FISGlobal.com / Certegy review: declined checks! 620

I believe a class action suit is warranted. I had this happen to me today at Macy's. I have written numerous checks in Macy stores (initially Hecht's Dept. Store) for over 15 years and I never had any problems. I called the number and of course it was all formality. Never spoke to a live agent. Please let me know if anyone is interested in filing a legal suit againt Certegy. I work for the Dept. of Justice and they would love to hear about the treatment of patrons with good credit, good check history and sufficient funds in their checking accounts.

I, too have excellent credit, tried to call this company was told to write a letter asking to be removed from thier accounts, I did so along with the proper information that they had on me, (not everything) and now I have been oin the phone over 30 minutes waiting to speak with someone from the lame company, ( anyone) as I want to make sure they did indeed remove me from thier so called accounts, like most Americans I use credit cards and or pay by debit, my debit card was stolen, so guess what I wrote a check...and was declined, Jesus! What can we do please if there is going to be a class action case against this company add me to it! Heeck I am sensding this over to my own atty, may be his office can asssit us. Someone has too!

Your company is falsely advertising that they are able to cash federal income tax returns! 90% of the checks brought in are unreadable due to no fault of the consumer. Are you (the company) trying to do anything to fix this very big screw up on your part? I suppose no because you appear to not care about the customer! (In my opinion) This is causing hardship on the low-income individual and also their family because we are now having to go to check cashing places (which I was told to do by one of your representatives) and they charge 3% which is a considerable amount of money. I am VERY UPSET WITH YOUR COMPANY!

I tried to pay for two chairs that were being ordered at Boscov's furniture department. The check amounted to $580.00 being drawn from Hudson City Savings Bank, a large bank with a local branch. The chairs won't arrive for 6-8 weeks, so even if the check were bad, there's more than enough time to cancel the order. The sales person told me that there was not enough check writing history on the account. I didn't believe her becausse I doubt Certegy or anyone else would give that detailed of an explanation.

I know I have more than enough in the account, since I just deposited my Federal Income Tax Refund. Moreover, this is the second time this has happened with Certegy and this bank, although on a different account.

I went to a Walmart to cash my payroll check from the State of California and was turned down for no reason.

dont know what is going on with this check service but they need to get their act together. i have been using my checking account at several places and everywhere they are i get denied and i have about had enough . i am calling one more number and if no results. LOOKOUT!

I just got paid today, and went to Wal-Mart to cash my check, and low and behold it was declined. I don't have a checking account so I depend on Wal-Mart to cash all my payroll checks. When this happened it put me in such a bind I couldn't get gas on the way home, I couldn't even get money orders to pay my bills! What is a person to do in this situtation, but to suck it up and get over it. Not to mention also try to find somewhere else to cash their check. I have never had this type of problem befor cashing my checks so why now.

After traveling 70 miles to Rapid City, SD I stopped at Target to purchase a baby shower gift on a registry. I decided to purchase the rest of my supplies there also so I didn't have to stop at Wal Mart. I wrote a check for $144 to have the cashier tell me my check could not be accepted. The cashier handed me the phone and dialed the number on the the infamous Receipt ID#, to get nothing but automated crap. I handed the cashier my credit card to pay the bill. She looked at me funny like I should be able to give her the check back. Do the companies who use the almighty CERTEGY at [protected] even know what this is about to explain to their customers? It's embarrssing and needless to say any business that uses CERTEGY can re-stock their items. I take the time to shop at their stores, choose to spend my dollars there, to get to the check out and have to use my credit card. Is this company in with the credit card companies to make extra money? Kind of funny you get no where with the automated line, and it's probably a good thing, because if I could go through the phone cord and get somebody around the neck, they would know who I am.

