FAQs

TeleCheck is a check acceptance company.  TeleCheck helps more than 374,000 merchant locations decide whether to accept check transactions by analyzing information about check transactions that previously have been sent through its system.  If TeleCheck did not approve your check transaction, we apologize for the inconvenience.   For more information, please write or call TeleCheck today.   

No. TeleCheck never tells a store that a check is good or bad. If your check is not approved, it simply means that TeleCheck does not have enough information about your check to approve the transaction or that you may have an unpaid check or debt. 

No. TeleCheck never knows the balance in your account. Decisions are made based on information in TeleCheck’s files and a statistical analysis of your check compared to all checks that have passed through TeleCheck’s system.

TeleCheck can establish a positive file for you.  If you provide TeleCheck with the information listed below, and TeleCheck verifies the information, your files can be updated, improving the likelihood your checks will be approved in the future.

1. The record number, provided on decline receipt.
2. Your driver’s license number and the state where it was issued.
3. The banking numbers printed along the bottom of your check.
4. Your Social Security number, if you were referred by a financial institution.

TeleCheck may request additional information. 

TeleCheck sees a lot of checks, and the data TeleCheck derives from these checks provides tremendous analytical opportunity to fight fraud.

• Debt verification: TeleCheck maintains a live database comprised of check and bank account debt records reported by hundreds of thousands of merchants. TeleCheck can verify the presence or lack of unpaid debt related to a check writer in response to subscribing merchant's queries and provide check acceptance decisions based on what it finds.
• Risk-based decisioning: TeleCheck has also examined historical check data and identified patterns by analyzing and comparing the characteristics of valid check transactions vs. invalid (fraudulent) check transactions. From the knowledge it has gathered, TeleCheck has built statistical profiles of what a solid check transaction looks like - and what a fraudulent one may look like, too. Using these analytical profiles as backdrops, TeleCheck can also provide predictive risk decisioning to its merchants to augment its base line debt verification services.

Together, check verification and risk-based decisioning work as invaluable weapons to combat commercial losses associated with check fraud.

Risk decisioning is one of the most effective and necessary tools available to control costs and protect the check writing process. TeleCheck's risk analytics have permeated the retail landscape based on their reputation of sound reliability. In fact, TeleCheck routinely works in cooperation with law enforcement at all levels to detect and deter fraud. Be assured that TeleCheck does not share the specifics about any debt with any third party retailers or financial institutions, we take your privacy as seriously as you do.

For merchants, risk decisioning helps control and reduce financial loss. Merchants can accept checks with greater confidence that the checks are reliable.

TeleCheck alerts consumers as well as merchants to fraud - a TeleCheck acceptance decision is often the first warning a consumer receives of their account's compromise. TeleCheck provides consumer convenience, as risk decisioning lets merchants continue to offer check writing as a payment option. And, above all, risk decisioning results in lower prices for consumers because the merchant has been able to reduce losses associated with check fraud.

Things like:

• What do fraudsters typically buy?
• What industries and stores do fraudsters frequent?
• How fast do they move?
• How much do they spend?

These are just some "frontline" fraud indicators, but TeleCheck studies many others as well. In fact, there are literally hundreds of variables TeleCheck evaluates daily to predict, with ever-refining accuracy, when and where check fraud is likely to occur.

When a consumer writes a check to a TeleCheck subscribing merchant, the merchant first submits the check to TeleCheck for analysis before accepting it. The merchant does this by either manually or electronically feeding the check's MICR information and often the check writer's ID number to TeleCheck.

When TeleCheck receives these pieces of identifying data, it first looks for "matches" of the identifying data within its database of transactions, reviewing for evidence of an unpaid check or account debt on checking accounts known to be held or used by that check writer. Then, TeleCheck analyzes the transaction against one of its many risk models. The model looks for "fraudulent" characteristics and good characteristics and provides risk decisioning accordingly. If the transaction is above the applicable threshold of acceptable risk, TeleCheck will flag it and issue a single-digit code, a "3" back to the merchant. This "Code 3" is telling the merchant that the transaction contains a significant level of risk markers.

These models are very effective in reducing fraud, but they are only predictive, based on information obtained at the point-of-sale and historical data. They cannot predict with 100% accuracy which check transactions will complete or return. However, through this predictive risk decisioning, TeleCheck aids retailers in saving billions of dollars that might otherwise be lost to fraudulent activity, the kind of financial loss that is rarely recouped.

No, See the below details regarding 3rd party checks, certain non-3rd party checks and international checks.

The following check types cannot be processed through ECA (Electronic Check Acceptance):

• Payroll checks
• Line of credit checks
• Money orders
• Travelers checks - except AMEX checks
• Brokerage checks
• WIC checks
• Social Security checks
• State checks
• Federal checks
• MICR with unresolved Administrative Return

Below are non-3rd party checks that TeleCheck also does not support.

• Canadian bank accounts (Or any international checks)
• Layaway payments
• Credit card checks

Note: some exceptions may apply.

In most cases, TeleCheck did not perform a funds check on your account at the point-of-sale, and your account balance was not weighed into its risk decisioning. The transaction carried risk indicators independent of bank balance.

Evidence of prior bad check writing history is not determinative in how a risk model ultimately decisions on a check transaction. The transaction carried other risk indicators.

Also, when your transaction was analyzed, it probably had several characteristics that made it look risky. In fact, if the account number was rarely, or never seen by TeleCheck before, this in itself could be a factor in a decision to decline.

