ACOM Solutions Financial Documents Division Introduces No-Investment, Pay-As-You-Go In-House Checks

Customers and credit union members not only reject the high costs and long delivery times of third party check vendors in large numbers, but they blame the banks, which can do nothing about it, Firmin said. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve System and the clearing houses discourage the use of the discount checks because of high rejection rates - always a significant cost factor for financial institutions. The issue could be further complicated by implementation of the Check Truncation Act of 2003, since low quality checks may be inadequate for the image processing and electronic delivery of the duplicates (IRDs). With ACOM solutions in place, institutions are positioned to compete with discounters on price and quality, and still double or triple the amount they make on orders placed with the third party vendors. Instead of investing capital dollars in an in-house check solution, the institution simply remits a percentage of each order to ACOM after debiting their customers account for the charges. The turnkey ACOM solution is comprised of in-house check production software and computer, printer and finishing hardware, and an inventory of check printing consumables that the company monitors and replenishes as necessary. The package also includes two days of installation and training and a portfolio of marketing support materials. After installation, ACOM makes periodic on-site preventive maintenance calls to assure uninterrupted service. All the financial institution has to do is provide a place for the equipment and someone to run it, Firmin said. Input of customer information is unchanged. Staffing can be accomplished using existing personnel or with inexpensive part-time help.