digital clearinghouse idea

[Russell Nelson]

   Date: Sun, 29 May 94 18:40:48 -0700
   From: hughes at ah.com (Eric Hughes)

   If you use the ACH system, you can't pre-authorize sporadic payments
   for arbitrary amounts.

I talked to both Fidelity Checks and Checks-By-Phone, and both of them
said that they would accept electronic mail as evidence of
authorization.

They work as alternatives to credit cards.  When a customer calls you
up, you tell them that you can accept a check over the phone.  They
read you the check number, account number, and routing code.  You
submit that information to them by modem and they print up the checks
and overnight them to you.  Fidelity Checks charges $200 startup fee
plus $2.50 per check.  Checks-By-Phone charges $350 startup fee plus
$2.00 per check.

They both contend that this a standard way to buy things and that
customers accept it.  Personally, I've *never* had a vendor suggest
that they could write a check on my account.

-russ <nelson at crynwr.com>      ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav
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