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Fast Facts About Check Conversion

  • The United States relies on paper checks more than any other industrialized nation, with check volume peaking in the mid-1990s. Since those peak years, check volume has been declining.
  • Due to accelerated processing times and return notification to the payee, the check conversion process results in fewer returns, earlier fraud detection, and fewer errors.
  • Check conversion relies on the same secure network used for Direct Deposit and Direct Payment, the Automated Clearing House (ACH).
  • In 2005, the number of checks converted to ACH debits rose by 60%, and more than 2.15 billion consumer bill payments were processed through the ACH Network.
  • There is an environmental impact to using paper checks. In addition to the natural resources used to manufacture and print paper checks, processing the checks relies heavily on our nation's transportation systems, including trucks and airplanes. It takes a considerable amount of fuel to ship our country's millions of checks each year between companies, financial institutions, and customers.

Did You Know

The costs of accepting, processing and handling paper checks are extremely high. Estimates for the real cost of a paper check range from $0.75 to $3, and average $1.22 per check. For electronic checks, the cost decreases to a range of $0.32 to $0.70 per check.