American Check Management: Bringing Value-Added service to the Credit Department. (Case Study).

More than 65 billion checks are written each year in the U.S. with most commercial transactions paid by check. In the business arena, many of the transactions made by check require still more attention, such as special handling for a sale made with C.O.D. payment terms. Over the next decade, check use is forecasted to grow by more than 35 percent in dollar volume, with a 22 percent estimated transaction growth rate. That means that there will be more and more checks to process, and of course, more risk associated with acceptance of payment by check.

In many businesses, the burden of deciding whether to accept a check can be placed on a variety of employees, from drivers who accept payments for C.O.D. deliveries to sales staff conducting business over a traditional sales counter. It makes sense to simplify the sales process by eliminating both the guesswork and minimizing the risk inherent to accepting payments by check from customers. Phyllis Truitt, CCE, Director of Credit & Collections for Atlas Van Lines, was faced with this very issue in her day-to-day business saying, "About 15 percent of our business is conducted on cash on delivery terms." She went on to say, "Anyone in credit knows how difficult it is to collect after a service has been provided."

In today's competitive and uncertain environment, no company should lose a sale--or worse, turn away a sale--because of the risk associated with accepting checks. The ability to accept checks, or to accept more checks, could dramatically increase sales--but the trade-off between risk and reward often stands in the way. Rather than relying on the guesswork of your staff as they decide which checks to accept, or allocating your resources to collecting bad or NSF checks, it makes sound business sense to take advantage of the unique check guarantee program designed exclusively for NACM members by American Check Management.

American Check Management, the only check guarantee service dedicated solely to the business credit community, and the only program backed by NACM, can assist NACM members and their companies with their business needs. ACM's services bring savings to NACM members with low group rates, no hidden or add-on charges, customized programs to fit industry-specific needs and unparalleled customer support and training. ACM has earned NACM's seal of approval with its unrivaled reputation of integrity, honesty and high customer satisfaction. Atlas Van Lines, whose business motto is "Atlas World Class Mover" selected American Check Management as their service provider because it is "world-class." Phyllis Truitt confirmed ACM's reputation by saying that when a change needed to be made to their agreement with ACM, that it was "no problem" and within a matter of a week, her requests were met. She went on to say, "that is what I call world-class."

Hughes Supply, one of the nation's largest diversified wholesale distributors, has also selected American Check Management as their check guarantee service provider. Bette Luff, CCE, Director of Credit Services for Hughes Supply, is quick to talk about ACM's service and competitive pricing, saying that "ACM not only offers great customer service, but their program is also cost effective." Bette was firm about ACM's customer commitment, adding that "ACM does what they say they will do, providing both training and education to our branches to make the program work for us."

The NACM-American Check Management Program ...