rate.) Using your debit card costs you 0% interest, anyways, if you are not responsible enough to pay off a credit card monthly. It quickly debits from your checking account just the same as a check. You may lose a day or so of float on that. I’m not bothered to calculate the very small number of cents that might gain you on a given transaction with the miniscule interest rates that are paid on checking accounts.
And I wouldn’t be waiting to pass you when you’re doing 60 in a 40, because I would be on the subway even if I could drive the same distance in less time. Or a plane if I were going further. Saves me gas/maintenance money, hassle, and cuts down on emissions.
…and you’re more willing to give your account and routing numbers to a ton of different retailers, than to the (admittedly) grubby fingers of a single credit card company? (Or nobody other than your bank, if you choose to use a debit card, which I suggest given the interest rate you quoted.)
This happened to me once at Target. I had written checks there many times before (this was when I worked there, and we could only use our employee discount if we paid with gift card, cash, check or their stupid credit card. I never had cash, GCs and didn’t have their credit card as I wasn’t 18 at the time). One day, I went in to buy some stuff and, as usual, wrote a check. More than enough money in my account, and I have never, ever in my life bounced a check or had my debit card declined. The check was run through Certegy and came back declined. I didn’t know what was going on, didn’t have another check, so I had the cashier remove my employee discount, and I successfully paid with my debit card (which was tied to the EXACT SAME ACCOUNT).
I called Certegy and they weren’t much help. Since I worked at this store, the managers were much more willing to help figure out what was wrong, and they were able to look back at records, and determined that the thing on the register that reads the routing/account number on the bottom of the check read it wrong. So, it passed an invalid account number to Certegy, Certegy couldn’t do their thing and kicked it out.
And therein lies the problem. With a credit card, if it doesn’t read it, or reads it wrong, you can always try it again. When I worked at Target, whenever someone’s card was declined, I would always have them try again and sometimes, it went through due to a read error the first time. Can’t do that with a check, because the register pretty much voids it. On the back, in the endorsement area, it prints out some crap about Certegy and you can’t use the check again.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a read error was the cause of the problem for this person. But unless you write out another check (which most people don’t do), you’ll never know.
@t325:
As I have some free time tomorrow, I am quite tempted to call Certegy as a potential merchant (I am a legitimate incorporated small business, and if they DID reasonably give me a way to safely and cheaply process checks, I would actually be interested) and inquire about all the issues brought up in this thread. I’m quite curious as to how they will spin it.
It disturbs me that something like a simple read error would basically deny a customer the ability to use a check, regardless or whether I believe said customer should be using a check or not. (In your situation, it’s quite apparent that you were making very reasonable use of checks at Target.)
I’d be even more concerned if a partial-read error were to lead to being blacklisted; e.g., reading your name and address right, reading your routing or account number wrong, and thus marking you as a “bad” check writer.
Ages ago I went to buy one of my first computers at best buy & was planning on paying with a check & the cashier told me I couldnt do that on a sunday because they had no way to verify the funds. I was told to come back on monday to purchase it.
This was long before check/debit cards.
@ThomasD3:
ok NOW you have really stepped on my toes!!!
I LOVE using coupons! They really add up in savings over time. Often times it is the cashier (or their scanning system) that holds up the line because it cant recognize or allow a coupon. I have had this happen several times at walmart & their cashiers couldnt figure out why their scanner wouldnt accept my coupons. The last time it happened the cashier & csr made up some BS to try to explain it. I ended up just leaving the item the coupon was for paid for the rest of my stuff & walked out.
I write checks too and love when people moan about it behind me, I usually go slower then. If you don’t like that then don’t shop, since most business accepts checks and all you know. It’s not like you own the store and if you can’t wait 5 minutes then maybe you have a time issue and need to plan your day better.
Also if you wish to use your ATM and get charged just to use it through service charges, then by all means keep following the crowd. I’ll be that “jerk” holding you all up writing a check.
@PricklyPete: Is it necessary for YOU self-centered assholes to wait until the last possible second to START FILLING OUT the check?
Or wait until they tell you how much your total is before you swipe/insert your card and go through the ‘what’s my PIN’ dance?
If you would stop calling others self-centered and show a little consideration…maybe this would be a better world for ALL OF US.
And learn how to f*cking count. “10 items or less” doesn’t mean 15.
@acasto: Just my observation, but it seems to me that the “check writers” I get stuck behind are not exactly whipping out their checkbooks – they always realize after everything is bagged that they have to pay. Then they root around in their purse (no offense women, but it is usually a woman), find the checkbook, then find a pen, and slowly write out the information. I would like to go on with my life, and there is no question that checks a slow compared to cards and cash – it’s the same thing at toll booths with people who don’t have SpeedPass or its equivalent.
@Dakine: Really? 31.99% interest for a debit card? BoA is worse than I thought, ha ha.
Back in the late 90′s, when I was still writing checks at stores, I had two occurrences of having a check denied.
1. Certegy (or some equivalent company) didn’t recognize my credit union account number as a legitimate bank account number.