Check acceptance is a choice made by retailers. Surely you've experienced shopping at a store that will not accept checks. Those merchants have experienced too many check-related losses and decided the gamble is not worth it. Obviously, TeleCheck does not want to prevent good check transactions from being completed, but, a consumer's ability to write checks is only as good as a merchant's ability to safely accept them. If a merchant can't achieve an acceptable level of security in a payment method, the payment method ceases to be an option.

TeleCheck looks at transactions by identifiers that will pinpoint who you are to the exclusion of all other individuals — your personal identifiers — to authenticate you to TeleCheck. By verifying this information, TeleCheck can be assured that any release of your personally-identifiable financial information held in its databases is limited to you and a third party, pursuant to your instructions.

Evidence of prior bad check writing history is not determinative in how a risk model ultimately decisions on a check transaction. The transaction carried other risk indicators.

You could be continuing to experience check declines because of fraudulent activity on your account occurring outside the fraudulent activity you originally reported. For example: you report that checks 200-225 on account 1234 were stolen. If a fraudster is using check numbers on account 1234 that are outside that range, the records will post active. If a fraudster is counterfeiting/printing checks on your account number, that data may have been submitted to TeleCheck. Or, a fraudster could be using your driver’s license number to cash checks on other accounts. When this occurs, it can "link" those bank accounts to your bank account. Or, the risks associated with a transaction can result in risk-based declines. If you’re having continuing problems, we urge you to contact TeleCheck periodically to check on the status and provide us with updated information. We'll work with you.

TeleCheck will identify up to the three major reasons your check was declined. If you were declined because of unpaid checks or bank account debt, TeleCheck can provide the specific details of that debt to you – just ask. You may also have been declined as a result of risk decisioning. There can be hundreds of variables active within a risk model and the risk-based decisions it generates. Each risk model is tailored – with certain variables used, others not, and weighted. Oftentimes, the models are tailored to specific concerns of the merchant being serviced. If they are in the midst of high fraud loss, their controls might be higher than the next merchant's. 

If your decline was risk-based, you would not have seen evidence of unpaid debt on file in your report. A risk-based decline is not based on evidence of unpaid debt. The variables of risk models are "non-judgmental." Risk decisioning is based on statistical probabilities.

Your credit experiences are not taken into account when TeleCheck analyzes a check transaction. A risk model is designed to act as a safety precaution and does not speak to or reflect on a check writer’s credit status.

This could happen for a variety of reasons: misprinted information on ID cards or MICRs, IDs incorrectly keyed at the point of sale, or multiple check writers on a single account, such as a business account. TeleCheck can "unlink" these inaccurate associations when alerted and given necessary data.

• Guard your checkbook as carefully as you would your cash and credit cards.
• Have new checks delivered to a secure locale, not a non-locking mailbox.
• Do not allow other people to negotiate your checks.
• If you've been victimized, close your bank account and open a new one.
• Alert your bank and check acceptance companies immediately if you believe someone is using your checking account number and/or identity.
• File a police report identifying stolen checks.
• Place forgery affidavits on file with your bank.
• Give your bank power-of-attorney to discuss issues related to the theft with companies such as TeleCheck.

Report check theft to:

TeleCheck Fraud, Identity Theft Department
(800) 710-9898
https://getassistance.telecheck.com/forgery-or-identity-theft.html

Fidelity National Information Services
(800) 437-5120
www.askcertegy.com

ChexSystems
www.consumerdebit.com

CrossCheck
(800) 843-0760
www.cross-check.com

You can submit a request for TeleCheck to remove or block adverse information resulting from human trafficking from your TeleCheck credit report by sending a letter explaining your request and the required supporting documents and information (see below for more) to TeleCheck at the addresses below:
 

TeleCheck Services, Inc.
Attn: Trafficking
P.O. Box 6806
Hagerstown, MD 21741-6806

Or

TeleCheck Services
Attn: Trafficking
1 Western Maryland Parkway
Hagerstown, MD 21740

You can also submit your request and required supporting documents online through Victims of Human Trafficking page.

For TeleCheck to process your request and remove information from your TeleCheck credit report that is the result of human trafficking, you need to include the following documents and information with your request:

• A document that confirms that you were a victim of human trafficking, which may be one or more of the following types of documents:
  • A document that includes a determination that you were a victim of a form of human trafficking from:
    • A federal, state, tribal, or local governmental entity, government agency, or law enforcement entity; or
    • A non-governmental entity or task force authorized by a governmental agency to make such a determination;
  • A self-attestation, which is a statement prepared by you (or your representative) stating that you were a victim of human trafficking that is certified by an authorized employee or representative of a governmental agency or non-governmental entity; or
  • One or more documents from a court indicating a determination by a court that you were a victim of human trafficking. Court documents can be made up of several documents from the court case that together show that the court accepted as true or found no genuine dispute that you were a victim of human trafficking; and
• Proof of identity, which may include copies of a government issued ID, driver’s license, birth certificate, passport, Social Security card or W2 (make sure any photocopies are clear and readable); and
• A statement identifying (1) specific details of the records you are disputing (check or transaction number, date, amount, and payee), and (2) the method (mailing address, email, etc.) that TeleCheck should use to communicate with you electronically or in writing about your request.

If a designated representative, like your attorney or a victim assistance advocate, is preparing your statement or submitting your request on your behalf, they must also include proof of their identity and documentation that you have authorized them to act for you, like a valid power of attorney.