Mellon GCM Piloting New Service Converting Consumer Checks to Electronic Debits
Tuesday December 17, 11:16 am ET
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mellon Global Cash Management (GCM) launched a pilot this month with a large-scale consumer biller to convert consumer checks into electronic payments in a lockbox environment. Processing these payments electronically will significantly improve the method by which businesses collect and apply consumer payments.
Recent rules changes by NACHA -- the Electronic Payments Association give billers the opportunity to facilitate the accounts receivable conversion (ARC) of most consumer checks to ACH debits within a lockbox environment. This approach allows companies that receive consumer payments to utilize processors like Mellon GCM with its six-site lockbox network, to originate an electronic debit using a signed paper check as a source document.
"This ARC check conversion process is revolutionary," said Robert W. Stasik, executive vice president and head of Mellon GCM, a treasury services business of Mellon Financial Corporation. "As a leading ACH provider with award-winning quality standards, Mellon can help its customers incorporate ARC and other electronic check alternatives into their repertoire of consumer payment options. This new service complements our other electronic receivables services, which aim at allowing our clients to replace costly paper processing with ACH payments initiated through the Internet, over the telephone or at the point-of-sale."
ARC offers a number of potential benefits to billers, including:
Reduced transaction costs;
Improved funds availability;
Quicker notification of returned payments; and
Fewer insufficient fund payments.
Taking advantage of Mellon's turnkey ARC solution is simple for billers. They only need to include an ARC notice on their billing statement and educate their client touch points, such as customer service, on the ARC process. Mellon then implements the service without any changes to consumer payment flows. Consumers will continue to mail signed paper checks to the biller's retail lockbox, and Mellon will determine which payments can be settled as ACH transactions and which need to remain as paper checks.
The pilot, which is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2003, has been initiated at Mellon GCM's Chicago retail lockbox site. The service is scheduled to be rolled out to the other Mellon GCM retail lockbox sites in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh during 2003.
"Combining our award-winning ACH processing with our nationwide retail lockbox network provides our clients with a leading-edge platform for processing their consumer payments," Stasik said. "As part of our commitment to the future of cash management and continual delivery of comprehensive, high quality solutions, products and services, we are positioning our retail lockbox network for even greater capacity to meet ARC opportunities."
Mellon GCM, 2001 winner of NACHA's Quality Award in the originating depository financial institution category, teamed with Wausau Financial Systems to update and enhance the comprehensive payment processing solutions at Mellon's nationwide retail lockbox system.
Mellon Global Cash Management, a payments industry leader known for its innovation and expertise, designs comprehensive solutions through its broad line of cash management services to meet the specialized treasury needs of corporations, nonprofit organizations and financial institutions. Earlier this year, Mellon GCM achieved its highest-ever customer satisfaction ratings in the biennial Phoenix-Hecht® Quality Index of 32 major cash management providers, and has become synonymous with quality performance. In addition, Mellon GCM is the only electronic payments services provider in the U.S. to achieve both Level 3 Capability Maturity Model® (CMM®) certification for its software engineering practices and ISO 9001:2000 registration. More information on Mellon GCM is available at www.mellon.com/gcm. |