I just tried to cash my State Income Tax check at Wal-Mart, just over $400 and was denied for Reason #2. I just cashed my Federal Income Tax check there last week. I haven't even had a checking account for the last 2-3 year, so I've written no checks. Am I to believe that the US Government can't honor my check, that they are broke (well that's not hard to believe)? This is bull. Looking at all of these comments, I don't see any reason to call their automated machine. I'd like to see a Class Action Lawsuit as well.

for the last 2 years, since my husbands double leg amputation, he has been cashing his disability check at Wal-Mart. For the last 2 months he's been unable to cash his check there because of some bogus reason. They tell him at Certegy that it has something to do with the watermark? What the hell does that mean? That the U.S. Government is issuing faulty checks? Funny, but the grocerystore down the road cashes them (though they charge a lot more), and no questions asked. We used to buy all our month's supply of paper goods, pet food etc. at Wal-Mart but not ever again. I hope they lose enough business over this faulty check cashing? company to sit up and take notice. debjeanbean@yahoo.com

I tried to cash my Military retirement goverment issued check at Wal-Mart and had 2 photo ID's and was declined by Certegy. I called Certegy and asked them why and they informed me that I had no bad information why they declined my check and gave me some song and dance that the transaction did no fit into thier model. I asked them what part of the model did I not meet and they informed me that for Identy theft protection that it was propieraty information. I am going to reserch this because I feel that the reason I was declined should be available to me in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
I went over to the Credit Union Branch in the same Wal-Mart and they cashed my check with no problem.

I just received a call from Certegy regarding a NSF check written in May of 2009 at the Sears store in East Peoria, IL. They said the check was paid but they were collecting the $5.00 fee. I could pay now on the phone with them or I could mail it in.
I called Sears and there is no East Peoria Store and they use TELECHECK. We don't use checks for purchases and thirdly I don't even know where East Peoria, Il is.

I called the guy back at Certegy and he insisted that my husband wrote the check. He said well we have your address and phone #. I told him those are printed on all checks he went on to ask who I banked with and I thanked him for his time and hung up the phone.

Certegy is a joke, I was denied to cash a 87.00 refund check from Michigan Natural Gas at meijers and walmart. When I called certegy they said there was nothing negative about me. GO FIGURE! This company needs to be put out of business. BOYCOTT STORES THAT USE CERTEGY!

This morning, May 1st, I went to an early morning sale at the local Belks. I tried to pay for my $31.75 purchase with a check. I was turned down by Certegy. Belk has never denied my checks in the past. I have a Belk credit card so I used it. I was also shopping for my mother and I tried to pay for her purchase with one of her checks (I am on her account with a nation-wide bank.) Her check was denied and again I had to use my Belk credit card. I have been a good Belk customer but not any more. You won't see me in a Belk store again.

I just went through the same thing at Wal-Mart with my little Retirement check. They have been cashing them for the last six months, now all of a sudden I am being told that I cannot cash my checks any more because of frequency problem. Since I used to work at the Wal-Mart, I was beyond humiliated. Not only am I furious at Certegy, I probably won't go back into Wal-Mart again for a while.

I had a similar problem at Hoffman Honda in Avon, CT when I tried to pay for service with a Discover Card check.

The check was denied. Later, when I pulled money out of my bank via my Discover Card I had no trouble.

The only reason I can think it was denied was that Hoffman Honda does not accept Discover Cards.

Maybe that might have something to do with it?

I will not ever shop at Big Lots again. The humiliation of standing in line and ringing up over $200 in merchandise, just to have my perfectly good check declined because of a company called Certegy. Why would a store decline a check from a customer who has “NO UNPAID CHECK INFORMATION ON FILE”. If a store says they accept checks, how can mine be denied for no good reason, other than they don't have information on me. Who is Certegy and why should they have my information?

Please check further into certegy as they are being sued for one of their employees selling info about clients. I totally agree with you, this company needs to be put out of business!

