Moneris Introduces Check Conversion to Complement Credit, Debit

Moneris Solutions U.S. Group, Chicago, has rolled out a check-conversion and check-authorization service for merchants at the point of sale that combines with the processor's credit and debit card product. The company says it is introducing the new offering to round out its arsenal of processing services for merchant clients and to anticipate merchant concerns about the Oct. 28 effective date for the Check Clearing for the 21st Century (Check 21) Act. “With the increasing momentum toward Check 21, merchants are looking for a check service that reduces the risk of check acceptance and simplifies the transition from paper to electronic check processing,” Larry Wine, president of Moneris U.S., said in a statement. “Many [merchants] are looking for the convenience and cost savings of electronic check conversion using the same technology used for credit and debit.” Moneris says customers wrote more than 19 billion checks at the point of sale, providing ample opportunity for electronic conversion. The new check conversion service relies on settlement through the automated clearing house and comes through an agreement with Electronic Clearing House Inc. The service includes point of sale conversion, in which checks are turned into electronic ACH debits and handed back to the consumer, check conversion with authorization against national databases, conversion with check guarantee, and check recovery. Moneris, a joint venture of the Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, serves more than 350,000 small and mid-size merchant locations in North America, working primarily through agent banks. Check conversion at the point of sale is one of five types of so-called electronic check products available on the ACH, though the forms for Web-based payments and conversion of checks in biller lockboxes have proven far more popular, according to statistics from the National Automated Clearing House Association.