Wachovia Corp., which quit the retail lockbox business in February, is returning to the high-volume, low-value processing business with a network of "wholetail" lockbox centers.
Sheena Corbett-Worthy, a vice president at the Charlotte banking company, said the venture, announced Nov. 8, provides "a retail feel with a mix of wholesale features."
Ms. Corbett-Worthy said the service targets companies that receive payments matching the coupon amount but may also include a single check for multiple invoices or other situations requiring special handling.
A typical client would receive around 20,000 payments a month, she said. "We can give them the automation and, at the same time, give them more manual processing when needed."
Another feature is selective processing. Wachovia had received requests from real estate and mortgage companies, especially in the New York area, to be able to reject payments from clients with whom they were having disputes, Ms. Corbett-Worthy said.
Wachovia has opened its first wholetail lockbox location, in Columbia, Md., and plans to open centers in New York and Chicago by Dec. 1 and in Orlando and Philadelphia in February, she said.
Wachovia outsourced its retail lockbox processing to Remitco LLC in February, and "we're very happy with" the First Data Corp. unit, Ms. Corbett-Worthy said. "This market is very different."