I have just had the same experience at DSW. I wrote a check for $31.45 because I had left my deit card at home. The cashier looked confused and called her manager over. He then made a phone call giving all of my personal information with out telling me what was going on. The check ended up being declined and for no apparent reason as I know I have well more that enough funds to cover the check. All the store did was hand me a small card with Certegys information and told me if I wanted any more information to call them. Calling them was a huge waste of time. Their automated system told me it was declined due to identification discrepancies. I then waited on hold for 15 minutes to speak to a person and hung up due to frustration. I tehn decide to do a little researce on my own and am finding many people complaining about this company. In my honest opinion the ones losing the most from Certegy's ignorance are the Retailers that utilize their services. Tonight DSW lost a sale due to them and for no reason. I may attempt to call Certegy again tomorrow, but based on what I am reading here I will probably not end up any better off. Certegy is making poor decisions and costing retailers a lot of money in an economy in which they need every sale that they can get. Turning away customers with poor check writing history is one thing but to start turning away those of us that have NEVER bounced a check is horrible. Something needs to be done about this company and their poor business practices.

I am on hold right now with certigy. They have no reason why they are declining my check at our local Safeway I only write checks at safeway and for my rent payment. So I know if there is something going on with my account. They are telling me that my checking account looked like it was closed I have had this checking account for 12 years.

I wrote a BUSINESS check and was declined trying to buy parts for my business. After calling the number, I was told there was to way to tell what exactly the reason was for declining my check, just that is wasnt due to Code 2. No one in the company can tell you the exact reason because it is done by computer and they have nothing to do with it. If a human would call the bank and verify the amount that would not happen. What are we to do?

I went to Walmart and presented a check in the amount of 29.38, it was declined by this company. I have never witten a bad check. I have never been so embarrased. This company needs to be run out of town!

I see Alot of posts where people are saying they have fears that certegy has access to there bank accounts, and "i have plenty of money to cover the check in my account" . Just so you know Certegy or any other Check verification system such as Telecheck and Scan network DO NOT HAVE access to your account balance. When you present a check 2 things happen when they scan your check
1) IF it the total purchase is less than fifty dollars then it is usually automatically approved without any external verifications. However it will be denied if youve ever bounced a chack at that retailer.
2) If it is more than 50 dollars then the check ABA numbers and account numbers are sent to the check verification service to see if that account has ever had a dishonered check with certegy (or telecheck or SCAN). IF it has not had a NSF, then there is one more verification that they do.
2b) when they type in your drivers liscence number there actually seeing if your number has ever presented a check that was NSF. BEcause what some scoundrels will do is OPen a checking account, with the minimal balance, go on a spree writting bad checks...once that account has been flagged they then simply go and open another account at a different bank. so the only way to track this is to use the drivers liscence number since everytime you present a check at a retailer they type in your DL number.

SO Rest assured these companies do not have access to your account nor do they know your balance.

The thought that a security breach may leak your account info is completely plausible though, since your account number and routing number and DOB are in there database. Infact I believe this very same thing happened to CERTEGY. someone hacked there sytem...or maybe it was an employee, buteither way thoiusands of consumers information was released.

Hope this helps you understand the process.

My employees went to Walmart to cash their checks, and even though Certegy affirmed that the check was good and there were funds, it was still declined because of the patterns. I think this is absolutely crazy, how can you be denying good checks! These employees go there every week and all of a sudden our patterns are different, that's ridiculous, our checks are bank made, so i don't think our bank would run bad checks. Certegy is a scam, and Walmart should take them off! They're trying to show Walmart that they are doing a good job by denying these checks, but if Walmart's smart, they should get rid of Certegy, if not they are going to lose alot of customers.

I JUST had a check not go through as well because of certegy when I was simply buying clothes... at a place where I always buy clothes... and looked like an [censor] because I had to choose, one by one, which shirts to put back until it was an amount I could pay in cash... I have over one hundred times that amount I tried to spend IN MY CHECKING ACCOUNT! Thank you certegy for making me look stupid and holding up my [censor]ing day! I'm never writing a check again, that was humiliating!

