In depth review of that e-check deal with the Feds....
"E-check is using the Federal Reserve, just like the traditional check system," said Gustavo Machado, a spokesman for Norcross, Ga.-based CheckFree. "We have established our own structure, and it will be owned by CheckFree and Visa. Merchants will receive payments directly rather than using the Federal Reserve. The service will be open to other companies. Everybody's betting on what technology will get there first and in better shape. If E-check proves to be a runaway success, we would consider adopting E-check."
computerworld.com
And I thought MSFDC was the competition...looks like we are after the Federal Reserve itself...getting damm interesting now.
And then this....
In the meantime, the National Automated Clearing House Association, which runs the ACH system, isn't standing still. On June 23, it issued a report detailing progress made in its consumer-oriented pilot that hopes to demonstrate the feasibility of converting checks into ACH transactions at the point of sale. The report said 1,669 merchant locations accepted almost 200,000 check transactions per month processed by eight financial institutions. The average check was for $80.
In the program, a consumer presents a merchant with a blank check for payment. The merchant runs the check through a machine, which scans the magnetic numbers along the bottom, picking up the bank routing number, account number and check number. Then the consumer authorizes the amount of the transaction. When the transaction shows up on the consumer's bank statement, it includes not only the check amount and number but also the name of the merchant that received payment.
Louise Clines, an ACH system spokeswoman, said consumers benefit from the additional data on their bank statement; merchants benefit by not having to prepare check deposits manually; and banks benefit by not having to sort, process and return paperchecks
CheckFree is big in ACH software...wonder if they are in that pilot to process checks at point of sale thru genesis?
nacha.org |
