FAQ About Our Vcheck/Echeck Acceptance System

First of all, before you even ask someone at your bank if they will accept the checks produced by our system, if you are printing them on blank check stock, and using MICR (magnetic) toner to do so - DON'T EVEN ASK - just hand your deposit to the teller and they will go right through.

We've had customers tell us they bank at Wells Fargo, and they asked at their branch and were told by the staff the checks would not be accepted. Funny thing is, we (SSNet, Inc.) bank at Wells Fargo and have processed 1000's of Vcheck made payable to us through our Wells Fargo account without a single question ever being asked.

However, many banks and/or their staff do not understand or have never seen a demand draft, and therefore will tell you they can not accept them. They may give you one of the following reasons:

1. Because the checks you present are not printed in magnetic (MICR) toner and can't be scanned.

While the use of magnetic toner is not required by banking regulations, some banks can get picky about this. You best solution is to either use MICR Toner (see VcheckSupplies.com site), or find another bank.

2. They say they can't take a check that does not have a signature.

This entire problem can be avoided if your customer's are using the secure Vcheck form to submit the payment and you are using our exclusive Electronic Signature Capture. The checks you print will contain the customer's signature! See the Signature Capture page for complete details.

However, if you print checks you received by phone or fax, a block of text approved by the American Bankers Association will appear instead of the signature. Your bank may say they can't accept such a check. Again, this is because they simply are not familiar with "Demand Drafts" or "One-Time Paper Drafts". In essence, every US bank must accept properly authorized demand drafts. Feel free to present the following to your bank:

How to Authorize Direct Debits

To authorize a direct debit to your account, usually for a one-time transaction, you give the person you're paying your bank account number. You may also give the company the number of your next unused check. Either they or a third party verifies your account information and, as your agent, prepares a paper draft (also called a "sight draft" or a "demand draft"), which the bank treats like a check except that you never sign it.

There is, right now, no regulation requiring your written authorization for this kind of debit.

Finally, you can print the page from the link below and present it to your bank. It is a partial list of the businesses and government agencies that use the same exact system you will be using to print the same exact type of checks. Every one of the banks they use - and that would cover pretty much every major bank in the US - gladly accept the checks produced by our system.

Who Uses It?

Still not convinced one-time demand drafts (this is what our system produces) are legal?

Would you believe the Treasurer and Tax Collector's Office of Los Angeles County? We provided the system they use for allowing property owners to pay their property taxes and water bills by Vchecks.

How about Treasurer and Tax Collector's Office of Nevada County, California - scroll down their webpage until you find the section entitled "Pay taxes with Virtual Check online." Yes, we provide this service to Nevada County also.

If your bank still refuses to accept these demand drafts, they are in clear violation of the Uniform Commercial Codes, the Federal Trade Commission and rules set forth by the American Banking Association - and therefore, it might be wise to find another bank for your business.

No. While Automated Clearing House (ACH) or Electronic Funds Transfers may seem to be a faster way to process a check payment, (see next question below) all such services charge a monthly "gateway fee", plus a per transaction (per check) fee and/or a percentage discount. Our system produces what is known as a one-time paper draft. A one-time paper draft does not require the account holder's signature and must be accepted by any US Bank.

The drafts are in the format of a regular check, including the necessary MICR line. They can be printed on regular paper and no special ink or toner is required. However, we do recommend the use of both check stock and magnetic toner.

Yes. the recent changes pertain to ACH transactions. Vcheck is based on Remotely Created Checks technology which ACH guidelines.So you can still use our check printing software system to accept checks by phone, by FAX and from your website.

No, not necessarily. The vast majority of ACH transactions logged everyday aren't batched until around midnight - then all processed at about the same time, allowing for credits to be made to an account before debits are made. In other words, even if you submit an ACH transaction at 6AM, it won't actually get processed until around midnight or at batch closing.

Additionally, it can take 48-72 hours for ACH transactions to actually be credited to your account (much like the delay merchants experience when accepting credit card payments). So, ACH transactions can really take 2 -3 days or more before the money is in your account.

However, with our Vcheck system, if your customer submits a check to you at 7:00AM, you can have it printed and ready to deposit in your checking account at 7:05AM. Since most banks make deposits made before 2:00 or 4:00PM available the same business day - The times it takes to get you money is basically as fast as you can get the Vcheck checks to your bank!

Nothing special. As long as you have a computer with an internet connection, a browser and a printer - you're in business.

The Vcheck system is completely web-based. There is no software you need to download, install or update. Also, since it is a web-based system, you can access your password protected admin console from anywhere you have an internet connection.

