FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is there a charge to the school district? There is NO CHARGE to the school district for electronic check recovery.
What do school clients say is the biggest advantage from using the service? Aside from the fact that the service is free, most clients enjoy the benefit of relieving staff from an unpleasant task in order to perform more important tasks. Our high reimbursement rate, rebate, and comprehensive reporting are also very popular.
Who pays for this service? We do not charge the school district because we electronically collect a modest state allowed fee from those who write bad checks. In most cases we pass along 20% of that fee to you in the form of a bonus rebate on top of the full face value for every recovered NSF check.
What is RCK? RCK refers to re-presented check or the process of resubmitting checks electronically through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network.
Is this process legal? Yes, the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) developed the new banking rules that allow us to re-present NSF checks electronically. NACHA is a non-profit agency authorized by the U.S. Department of Treasury to oversee such banking transactions. See www.nacha.org.
What are the advantages to our school district? The advantages are numerous. As mentioned above, our service is free and does not require budget approval. We add a bonus rebate to the face value of every recovered NSF check. Outsourcing the collection task will free your staff for more productive tasks. We recover more funds because our recovery rate is the highest in the industry because of the electronic process. Our methods are not intrusive, abrasive, or embarrassing for the check writer. We recover funds faster than conventional collection methods AND we deposit them directly into your account weekly. Our reports are prompt and comprehensive. In short, we recover more of your funds and do it faster than traditional collection methods.
What has been the consumers reaction to electronic check recovery? For those who write bad checks, the reaction is very favorable. It's less embarrassing. The process avoids an intimidating or intrusive experience. It avoids a bad check rating assessed by manual collection agencies. It also saves the check writer time since there is no need for them to make a trip to deliver payment. It has been a real convenience for consumers.
What's the difference between processing checks electronically vs. the old way? In short, speed and cost. Depending upon the amount of returned items you have annually, the bottom line impact could be significant. Plus, with our check-processing center you are provided frequent hard copy reports by fax or email as well as secure access to electronic (online Internet) reports.
How often will we get paid recovered funds? Weekly, whereas most of our competition pay less frequently. Plus you will receive an itemized statement each week providing details on all checks recovered and a summary of rebates.
What is the rate of recovery for this new electronic check recovery method? We have the highest NSF check recovery rate in the industry at 70-85% on average. For schools we often exceed a 90% reimbursement rate. Conventional collection methods cannot claim this success rate, if they are honest.
How do you achieve such a high check recovery rate? The key is that we are now allowed three (3) presentments (the one that initially bounced, then two more electronic re-presentments). There is no need to locate the bad check writer. With the routing and bank accounts numbers we can retrieve your funds through the ACH system. NACHA allows two electronic re-presentments. This dramatically increases our success rate of recoverying funds. In addition, our check-processing center MONITORS the bank account for EVERY check before the 2nd re-presentment to maximize your recovery rate. Compare this monitoring feature with our competition and you will understand why our check-processing center will achieve a higher recovery rate than conventional collections and higher than most of our RCK competitors.
What happens to checks not recovered electronically? Your choice, we will either return those checks to you or forward them to our optional secondary collection agency. We specialize in the collection of NSF checks electronically. However, we work directly with several conventional collection agencies to provide a secondary collection service for checks that cannot be recovered through electronic re-presentment. Our optional secondary collection agency is also free and pays 100% of the face value for collected checks.
How are the NSF checks sent to your local processor? A representative from your school district signs a Release Form that we file with your financial institution. This document instructs the bank to mail all returned checks to our check-processing center. It also asks them to not re-present checks manually.
What type of check can be represented? Check that indicates on the face that it was returned due to "Not Sufficient Funds," or "NSF", a "Unrecovered Funds" or comparable language is eligible for RCK. All other non-NSF checks (stop payment, closed account, forgery, etc.) can be processed by our optional secondary collection agency using conventional collection methods..
Is there a dollar limit on checks that can be recovered? Yes, checks with a face value of $2,500 or less may be processed. The average face value of the checks is $25 for our school clients, so this is not prohibitive.
How many times can we re-present an item? A total of three (3) presentments are allowed. In addition to the initial manual presentment, the RCK entry can be re-presented twice.
What must the school district do to inform the customer? We work with you to notify the parents prior to debiting their account for the face value of the check and a returned check fee. As your consultant and account manager, we provide simple and convenient suggestions for accomplishing this task. For a preview, please download examples on our QUICK REFERENCE link.
Is there a time limit on checks that can be re-presented? Yes, each RCK entry has a time limit of 180 days from the date of the check.
Why should we not allow the bank to redeposit the NSF checks? Cost and timing -- Most banks charge their account holders in the range of $3 - $8 to redeposit a NSF check. Rather, there is no charge to redeposit the check electronically AND the electronic process is far more likely to be successful due to the speed, priority, and timing of the representment.
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