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How much does our service cost? |
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Electronic NSF check collection is absolutely FREE to enrolled members. |
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How does the program work? |
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You sign an agreement that gives Reality Check Corp. your permission to collect any bad Checks you have received.
You sign an authorization form which instructs your bank to forward dishonored checks to the national processing center after one bounce.
If your bank sends you any bad checks just place them in an envelop and send them to:
Reality Check Corp.
PO Box 300255
Midwest City , OK 73140
Once your bank makes the proper entries in their computer, the dishonored checks will come directly to Reality Check Corp.
Each time the national processing center receives a dishonored check they notify you at once.
Each month you will receive an email, fax or notification by mail with all the checks you have in the system and exactly where they are in the process of collection.
You receive notification, email or fax each time collected funds are replaced in your account electronically and funds could be replaced in the same 24 hour period we receive the funds.
If someone has given you a bad check and comes in and pays it before we collect it, just call 866.897.0947 and we will pull the check from the system and return it to you. If it has not been entered then no fees would be assessed to your client.
If your client has given you a bad check and needs to talk with someone, have them call 866.897.0947 and they will receive prompt and courteous service.
If another business wishes to know more about our service, please have them call 866.897.0947 or visit our web site www.reality-chk.com
If you belong to a business organization and would like a speaker to explain the program and benefits, we would arrange for Robin Hood to conduct a short presentation of the problem and the right solution. For more information, contact 866.897.0947 or info@reality-chk.com
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How does Reality Check Corp. make money? |
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We only make money from the state mandated penalty fee charged to the check writer.
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What are the benefits of this program? |
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- Reality Check Corp. is a free, federally approved service
- Reality Check Corp. operates under the same fiduciary laws, rules and guidelines as does your bank
- No monthly fees
- No annual fees
- No statement fees
- No limit on number of NSF checks (1 or 1000 per month)
- Eliminates high cost of guaranteed services - with better results
- You receive weekly collections, electronically sent to your account
- No more waiting weeks and months to settle on refund checks
- Collections are processed on any bank in the U.S. Federal Reserve System
- Out-of-town or out-of-state checks are handled as easily as local checks
- Works for any business, anywhere, that accepts checks for payment
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What do banks think? |
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Banks are regulated by the same governing authority as we are. They must abide by the same laws we do. Banks see bad checks as a profit stream for them.
Your business deposits a check; it bounces once - a fee of $2 - $15 is charged to your business account. The bank then re-deposits the check (often the same day) and charges you another fee, then they send the dishonored check back to you who then must struggle to collect your money.
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Too good to be true? |
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Once in a great while, in fact, very seldom laws are enacted that actually help businesses with some of their problems. This is one of those rare times. In 1998 the laws changed and allowed businesses to collect bad checks electronically instead of the old traditional way of 1 to 4 months to collect a bad check.
Historically bad check writers have used this traditional collection process as a way to receive a short term, interest free loan from you. No more. It's not too good to be true - It's getting what is coming to you!
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When do I receive my money? |
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All NSF checks collected are paid as we receive the funds. We cannot guarantee if we will collect any check. Our experience tells us that we will electronically collect 75-85% of the checks we receive - the remaining 15-25% o to hard collections. |
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How often am I billed? |
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You are never billed for NSF checks recovered electronically. The check writer pays for the NSF check fee as allowed by state law.
If the check cannot be collected electronically due to age of check (6 months old), account closed, stop payment, etc., we go into 'hard collection' on your behalf. ('hard collection' simply means that we send the check writer letters and make phone calls to them.
There is never any discourteous or heavy handed tactics. We save clients for you by not offending them) Since this process is complicated, we forward to you 75% of the face amount of the check, keeping 25% to defer costs.
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But we don't get many bad checks at all. |
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That's great, you must run a tight ship; however, even one bad check per quarter is costly. A study shows that every bad check costs you $95.17 and that's whether the check is for $5 or $500 and whether you collect it or not.
This is a bottom line loss - money right out of your profit. One bad check per quarter COSTS YOU $380.68 per year. Now to recoup this loss could mean you would need up to $2000 in new business depending on your profit margin, so we see there is no such thing as a small bad check problem.
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Isn't this going to make my customer mad or cost them money? |
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No, actually it will probably save your client money. When you deposit your customers check into your bank account and it bounces once, then twice, you are charged a fee of $2 to $l5.
On the other side, your customers bank is charging them a fee of $25 - $35 for each 'bounce' - that is $50 to $70 charged to them plus the state mandated penalty fee. With Reality Check Corp's service, your bank is instructed to forward the customers dishonored check to the national processing center after the first bounce and Reality Check Corp will collect it without a second bounce fee to anyone.
This can save your customer $25 - $35 by eliminating the second bounce and therefore, they are money ahead. They also do not know that you know their check has bounced because they think the whole thing was taken care of in the banking community. Therefore, they are never embarrassed and will remain you good customer.
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Aren't we rapidly becoming a checkless society? |
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No. 63 million families cannot qualify for credit cards and some cannot even qualify for debit cards. A great many Americans don't even have a bank account or if they do, they have problems with it. Checks will continue to be a primary source of payments and dishonored checks have increased each year, year after year. Bad checks are an epidemic. |
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What happens if the check writers account is closed? |
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We have a system that deals with this occurrence. We can electronically follow the check writer to anywhere in the country and when they try to open a new account, contact the person and arrange to collect the bad check. We also have the facilities to 'hard collect' a check if a check writer is balking at paying. |
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Do you have references? |
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YES we do. First and foremost, we are approved by ACH (Automated Clearing House) who also approves all the participating banks in the country. There is hard scrutiny of every action we take, every person we employ, every transaction and any tiny violation made by Reality Check Corp or your local bank is dealt with the total protection for the client in mind.
We operate under fiduciary laws and cannot divulge specific names of enrolled members. Just as you cannot go to a bank and ask for 50 names of customers for reference. However, we can give some broad references. |
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How many companies do what Reality Check Corp. does? |
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We truly don't know. It is like asking how many people sell cars or insurance or how many dentists or doctors are in your state. Its not how many, rather how many can provide the excellent service to both you and your client and we rank near the very top in that category. |
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What if my customer has concerns about giving out their check information? |
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We already have their check information just as you do when you accepted their check. We are regulated by ACH (Automated Clearing House) and must abide by the law. We also follow the Fair Collection Practices Act. We will do nothing that could jeopardize our ability to continue in business or to hurt your relationship with your valued customer. |
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Can companies outside of the U.S. use this program? |
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No. We only collect NSF checks in the USA. |
