Payment Systems
Paper Check Collection Fees to Increase September 1
As part of our ongoing effort to make you aware of the check processing changes in the industry, we want to inform you that paper check collection fees will increase by $0.02 per item, effective September 1. This will also include paper check collection for Lockbox payments. The reason behind this is simply the costs associated with processing a dwindling volume of paper checks continues to increase as WesCorp and the Federal Reserve Bank consolidates their paper processing branches.Furthermore, to maintain the lowest possible check collection costs, we request that you deliver your shipment to WesCorp by 8 p.m. local time. Deliveries received after that time will be held for processing the following business day.
Perhaps the best way to avoid the cost increase is to entirely switch to image processing that can eliminate paper processing and save you as much as 50 percent from your prior check collection costs. The majority of our members that have converted to image processing have shown a return on investment in less than six months. And if you use WesCorp's Lockbox processing, switching to ARC (Account Receivable Conversion) can reduce your per-item check clearing costs by as much as 90 percent.
If don't already use IMAGEin, and you can make a commitment by July 31 and convert to IMAGEin by October 31, we will freeze your paper processing costs at its current rate to help you avoid the August 1 fee increase. And to make it easier on your monthly income statement, you can spread out up front capital investment over several months.
Please call WesCorp's Membership Services at (800) 442-4366, ext. 6453 for more information. They're ready to answer your questions and help you get started. And if you'd like to do some investigating on your own, we've built an IMAGEin Savings Calculator to help you see the potential savings. Click here to access the tool.
Purchase One: Unlock the door of opportunity
Financial executives are being driven by the tough economy to find better and more efficient ways to manage their cash, improve liquidity and maintain working capital. The leading challenge to cash management process efficiency is the lack of streamlined operational processes. A robust purchasing card program comprised of an industry-leading credit card brand combined with technology that delivers automated business process options and advanced controls, can be an effective way to help maintain higher levels of working capital and improve liquidity.
In a difficult economic environment, it is important that you have a clear, detailed and more holistic view of what employees are buying, from whom they are buying and at what price. It is important that employees are making purchases from preferred vendors and that the company is taking full advantage of negotiated pricing and payment terms.
Key control-related functions of commercial cards that can foster greater employee accountability include merchant category code blocking, monthly spend and individual transaction limits, integration with company-wide manager approval hierarchies and customized usage reports are a few control-related items that can help reduce fraud potential and can increase employee compliance with company spend and payment strategies.
Your solution is Purchase One, the purchasing-card program that delivers an unprecedented level of control and workflow automation--tailored for your purchasing policies and business rules--that can help improve internal process efficiency resulting in both immediate cost savings, as well as long-term value for your organization.
Transitioning from paper-based payment and reconciliation methods to electronic payment and reporting can be a key source of new process efficiency and cost savings. Purchase One delivers full integration and automation within your accounts payable function and can be one of the most effective ways to achieve the efficiency and cost savings you need. Financial executives cite the reduction of administrative and process costs, as well as process streamlining leading to cost reduction, as leading benefits of commercial cards, as realized with the Purchase One product.
Industry research shows that the fully-allocated costs when using a commercial payment card versus traditional paper-based payment and reconciliation methods are reduced by 78 percent, resulting in an actual average cost savings of $69 per transaction.
What's more, according to The Nilson Report (June 2009, Issue 928), WesCorp now ranks #20 in total dollar volume amongst North American Purchasing Card issuers (up from #21 last year).
If you would like more information on how you can put the power of Purchase One to work for your credit union, call (512) 346-6666, or e-mail Amanda.