WILMINGTON, Del. – For the first time in its 11-year history, ING Direct has begun sending customers checkbooks.
But the checks are useless until they pass a gauntlet of security measures the online bank designed, reported American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal.
ING Direct’s patent-pending process requires customers to first go online to activate each checkbook, much like they would activate credit cards by phone before their first use. Customers cannot order checks with custom images (no pictures of family members or Snoopy), because the design of each check is part of ING Direct’s security.
The checks are available only to holders of the Electric Orange account, which ING Direct introduced in late 2006. The product was conceived as a “checkless checking” account; the bank hoped customers could make all payments online.
But “there was enough demand [for paper checks] in the market, unfortunately,” said Todd Sandler, ING Direct’s head of product strategy. “It’s not something that our customers want; it’s really something they need. … Customers begrudgingly feel that they need to have paper checks until the rest of the world catches up.”
So last week, ING Direct began letting its customers order checkbooks. Before that, if customers wanted to send a check they had to request each one online, one at a time, and mailed directly from the Wilmington, Del., bank.
That process, which is still in place today for those who do not want to use a checkbook, requires customers to go online and authenticate themselves for each check they write. This provides some measure of security that disappears when customers write their own checks from home, so ING decided to add layers of security other banks don’t use.
Each of its checks has a randomly generated security code printed at the bottom after the check number. If the checks were not activated or the security code does not match up, ING will not clear the check, Sandler said.
ING Direct also sends an alert when each check is cleared, so the customer can keep an eye out for suspicious transactions. If a customer pre-fills an online ledger with the check’s recipient and memo, that information will appear in the alert, Sandler told American Banker.
