IMGCAP(1)]
Offering check services still can be profitable for independent sales organizations even though plastic payments continue to increase while check payments decline, according to observers. "There's upfront money from equipment leases and, more significantly, from the residuals," says Don Singer, senior vice president of EZCheck, a Houston-based check-processing company. ISOs typically receive a flat monthly service or support fee and a per-transaction fee, he adds. The ongoing revenue stream from a steady check customer is a definite advantage, says Brian Wasserman, president and CEO of Transactional Services Inc. The Winter Park, Fla.-based ISO offers check-by-phone, automated clearinghouse and remote-deposit capture services. "With the ongoing revenue, you make your money on a constant basis," Wasserman says. Americans wrote 30.6 billion checks for a value of $41.7 trillion in 2006, the most-recent figure available from the Federal Reserve's 2007 Payments Study. That volume is down 18.6% from the 37.6 billion checks written in 2003. Despite the decrease, Mike McCormack, consultant with Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Noblett & Associates LLC, says "checks are ingrained in the American psyche," and people are not going to change that behavior. "They're still writing checks," he says.
