How to take a Check By Phone Payment

How to take a check by phone:

What is check by phone?
Can I take a check by phone?
How does check by phone software work?
How to accept a check by phone payment.

Overview:
All businesses can directly benefit from taking check by phone payments. This is the most popular way to take checks from customers, clients, tenants, policy holders, and patients.

How to:
You can take a check by phone from your customers by inbound or outbound call. Direct marketing, telemarketing, sales, collections, dating services, MLM, credit counseling, insurance agents, and just about any industry can take checks by phone using CheckWriter™ software.  Unlike ACH systems that are governed by N.A.C.H.A. regulations, check drafting is not.

Over the phone, take the customer’s name and/or company name and address that is printed on their check, then ask for the check number (optional), the 9 digit routing number  ex. |:123456789|: and the account number.  Be sure the customer agrees to the amount of the check, and you are done.

What next:
After you receive a check by phone from your customer, using software like CheckWriter™, you enter the information you gathered, and then using a laser or ink jet printer, you create a draft of the check, with no signature required.

CheckWriter™ will print a draft that you can then deposit into any U.S. bank the same day.  The draft will be treated just like a check you receive through the mail or over the counter.  Just endorse the back, and make your deposit.

Benefits to taking a check by phone:
Phone checks are easy to process and require only verbal authorization from the customer. Because N.A.C.H.A. regulations do not apply to check drafting, you do not need to record the telephone authorization.

In the name of accurate record keeping, you can enter notes about the conversation, or inbound caller ID information into the NOTES section of the CheckWriter™ software.  This can help to keep a record of how the transaction was initiated in case the customer has questions in the future.

CheckWriter™ software has built in routing number validation, so should you happen to transpose the routing number and account number when taking a check by phone, or if you get the routing number wrong completely, the built in validation script will let you know.

CheckWriter™ Software and check by phone processing:
When you use CheckWriter™ software, you can enter this information into the main screen of the software while you are on the phone.  This way, you don’t need to double-type the details, and there is less room for human error.  Just follow the prompts tab by tab and ask the check by phone customer the questions as they appear.  Once you finish completing the main screen, you can print the draft of your phone check immediately.

Conclusion:
CheckWriter™ software will allow you to accept check by phone, check by fax and online check payments remotely.  Taking checks by phone is the most popular because you can get impulse sales, take immediate collections, cater to non-credit card customers and there are no special procedures or cumbersome documentation requirements.  Just ask, enter, print and deposit.

For additional information about taking checks by phone, see the FAQ page.

Checks by fax:
Learn how to take checks by fax.