Who is a Candidate for ARC?

Any company that bills consumers and receives check payments through the mail or where payments are handled in batch processing mode is a good candidate for ARC. 

These bills that are batched daily for processing are eligible for lockbox truncation.  Lockbox refers to the bank account or post office box that is set up for the purpose of receiving payments.  Typical candidates include, but not limited to: retailers, financial institutions, utility companies, distributors, and service providers (such as cable TV or garbage disposal companies).

ARC Defined

In simple terms, payment checks are taken from the “lockbox” and are sorted, totaled and routed electronically to the banks on which the checks are drawn.  ARC is the term used by NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association) and the Federal Reserve to describe the process of converting a paper check into an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and transmitting it through the ACH (Automated Clearing House).   This service is provided to you by Dragon Payment Systems, or DPS.

Benefits of ARC

• No more paper handling and bank deposit slips to fill out, thus increasing processing efficiency.
• Quicker notification of NSF checks, increasing likelihood of collection.
• You get your money faster – payment is made in 24-48 hours.
• No more returned (NSF) check fees
• Images of checks are permanent records (front and back)

How the payments are processed

1. Biller receives a check for payment of goods or services.
2. Biller scans the check using a check imager
3. Check Imager equipment transmits data for electronic processing through  the ACH.
4. Payment is made to biller (merchant) in 24-48 hours.
5. Checks are held for 14 days, then can be destroyed.

Requirements

• Purchase or lease of Electronic Check Imager (the check imager also stores the check image as required by NACHA).
• Notification to the consumer that you will be electronically converting the paper check.

Contact a sales representative to enroll in this program