I think we should all get a class action Law Suit going on and have them closed down for giving out false information on people who are for the most part "good honest people and that have been victimized by the actions of this company, I went to cash a US Postal pay roll check at Wall Mart here in Colorado and it was declined no specific reason # 2 and they said it was just because of it being over an amount they want to back or garranty
"ON A US POSTAL PAY ROLL CHECK? for 938.85? you must be nuts! DAA

I become a victim of this company (Certegy) for which, I had never heard of...My check was declined at Walgreens. No one could give me an explination, no one could explain why. I telephoned Certegy they have not responded! This is absolutely ridiculous!

First time I've ever had a problem with writing a check. I write checks every where and have never had an issue until Saturday, [protected]...

I too am having this problem! I've been with the same pharmacy for 20 years and always write a check or pay cash. Sometimes the bill is more than I have in my wallet so I go ahead and write the check never thinking there would be a problem until a couple of weeks ago when one was refused and caused me an extra trip to the bank. I was furious! The parameters this company is working with must be ridiculous! Then to not be able to get ahold of a real person to explain the situation to you is absurd! My husband is very ill and will soon be the recipient of a donor organ and will be released from the hospital with approximately 40 prescriptions. I don't carry that kind of cash around nor do I plan on paying interest on the prescriptions that are already priced out of line. I have never bounced a check at this pharmacy nor anywhere else for that matter and I would like to join in on what ever movement anyone can get started to put an end to this kind of treatment!

well they just got another complaint! we went to walmart and while my husband who was trying to cash his check as he had done for months in walmart.well they said they couldn't and only said he'd have to contact CERTEAY CHECK CASHING CO well we tried to with nothing happen just a voice on a machine. well walmart and other company keep useing this company and see how much business you lose. ALOT

Gordon D Rogers Jr
i work for a company similar to boscovs who also happens to use certegy. when a check is declined there are a few different codes. they will tell the employee this is a code 1 decline or code 2 decline etc. that is actually the most common code decline that i have had. there is a small 3 inch by 3 inch card the employee is supposed to give you that explains the 3 different codes.

Today, June 26, 2010 I got a small check in the mail from my payroll department for $88. I work for the school district and this was to cover a paid training session. Normally my paychecks are directly deposited to my account. I went to Wal-mart where Certegy declined payment, I then went to Albertson's, and guess what, Certegy again declined payment. I called the toll free number and was told some BS by a recording that it had to do with check cashing patterns. This is the second check I have tried to cash in the last year, is that a pattern? I will just wait till Monday and deposit it in my bank, but my wife and kid were disappointed as we were going to use this little extra money to go out for dinner, I made pork chops.

i tried to cash a STATE check for about $900. It got declined. wtf.. its a state check and i have several bills due and also behind. i need my checked cashed. nobody is t trying to scam checks anymore its 2010.

I was a walmart to cash my payroll check and was declinded by Cetergy. I got ahold of rep and they said it was because my check was like a fraudulent one that had been cashed there before. I had my pay check stub with me and yet they would not cash my check. I have also been declined for writing a check at Petsmart because I went off my check writing pattern. First off I write a check for pretty much everything I keep better track of my bank account when writing checks then I ever did with my debit card. I think this company is out to scam company and people by saying they help prevent fraud. My husband was told we could pay a $90 fee and be put on a VIP list so this would never happen again but yet they would want all our personal information. I am not going to give that information to someone just so I can pay for somthing. I am all for a class action lawsuit against this company.

Dear Stealth Pilot,

Certegy admited to me they did not know why they refused my check. And no, I do not
write bad checks and nothing is wrong with my license. They told me that on the phone
and in a letter. They just refused why? They said they did not know why!

Lou

georgiapeach*bridge: My husband and I came upon the same problem tonight, [protected]. Certegy is a VERY messed up company. Twice in a row, they have declined to cash his payroll check. It was in fact at Wal-Mart as well. All I have to say is, Wal-Mart will NEVER see me back again. Why stores like Wal-Mart take on jerks like Certegy is beyond me.
But I'll say one thing, Certegy got a big ear full tonight. So, many of you who get checks cashed, let this be your warning... Get a bank account, because Certegy will screw you over.

WHY WON'T YOU CASH MY SSI CHECKS THAT I GET FOR MY KIDS AT WALMART?

