eFunds piloting electronic checks with First of Omaha Merchant Processing

eFunds piloting electronic checks with First of Omaha Merchant Processing
Tags: Bank / Credit Union, Transaction Processing
April 16, 2002

MILWAUKEE -- First of Omaha Merchant Processing is offering eFunds Electronic Check, a product that converts paper checks into electronic transactions at the point of sale, to a merchant customer in a pilot program that began Nov. 11. The product is produced by eFunds, a business unit of Deluxe Corporation.

eFunds Electronic Check converts paper checks into electronic transactions at the point of sale by capturing data from the paper check and transmitting it to the retailer's financial services company. The consumer signs an authorization for the transaction and receives the check back from the merchant. The retailer receives its funds, and the electronic check amount is debited from the consumer's financial institution account electronically. Studies show consumers are generally positive about the new procedure.

It eliminates back-office processing of paper checks for member retailers and accelerates collections. It also improves cash management through faster and more effective clearing and recovery. Electronic check benefits financial services companies by reducing transaction processing costs, improving return notification timeframes and providing new opportunities to deliver retail payment services.

Transactions are authorized through eFunds' SCAN OnLine, a real-time check verification service that incorporates the most comprehensive debit data sources available to provide retailers with more data and improve loss prevention at the point of sale. The SCAN database is constantly updated with information from more than 77,000 retail locations.

In addition, the service uses DebitBureau, the most comprehensive source of debit data available, with more than 2 billion records and growing at a rate of more than 1.7 million records each day.

First of Omaha, the ninth largest processor of credit, debit and electronic benefits transfer transactions, is a leader in the merchant processing industry, assisting retailers, restaurants, association/franchise groups and banks in the reduction of chargebacks and fraud.