2. In one day, I tried to write two checks to Eckerd’s (the first check was around $50, the second check was over $100). The second check was denied, but I remember the clerk telling me that it was because their processing system stopped people from writing multiple checks there in one day. Very frustrating on a day when I’d gone to the doctor after writing the first check and now needed more and pricier medicine!
And I’m old enough to remember the good ol’ days, when the great thing about writing a check was that the money didn’t need to be in your account then – it just needed to be there in the next day or so. Bad financial practice, I know, but it certainly came in handy at times!
Please stop hating on checks…what am I going to do with my 14 boxes of cute checks with the picture of Garfield looking oh-so-cute with the hilarious thought bubble that I says “I love lasagna”. Cashiers everywhere will no longer have the opportunity to banter with my cute and razor sharp wit!
Just another *GOOD* reason not to shop at Kmart or Sears. The sooner they go bankrupt the better.
I usually don’t “blame the victim,” but seriously; she used a payment method as insecure, outdated (welcome to the new millenium), and time-consuming as a check, so she gets no sympathy here.
To avoid this problem in the future, she should use a credit card, debit card, or cash, like a civilized human being.
I hope Certegy sells her checking account number to a Nigerian expat with a $500k interest-only option ARM and a gambling problem.
@Kevino: uhh ATM cards are free at most banks
@doctor_cos: Wow, you seem to be an angry
person. I never said I wrote checks, in fact, I don’t. I just don’t
freak out when someone else does. Oh, and thanks for the advice on how
to make it a better world for all of us.
@renegadebarista: “You can be a good, honest person and still be made to look like a criminal by these companies.”
In this post 9/11 world, everyone is a criminal. We just haven’t caught you yet.
@Dobernala: uhh ATM cards are not debit cards. My 16-year old has one, and it’s only useful at an ATM machine, not a retail POS.
Yeah.. Everyone should use check cards instead of checks. That way when the store has a security problem you get to fight with the banks over your stolen info. (Hannafords anyone?).
I wonder how many check writers at those stores had their accounts stolen?
@doctor_cos: “Is it necessary for YOU self-centered assholes to wait until the last possible second to START FILLING OUT the check?”
Yes, because it pisses off the inbred tools in line behind us, and you are all am inexpensive source of amusement (at least until they start airing new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy).
Checks still have their place. Lets face it, we don’t want to give just anyone our banking information so they can pull a variable amount of money out of our accounts each month for a payment. [It's one thing if it's a fixed monthly payment for a car note, insurance, or a mortgage - it's another if it's a utility or credit card]
I work with people that refuse to use Debit cards. They would rather have the cash in hand, or write a check. Credit cards are a last resort, and only if they have the means to make the purchase. But no one makes money off of those people.
You make money off the desperate. Those that write checks a day or two before payday in hopes it doesn’t clear until then. Maybe, just maybe, their direct deposit will hit and they won’t have a bounced check, plus the associated fees, which will prevent them from taking the wife and kids out to dinner that weekend.
And Certegy’s business practices only go on to show you that even if you are on the up and up, they will still flag you with a “false positive” based on their devised way of evaluating the pending purchase. So the immediate solution is to stop writing checks outright?
Whatever happened to accountability? Certegy should be held to a higher standard – and work to eliminate the false positives that cause embarrassment for customers otherwise in good standing. Customers should stop lying to themselves and only purchase what they can truly afford. They know whether or not that check will clear the bank. If it won’t, don’t write it. Pay with cash if you have it or wait until you can actually afford to make a purchase.
And the stores aren’t without fault, either. Sure, they are trying to protect their stores from fraudulent activity. But they are also causing grief for those that are honest. They should do something to compensate them. [Gift cards, an actual letter of apology that doesn't just pass the buck over to another company]
And if the complaints are high enough, switch to a different check verification service. Checks aren’t going away, they just aren’t being used as much any more for smaller purchases.
And is that really a bad thing?
I had that Certegy company decline a check of mine once a few years ago for absolutely NO reason at all (I wrote two other checks that day (small amounts too) so it MUST be fraud. FUCK CERTEGY! I have never written another check again after that day.
Whatever happened to accountability?
@tmlfan81: Apparently, not only should companies not be held accountable but should go out of their way to defraud their customers. After all, one of those customers at some point may or may not have annoyed someone who doesn’t use said companies’ services! We all know how evil it is to annoy people.
Seriously, some of the anti-check rants here are completely ridiculous.
Kroger needs to find an alternative to Certegy. There’s got to be some company that doesn’t completely fail at processing checks.
This happened to me at Midas a couple years ago for a $1,100 brake job. At that time I didn’t have that much available credit, and the money was in a money market account that didn’t have a debit card linked to it. So basically the check is the only way that I could pay. So Midas finishes the work and then won’t let me take the car with the check because it doesn’t pass the Certegy test.
Fortunately I was able to call my folks and use one of their credit cards and mail them a check, but if that wasn’t an option can they really just hold onto my car forever because they don’t like my perfectly good check?
You forgot to link to this which is the same thing:
[consumerist.com]
@Terrminal: Ok, I have a question for you. Wal Mart uses Certegy and I recently tried to get my paycheck cashed and it was declined. Explain that one.
I hate checks anyhow! Cash or Debit as it should be the only way to fly!