The Cheque Conversion Education Coalition, officially named c2ec, has been formed in the US, aimed at encouraging financial firms to educate consumers on the way that cheques are now being processed.
Membership of c2ec consists of financial institutions, government agencies, ACH operators and non-profit organisations including Nacha, Bank One, JPMorgan Chase, American Express, CheckFree, Electronic Payments Network, Federal Reserve Bank, Fleet Boston Financial, Mellon Financial Corporation, Navy Federal Credit Union, Regulus, Wachovia and the US Department of the Treasury.
Alan Koenigsberg, vice president and global ACH senior product manager of JPMorgan Chase, and co-chair of the coalition, says the c2ec will use educational and informational tools and Web-based seminars over the next three months to disseminate the latest information about cheque conversion.
Electronic payments association Nacha says the need to educate the public about cheque conversion became apparent last year as customer queries rose when billers began implementing Accounts Receivable Entry (ARC), the process used to convert consumer cheques into electronic transactions.
Marisa Famariss, vice president of Bank One's consumer payment solutions and co-chair of the coalition, says: "Through the coalition's efforts, consumers will receive clear and consistent answers to their questions about cheque conversion, whether they ask their financial institutions, their billers, or other sources of information."