June 5, 2009
Southwest Corporate Completes
Testing
Of Image Deposit Return Service
Rolling out to credit unions in
Fed’s 11th District first;
Others to follow
Dallas--The
highly anticipated Image Deposit Return service from Southwest Corporate is now
available to credit unions in the Federal Reserve’s 11th District. Roll-out
across the remainder of the country could begin as early as July.
The new service automates
the process of handling returned items from member deposits—eliminating paper
check delivery to the credit union. Returns are sent directly to Southwest
Corporate from its direct-exchange banks, image exchange networks and the
Federal Reserve Bank—reducing potential for losses by providing faster
information delivery.
“We have worked out the last
few details with the pilot credit unions,” according to Brad Ganey, Southwest
Corporate’s senior vice president of payment services. Southwest Corporate is now
preparing to pilot the service in additional Federal Reserve districts, Ganey
noted.
Southwest Corporate is among
the first—if not the first—corporate credit union in the country to offer the
efficiency-boosting Image Deposit Return service to its members. Southwest
Corporate has been working with the Federal Reserve in a “beta mode” to develop
this service for credit unions and is one of the few institutions that has now
“gone live” with the service.
The new service will
complete Southwest Corporate’s journey to fully automate the deposit process
for credit unions. “Used in conjunction with any of Southwest Corporate’s
remote deposit solutions, the Image Deposit Return service will automate the
delivery of return items, giving credit unions faster access to images and
critical reporting,” said Bill Brennan, Southwest Corporate’s Director of Item
Processing Operations.
There are 259 credit unions
in the Fed’s 11th District—already processing or settling their share drafts and
utilizing Southwest Corporate’s deposit services—that will be eligible to begin
the new service. The Fed’s 11th District consists of areas including all of Texas, the northern portion of Louisiana and the southern portion of New Mexico.
The Federal Reserve Bank’s
announcement of its intent to collapse all paper check processing into the Cleveland office by fourth quarter 2009 has left many credit unions anticipating expensive
courier charges and delays in the delivery of deposit returns. Southwest Corporate’s
Image Deposit Return service is a cost-effective alternative that will enable
credit unions to see return items online days earlier.
With the service, deposit
returns will be routed electronically to Southwest Corporate, rather than
delivered by courier to a credit union’s central office. Using credit
union-specific criteria, Southwest Corporate can automate the re-deposit of
insufficient funds (NSF) items, report additional maker and/or payee
information, and provide content-rich deposit detail reports through its online
account management system.
“The online detail reports
will provide a link to display images of returned items, item level MICR
information, large-dollar notifications and provide a downloadable file for
printing returned item substitute checks to give to members,” Brennan said.
“Final settlement will occur between Southwest Corporate and the credit union,
simplifying and removing the Federal Reserve Bank from the reconcilement
process.
“Implementation of the Image
Deposit Return service is quick and easy,” he continued. “A credit union simply
signs the necessary forms and purchases a low-cost MICR printer. Southwest
Corporate can be processing deposit returns for a credit union within a few
weeks.”
Southwest Corporate has been
offering remote deposit services since 2002. Its service suite includes Branch
Capture, Teller Capture, Business Capture, Member Capture and ATM Capture
solutions.
For more information about
Branch Capture or any of the other Remote Deposit Solutions, contact a
Southwest Corporate account officer at 1-800-442-5763 or e-mail contactus@swcorp.org.
Click here to read the
product sheet.
