Looking for Collection Data

have been a subscriber to The Green Sheet for over a year, and find it very useful in the growth of my company. In recent months, I have had several appointments with CEOs and CFOs all over the country. My company deals in the area of "true check recovery." ... I was trying to convert these companies over to my company's recovery programs. In this lies a problem that I hope The Green Sheet might be able to help me out with.

In almost every appointment I have been on, I have heard the same comments from these well-educated and versed individuals, "We never see bad checks." ... I reply, "So how much does it cost to never see a bad check?"

I have been very amazed and concerned by the responses I get. In the last meeting I had, this mid-size company of about 300 stores had been using a guarantee conversion program for almost two years. For two years, this company has paid over $800,000 to recoup half of that. Are there any publications or studies that show true collection rates for the top collection agencies in the country? By this I mean number of bad checks received versus the actual amount collected and the cost associated with these programs.

- G.W. Smith
Arkansas

G.W.:

Unfortunately, The Green Sheet does not have any statistics to help you. You might try to obtain this information from ACA International - The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals. The Web site is www.collector.com .

- Editor

Need Help With Compliance

I am doing a Web site as we speak, and I would love to be in compliance with Visa and MasterCard regulations. Can you help me with the regulations so I can avoid possible fines? Thank you.

- W.V.
via e-mail

W.V.:

We suggest contacting a professional in the compliance field. The card Association rules can be very complicated. Please check our Resource Guide under the heading "Consulting and Advisory Services" for some possible contacts.

- Editor

Shorter Visa URL

In your July 11, 2005 issue, I would like to make a suggestion/correction for an article on page 89 from David H. Press at Integrity Bankcard Consultants [ "Visa's Manual on Chargeback Management," The Green Sheet, issue 05:07:01 ]. The link to Visa's acceptance guide is [no longer] correct. You cannot link directly to the guide using the URL that shows up when you download it; [it] constantly changes. The URL you should be using, which will always work for every visitor and is much shorter, is: http://usa.visa.com/download/business/accepting_visa/ops_risk_management/card_accept.pdf .

Hope that helps,
Curtis Stevens
Gotmerchant.com