Checks

PC Verifier automatically comes with the Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer system. Not all merchant providers offer ACH as an option, so please check with your representative to see if your account has this service enabled.

The ACH option is primarily used so your business can accept checks by telephone, fax machine, or e-mail and allows you to work with a convenient transaction database system for maintaining your records. If your customer can physically hand you a check, you are better off accepting it, and physically depositing it in your bank.

The bad check protection statutes and laws generally apply only to physical checks, with pen-and-ink signature. In addition, the customer can challenge and reverse the electronic check up to sixty days after it is issued. The electronic check acceptance feature is a convenience for the reputable vendor to accept non-physical checks from honest customers. ACH does not offer all of the safeguards that physical checks and credit card transactions do. For this, it is recommended that you install and use PC Verifier’s Check Guarantee system if it is available from your merchant provider.

Please familiarize yourself with the procedures for entering a credit card. The procedures for an electronic check are nearly identical except that instead of entering a credit card account number and an expiration date, you enter the numbers on the bottom of the check.

There are three groups of numbers on the check. One is the check number, the other is the ABA or bank routing number (also known as the transit number), and another is the Account number. This is shown in the diagram below.

Please note that the relative positions may vary from check to check, but the check number on the bottom always matches the number in the upper right hand corner. Additionally, the routing number can always be found between two marks.

If you attach a check reader, you can simply pass a check through the reader and have the routing number and account number appear on the screen.

The tutorials below will use a fictitious savings account with the Merchant Test Account. It is also assumed that ACH is available with your merchant provider.

More:

Tutorial - Using a Check Reader

Tutorial - Keyed Entry for Checks