Electronic Check & ACH

eCheck & ACH Payment Processing

Minimize Risk… With Faster Access To Your Funds

For most retailers, check acceptance is a necessary – but expensive and cumbersome part of conducting business.  With Electronic Check Service (ECS) from EMS, you can continue to offer your customers the option of paying by check, while dramatically reducing
the risk and costs associated with accepting those checks.  ECS turns paper checks into safe, efficient electronic transactions that are
processed with the speed and ease of credit card transactions, and funds are typically available within 24-48 hours.

Processing checks electronically at the point of sale is simply more efficient than handling paper checks. With “electronic checks”, we can verify fund availability more easily, perform payment processing more efficiently, provide you with your money faster, and help you reduce and handle returned checks more effectively. We also offer the option of ACH Payment Processing. The Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) is an electronic system which processes credit and debit transfers for institutions nationwide.

The EMS Advantage

EMS offers you the ability to accept and electronically process any type of check, with a choice of service level options to reduce check fraud, minimize paperwork and avoid collection hassles. Whether your business requires conversion only, verification or full guarantee services, you’ll find the right mix of convenience and security in EMS’s ECS solution, which is priced inclusively with no hidden fees for services like automated exception handling. And EMS can deliver all this regardless of where you choose to image your checks – at the point of sale, in your  back office, or via outsourcing.

How ECS Works

Electronic Check Service is not a one-size-fits-all solution.  Our industry-leading product not only allows you to accept  both business and personal checks, but provides flexibility  in point-of-sale configurations, risk mitigation service levels  and imaging options to match your business’s operation needs.

EMS’s ECS solution automatically leverages three hosted processing methods – direct DDA access, ACH processing,  and bank  processing networks utilizing check replacement documents – without clerk intervention at the point of sale.

• Direct DDA access reaches more than 30% of consumer checking accounts through a real-time debit gateway at participating bank partners
• Checks drawn on non-participating banks are cleared through the ACH Network
• Business checks and exception items are processed through the banking system

This built-in, systemic routing functionality enables you to greatly reduce the risk and cost of check acceptance without investment in customized systems. What’s more, flexibility in service levels and imaging options allows us to tailor our solution to meet your unique business requirements.

Benefits of our eCheck service:

• “Guaranteed” service level prevents checking account debits for returned checks
• Submit check payments electronically for faster settlement and payment
• Improve productivity and operating efficiencies
• Faster checkout, improved tender time
• Eliminate daily check reconciliation, trips to the bank, and separate check handling processes – your electronic checks get deposited along with your daily credit card and debit card transactions
• Customers receive confirmation of the transaction and a voided check, eliminating the risk of physical fraud on their check
• Customers receive enhanced transaction detail on their monthly bank statement
• Guaranteed funds upon approval
• Increased availability through faster settlement
• Electronic check conversion reduces employee theft, check fraud, and misplaced checks
• Consolidated activity statements
• Computerized records give you instant access to full data on checks accepted, processed, and returned
• Use check purchase information for marketing and promotional activities

Flexible Processing Methods

EMS gives you the ability to accept and electronically process any type of check presented by automatically and systemically leveraging three hosted processing methods. Gone is the need to establish parallel check acceptance processes depending on the type of check presented.

• Direct DDA Access Processing.  Through direct network connections to some of the largest financial institutions in the country, ECS offers the ability to directly access a check writer’s account real-time. This unique process allows you to make check  acceptance decisions based on information provided by actual bank data instead of a positive or negative file predictive database – reducing returned items by more than 30%. More than 35 million accounts can be accessed for Direct DDA Access processing.
• Automated Clearing House (ACH) Processing.  For consumer checks that cannot be processed in real-time using Direct DDA access, EMS uses its proprietary system to convert the check data received from at point of sale into an ACH debit transaction.
• Check Replacement Document (CRD) Processing.  Business, corporate and convenience checks are processed as an imaged check deposit through the banking system, utilizing a variety of acceptable methods depending on the type of check.

Service Level Options

Choose the right mix of security and convenience for your check acceptance. ECS has the service level that’s right for you. We can even create a custom combination of service level options to best match the risk management needs across your footprint.

• Conversion with Guarantee – The paper check is converted into an electronic transaction, and the check amount is guaranteed. No more paperwork, no more collections. The guarantor assumes the risk for all qualified transactions processed.
• Conversion with Verification – The paper check is converted into an electronic transaction and ECS verifies that the check is  “good.” Retailers retain the risk of returned items for all transactions that are processed.
• Conversion with Verification & Collections – This offers all the advantages of conversion and verification, while eliminating the need for merchants to perform collections. Retailers retain the risk on returned items, but ECS automatically handles all monetary returns.
• Conversion Only – The paper check is converted into an electronic transaction with minimal validation or authentication. Retailers retain the risk of returned items for all transactions that are processed.

Imaging Options

Whether your business chooses to image checks right at the point of sale, or take advantage of EMS’s ability to separate the imaging  process from the financial transaction, we have a solution to meet your business requirements.

• Point of Purchase (POP) – through use of a check imager at the point of sale, each check is converted to an electronic  transaction, and imaged for archival and retrieval purposes. The voided check is handed back to the customer.
• Accounts Receivable Conversion (ARC) – used for check present/consumer absent transactions, which are typical of receivable payments or mail order/dropbox environments. Customers are provided notice explaining that checks will be processed  electronically.
• Cash Office Imaging (COI) – checks are authorized and processed via existing MICR check readers at the point of sale, while  imaging is handled separately in your business’s back office utilizing a high-speed batch imager.
• Outsourced Imaging – like the COI option, check imaging is performed separately from electronic authorization and clearing.  Rather than imaging taking place in your back office, the checks are sent to be imaged at your own central location, or at an  EMS processing site.

The Benefits Add Up

Electronic Check Service makes accepting customers’ paper checks more convenient and cost effective for your business. Manual check reconciliation, trips to the bank, and the hassles and uncertainty of check collections go away with ECS.  Instead, they’re replaced by the  efficiency and security of turning your paper checks into safe electronic transactions processed with the same speed and ease as credit cards. Best of all, your funds are typically available within 24 – 48 hours.

EMS’s Electronic Check Service is compatible with a range of POS payment acceptance devices. Whether your business uses terminals, software or an integrated solution, you can leverage the power and convenience of ECS.  EMS employs check imaging technology designed to efficiently manage the high speed delivery of check images without the need for monetary back office reconciliation to point-of-sale activity.

By electronically decisioning, authorizing and funding your check transactions at the point of sale, EMS speeds access to your funds and enables you to perform imaging in the most convenient way for your business. Plus, EMS takes the process full circle, automatically handling any returns management on your behalf, and keeping you financially whole throughout the entire process!

EMS’s ECS delivers:

• Streamlined check acceptance at the point of sale
• Elimination of the point-of-sale reconciliation process for checks
• Lower check acceptance costs
• Faster access to funds
• Minimized risk
• Fully automated exception item and returns handling
• The advantages of a single depository bank relationship for all check deposits