You Can Check Your TeleCheck Report

2/9/2007, 8:05 pm

I’ve just finished a conversation with Rhonda of TeleCheck about the information TeleCheck Services, Inc. maintains about me and my wife. My wife had a check declined today at a local store. After it was declined the cashier gave her a slip of paper with our bank’s ABA number, checking account number, a reason code and a phone number.

I live in a small town. My wife stopped by our community bank on the way home and talked with the President about our account. Nothing unusual there. No missing money or other problems. (It took me a while to accept it, but this is just one of many examples of why living in a small town can be a wonderful thing. I prefer our local, community bank services to those of the big banks.)

When she got home and told me about the incident, I called the phone number on the slip of paper and after entering long strings of numbers in response to audio prompts I was connected to an uncheerful lady who asked me very pointedly to provide additional information. I asked a few questions about why she needed the information. She tended to ignore these.

Long story, short: the driver’s license number associated with my checking account was also incorrectly associated in TeleCheck’s database with a Regions Bank account for someone who has “similar information”. TeleCheck resolved the matter by “disassociating” the driver’s license number from the Regions Bank information.

In three days the local store will have an updated database and will again accept our checks.

Irritated by the blunt tone of the person I spoke with and aggravated that another faceless corporation has it’s manipulative fingers in my financial matters, I decided to learn more.

I found an article about TeleCheck in a November 29, 2005 article in “Retail Info Systems News” that ends, “TeleCheck will host all shared negative database files for Wal-Mart.” Hmm. Another company collecting information about consumers for the benefit of corporate America. And in my case, the information was wrong.

I visited the TeleCheck website at www.telecheck.com. After exploring the site I found the TeleCheck contact information page. There are two phone numbers listed in the Check Writer Information phone directory. The first is the Declined Check Information for Check Writers 1-800-366-2425. The second phone number was what I wanted for this second call.

1-800-TELECHECK offers a “Free annual file disclosure pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act”. I called this number and after entering more numbers on the telephone pad I was able to speak with a lady named Rhonda. She was much friendlier and more helpful than the first lady.

Rhonda gave me a verbal report on both of our driver’s license numbers (she had to speak with my wife for permission) and said reports will be mailed in 7 days.

I suggested to Rhonda that TeleCheck (with their incorrect data) has a great deal of power over my ability to buy things with checks. She agreed.

I wondered how the data TeleCheck maintains about me and my wife could be confused with another person’s information. It happens. It could be that the register has lint on the reader or the written signature dropped onto one of the numbers at the bottom of the check.

Finally, TeleCheck’s refusal to provide full information unless an inquirer provides information to fill holes in their database seems a bit coercive. If I failed to provide answers to their requests for information, TeleCheck indicated the report they provide me may be incomplete. Almost like saying, “Yes. We have information about you but we won’t tell you what it is unless you tell us all we wish to know.”

On a personal note, I’m left to wonder if the first lady who answered the phone number for declined checks was so brusque because she assumed that if I’m calling about a declined check I must be a deadbeat. Or maybe she was having a bad day. It didn’t seem to matter that it was TeleCheck that made the mistake which caused the problem and had to “disassociate” my data from another person’s record before they will approve my checks.

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