MPCC
Vendors also provide credit authorization services to other industry sectors such as medical and utilities.
CHECK VERIFICATION/GUARANTEE EXPENDITURES
Guaranteeing retail checks is by far the major service offering in this sector. As shown in Exhibit 1 11-5, check verification represents about 8% of the total market. Retailers find identification of bad checks helpful to reduce bad debt but with verification, the burden of check acceptance remains with the retailer.
Check verification services usually provided on a local or regional basis by small services vendors are primarily transaction priced and average 30 cents per transaction. Check verification services are primarily delivered through voice and audio response services modes. A few are delivered through polled terminals at large retail outlets.
Expenditures for check guarantee services include the underwriting fee, protecting the retailer from all forms of check loss. Nearly $13 billion, or less than 3%, of total retail check amounts are currently guaranteed for an average expenditure of 2.3% of the check amount.
Voice, as shown in Exhibit 111-6, is still the major method (45%) of total expenditures for delivery check verification/guarantee services to retailers.
The proliferation of the variety of POS and ECR terminals installed at retailer sites, the major portion of which can be connected to both card authorization and check guarantee networks, is growing at a rate approaching 30% annually in the 1985 check guarantee marketplace.
Although CCAS and CGS at times reach retailers through each other’s networks, the volume of interchange for check guarantee services is not