If you physically deposit your checks, we highly recommend that you print your checks on blank check stock. Check stock has all the security features the banks prefer to see, looks much more professional, and is micro-perforated for easy separation. We sell a variety of check stock that works with Vcheck. You can order check stock, MICR Toner or a dedicated MICR Priter directly from our online store at http://VcheckSupplies.Com

However, if you want a smaller quantity and wish to get it immediately, both Staples and Office Max may carry a box of 300 sheets for approximately $19.99 in stock. Please call your local store first, but the product information and numbers are below:

Staples Checksoft Business Pack Item Number 715050
Office Max Checksoft Business Pack Item Number 21107222

MICR TONER

While not required, the use of MICR Toner may greatly expedite the processing of your printed checks. MICR Toner can be ordered for almost any laser printer. Most modern laser printers allow you to quickly switch between toner cartridges so you can print your checks with MICR toner and then switch back to standard toner for regular printing.

Optionally, you can use a dedicated printer just for checks. If you don't have an extra laser printer available, we sell a complete setup of a brand new HP Laserjet P1102W loaded with a new MICR toner cartridge for just $229.00!The MICR toner cartridge alone normally sells for $120.00. This is a great deal to get you started with a dedicated check printer!

The cost for MICR Toner cartridges will vary depending on the model of printer, but will print a substantial number of checks due to the low use of toner per page of checks. For example, the MICR Toner for a HP Laserjet 1100 sells for $79.00 with an average page yield of approximately 2800 pages - that's around 8400 checks if you use 3-checks-per-page check stock.

If you use both check stock and MICR toner - the checks will go right through the banking system without any question whatsoever - don't even bother asking your bank if they will accept them - they won't even know the difference.

Many banks or now offering either check scanners or the ability to take photos of your checks to make deposits.  Which leads to the question of if you still need to use blank check stock and/or MICR toner.

With Photo Deposits, the answer is no to both. Since the process is completely optical, there is no need to use either blank check stock or MICR Toner.  You may wish to use perforated paper to make it easy to separate each check from a full sheet.  There are several sources of such paper including Amazon.com.

If you are using a bank issued Check Scanner, you don't need to use blank check stock. However, you may or may not have to use MICR Toner. Some scanners or completely Optical - they use OCR to read the routing and account number line.  However, many or a combination of Optical and Magnectic - which still requires the use of MICR Toner to properly read the checks.  You best bet is to check with your bank and found out which type of scanner you have.

After your account has been set-up on the secure server, you will receive an email containing your username/password to log onto the system and a special link to your customized Vcheck form to place into your website.

Vcheck is a completely web-based system. There is no software for you to install, no hassles, no waiting.

Yes. Once your account is setup, you will receive an email containing several versions of a link into your customized check form running on our secure Vcheck servers. All you have to do is copy/paste your choice of links wherever you want them to appear on your website. As soon as you receive this welcome email message, your account will already be active and ready for your customer's to use.

No Problem. Our service includes Free Use of InstantCheckPay.Com. Even if your organization doesn't have a website or webmaster to insert links to your customized check form on our secure server, you can simply give your customers your unique "company ID" and send them to InstantCheckPay.Com. They can easily access your secure online check form from there.

In the event you have any problems what-so-ever with your Vcheck system, you have unlimited technical support via A full and complete User's Manual - written in a non-technical manner, Business Hours Telephone Support, Live Text Chat Support, or Live Video Chat Support via Skype.

Order using Visa, MasterCard, American Express or by Virtual Check and you will shortly receive an email containing the login data you need. In most cases, orders are filled the same business day.

If you are using our system you may wonder how you do checks if a customer calls or faxes in their check data. You simply go to a special Phone Order Vcheck form and fill in the data there. That data will be processed as if the customer had submitted it themselves.

The Vcheck system allows existing forms or ordering systems to be integrated with the system by storing any additional forms fields sent in a call for the check form which are written to the check details file. Additionally, specified form fields can be sent back to a specified URL for final processing.

In other words, you can have any other type of "pre-Vcheck" form that calls the Vcheck form as its form action. All the form field pairs are written into the Vcheck Form as hidden input fields. When the payment form is submitted, those extra form fields are written into the "Details" text file that is created for each check. This allows you to combine payment, ordering, or any other type of data together.

Yes. Support for recurring payments is an upgrade option. Checks can be entered as a recurring payment on a very flexible schedule and the system automatically creates the checks for you! The system supports weekly, bi-weekly by day of the week or monthly or semi-monthly by date schedules, and the total number of payments remaining. The recurring payment checks are created automatically without you or your customers having to re-enter any check data! Complete details are Here.

Yes. Integrated into the Recurring Payments upgrade, this option allows you to designate specific customers as "Repeat Customers." This saves all their encrypted data allowing you to create new checks on their behalf by supplying only the new check number, check amount and memo field. What a time saver!

Yes. Support for Multiple Payees is an upgrade option. This allows you to accept checks made payable to different company names. For instance, insurance agencies may have to accept the initial binding check for a new policy that is made payable to the actual insurance issuer, not to the agency. Requests for the Multiple Payee option may be subject to additional business verification procedures.