Anyone lately have any of their card payments echecked (processed electronically then instead of your bank statement showing check # such and such, it shows up as an automatic debit). More specifically, American Express and AT&T Universal Card has done this. The At&t card has started to do this with me starting with last months payment. My American Express Blue Card however is an interesting thing, because I've noticed they do it mainly when I write the check from one checking account and not the other. I understand they are trying to prevent bounced check situations (though I've never had a payment check or otherwise bounced) and I could live with not being able to get a check copy if I had to most of the time (I'm not the most consistant in keeping my statements once i'm done with them) but I don't like the idea of wasting a paper check since they can be costly (I also have online banking which I use sometimes but sometimes I like the idea of being able to get a copy of my check if I have to). Anyone else have this happen?
Could it be because of the amount you pay on the card?? Are you paying the full balance or just the minimum?? I would think if you are paying the full balance, they might want to make sure the check is good before they update your balance to zero. Just my 2 cents Byteme
I try and pay more then the minimum but no i'm not paid in full at this time and it will probably be quite awhile before I am. If this is what is making them paranoid I can almost understand that, what I don't understand is why American Express usually only does it on the one checking account and not the other........someone else mentioned other card companies that are doing this out of curiosity do you know of anyone in particular?
I remember getting some Terms changes, and many of them make this a part of it...they are allowed to convert your check to an ACH debit. What is really annoying is one Walmart in my area is doing this. I write a check they scan it and handed the check back to me....um if you would have told me that I would have handed you my debit card and saved a tree.
I do not endorse walmart in the least anymore, but since I have one of those machines at work I can understand their thoughts behind it. Are they simply seeing if the check is good and keeping it and does it still show up as a check? Or do they have you sign a slip when processing it and either keep the check or give the check back to you marked voided? Thing is, if they are actually echecking the check, they are supposed to inform the customer either verbally or by signage prior to doing it (which is how American express gets away with it-by the change in terms. What I don't get is that they weren't echecking it for awhile, then they were, then they weren't, then they were. They weren't-and aren't- consistant. On the back of my ATT universal card coupon there was teeny tiny writing but I figured since i've never bounced a check it wouldn't be a problem. Wrong). I don't know who Walmart's processor is, but most echeck companies have it in their processing contracts for merchants to get a signature, so if it ever comes under dispute as an unauthorized electronic bank withdrawal, they can have proof it was authorized. Matter of fact, at the place I work at I've seen the list of terms in which we are allowed to do this by our company, and it says if they ask for a copy of the echeck receipt and we DON'T have the signature, we can get a chargeback just like a card transaction (in other words, they will reverse payment to use for that transaction).
I know that my Hecht's account (May Co stores) processes it as an ACH debit when I send a check, rather than processing the check. I read an article about this recently, it appears that it is the way of the future. It isn't about making sure you have the money before they update the balances, it's about not moving a bunch of paper from processing center to bank to bank. And faster processing times for everyone. It's done daily by satellite feed, reducing float to almost nothing. So everyone gets their money immediately. When you process the volume of money that many of these places do, even a percent or two of interest makes it worthwhile. They don't have a hold put on deposits as they might otherwise, there is no "float time."