This company is an absolute joke. They have no real answers. When you call they just talk in circles. They tell you that there is no derogatory information about your check however you were declined because you fell undser their risk category. How do you fall in a risk category if you have never had a check returned? Makes no sense to me. They offer to mail you a gold application to increase your check writing levels. Why on earth do I need to fill out an application to be able to write checks out of my own account? Does that make sense t anyone. Not only is it embarassing to go through line and have your check declined for no good reason but it is also wasting my checks as I have to void them. This company really needs to get a better system. They are costing my local grocery store some business because I will not shop there if they won't accept my checks.

08/06/10 I tried to cash a payroll check at my local WalMart like I have been doing for almost 2 years now... and got declined. The clerk told me they couldn't cash my check and gave me a number to call to find out the reason. When I called I found out that WalMart and are using Certegy which declined my payroll check. The reason they gave was very vague. All they could tell me was that they had some computer problems . I will not be shopping at wal-mart !

Just went to Marshall's to buy my children some back to school items. Waited 30 minutes in line to check out. Once there I wrote a check for $260.68. The check was declined. I write checks everywhere because I do not have a debit/check card (I am not paying the fees to ATM's and banks. I had one for a year and added the fees associated with the card, the fees totaled $1, 865 in one year. I prefer to keep that money for myself). I have a modest income, my credit score is 750, I have no outstanding checks and have $5800 in my savings and $1100 in my checking, I also have overdraft protection. There is no legitimate reason why my check was declined. I write checks at Target, Wal-Mart, Pet Smart. I just wrote checks at Wal-Mart and Pet Smart a few days ago. I was thoroughly embarrassed, and to have my children subjected to this humility also. I crawled out of there and will never return. I have never been so embarrassed. I was so humiliated that I did not even pay with cash, I had $300 in my wallet, I just wanted to get out of there. I did call the 800 number provided. When I called I was not given any reason. I was told that I do not have any returned checks but have been declined and that customer service could not give any further explanation (mind you this is a recording, I could not get a live person). This makes no sense to me at all. I wrote a check at Marshall's three weeks ago and it was fine. I think that Certegy is embarrassing and humiliating people so they will pay the $90 and relinquish to them their personal information on the application just to prevent Certegy from doing this to them again, because it is totally humiliating and embarrassing to us who do not write these hot/forged/stolen checks and they know it and use it to their advantage.

I also have have a terrible experience with Kmart, to Certegy and Trident Assest Management (who pays checks from Certery). Back in December of '08 and know has started up again!

The point is that they are not willing to listen, work with you and do anything about what's wrong! All three of these companies just want to say the other one has to take care of it nothing we can do until it's taken care of on their end! It took months to get an issue resolved and tied up my checking - AND IT WASN'T EVEN ME! Which I was able to prove and they still would not clear up the matter without it being a night mare! I will also say that not one person was polite to work with! EVEN THOUGH THEY MADE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL and now it has started again and they won't even pick up the phone and speak to one another - quote on quote "we don't have to" "you know you get more bee's with honey! and then HUNG UP ON!" THIS KEEP IN MIND has nothing to do with me but IS tieing up my checking account!

The point is no one has the right to tell you how to pay for something - have you forgotten this is AMERICA!? Then not be willing to listen and correct thier mistake! Maybe some of you should put yourself in our shoes?! It's not just about being embrassed in the store it's the treatment that you have to tolerate from bolergerate business owners and supervisor's that don't give a crap what they've done to you! and or how long it takes to get it resolved! How would you like to spend hours, days and months being able not only to write a check BUT clear your DRIVERS LICENSE NUMBER from someone's else's name AND the police can't help you either!

I'm forwarding this information to the Better Business Bureau -as there should be something done about these two companines! Have you gone on and read the long lists of complaints that comsumer's have had to deal with?!~ There are not just a couple of upset consumers about treatment of these companies! In my case it wasn't even my check that was BOUNCED! HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MY ACCOUNT! and still they could of cared less!