Certegy

I have been cashing my payroll checks at Walmart for years. It was always easier to just cash them there rather than wait in line forever at the bank. I work overnight so when I get off of work in the mornings, banks aren't open and I live 30 minutes from a bank. I got my payroll check Friday morning when I got off of work but decided to wait before cashing it because I needed to get home immediately after getting off of work that morning. When I got off of work Saturday morning, I stopped at Walmart to cash it. After walking in and grabbing a cart, I ripped open my check and signed it while walking through the store. I had a few things I needed to pick up while I was there since I avoid shopping at Walmart as much as possible because of their horrible customer service. I even worked at Walmart for a little while before I moved.

I found quite a few things in their clearance section and then proceeded to go to cash my check since it was finally 7:00 am and their Money Service Center was supposed to be open. I stood around for 15 minutes with another guy but no one ever came and the customer service desk had the guy go there to get a money order. I went to the check lane to cash it and check out. I asked the cashier if she needed me to pay in cash or if she could deduct my purchase out of the check since most of the cashiers don't know how to do them together. She said she could take it out of the check. She did everything and I entered my Social Security number. It didn't ask me if I wanted to put it on my Walmart card, which I didn't but it always will ask.

It was supposed to be free to put money on it when you cash a check but that's a load of crap because it deducts the $3 from your card and doesn't appear on your receipt so Walmart won't refund you your $3. Then, the cashier said it was declined and gave me a slip of paper. I was completely shocked and confused. Why would my payroll check from a huge company be declined? I called the number for Certegy on the paper and had a reason code of number 6. An automated system told me that the check had already been accessed. I'm even more confused. Does that mean it had been cashed already? How was it cashed when I just opened it?

I finally spoke with an operator who told me the same thing and said she couldn't provide me with any more information. I'm trying to find out if it had been accessed within the last few minutes to make sure it wasn't accidentally cashed at Walmart or if the cashier hit the wrong button or some mistake. I wanted to make sure I still could get my paycheck and that I wasn't walking out of Walmart leaving them with free money. She told me I could try another check cashing service which I don't know of any that don't charge an arm and a leg. I was freaked out and embarrassed on top of it. I asked to speak with the manager because I wanted to make sure that the check wasn't cashed. They reassured me that it wasn't and said that I could try again at the Money Service Center, which was finally open.

Again, it was declined for the same reason. I called my employer, which was closed and no HR reps were in, and someone gave me a number for corporate HR but it was closed for the weekend. I live paycheck to paycheck and was scared that I was about to be out of a paycheck until they could get it situated. I called Wells Fargo, where the check was written from, and after 5 times of telling the woman in another country how this was my employer's payroll check to me and that I didn't have an account, she finally understood that I didn't write my own check and that the account number wasn't mine. I didn't understand why they couldn't verify if that check had been cashed or not, but she said I could try cashing it in the bank. I wanted to make sure that before I drive an hour out of my way that they could do something about it and she did say they could find out if it had been cashed.

On my way home, I stopped at Publix to give it one last try to cash it. I told the lady the trouble I was having. I was even shaking and having a hard time finding my I.D. because I was so freaked out. It went through! I was so thankful and talking to her about how this company wouldn't tell me anything about my check and she said everything was automated, which I knew that, and that they go through Certegy. I was shocked again! Just barely an hour before that, they said they couldn't cash this check because it had been accessed, embarrassed me and cost me an extra hour of my time. Now, I can cash it for an extra dollar at Publix. This is **! It's obvious that their process is screwed up. I went to their website to email them so I wouldn't have to deal with arguing with their foreign customer service reps but there were only phone numbers.

I want to complain about this because there was obviously no reason for my check to have been denied at that moment. This was just ridiculous and stupid. There needs to be more companies like this rather than just one running in all these stores because they're obviously causing a lot of trouble for a lot of people. If someone can't purchase their groceries by check or debit card in one store, then they probably can't in most of their stores without having to stop and get cash out of the bank. This company is also causing the banks a lot of money which is being put into extra fees on their customers. People have to have cash on hand and heck, they're just going to leave what minimum they need in there for bills and keep cash on them for everything else since they'll have to have it anyway. That's what I do!

On May 9, 2012, my wife and daughter made an 80-mile round trip to Big Lots on Benner Pike, State College, PA to purchase a tent for $126.14. My wife wrote a check on our Federal Credit Union account with a $5,000 balance. She presented two forms of photo ID, her PA driver license and a military dependent's identification card. The check, unbelievably, was declined by an apparently incompetent company called Certegy who said they had "insufficient information" to approve the check. What does that mean? Our FICO scores are around 780, the FCU account is more than 40 years active and actually has a telephone number, and we have never ever bounced a check or run late with any payment of any kind. We're in the phone book - we're on Google!

I spent 26 years in the military serving my country, including two combat tours (Cuba and Vietnam) and retired in 1989. We are honest and responsible citizens and the decline-check decision today in Big Lots was unwarranted, embarrassing and frankly outrageous. I can't even remember ever having a check declined before. My wife is Asian and was horrified at the public humiliation she received today at Big Lots. The local store management, though commiserating in attitude when I talked to them, claimed to have no discretion whatever. Why? Consumer complaint email to Big Lots corporate was unanswered. Why?

Check cashing "Precautionary Measure" - Certegy will not allow my check to be cashed. When contacting them, there is a language barrier, and they indicate no reason as to why they are putting a hold on my check. They indicated that it is not me personally, rather the insurance company needing to provide them information. When I contact a supervisor, they will not wait on hold, nor will they contact the issuer. They simply won't help me in any way.

This is the second encounter with Certegy that my family has had in the past two years. The first one happened when we moved from East Texas to Carrollton, TX. We opened new bank accounts when we moved. I took my wife's car in for a check-up at the Volvo dealership and the bill was $400. I wrote a check and was told that it was not acceptable and even a number to call which was Certegy. I was told that the account was too new for them to accept my check. Now, there were ten times the amount in the account but that made no difference. I won't go into details on that fiasco.

This time my wife's check was denied for $14.95. After many calls, we found out that somehow her driver's license number was mistakenly associated with someone else's returned checks. Here's the punch line for all of you. The first person I talked to was in Manila, Philippines. I was told it would take four to five days to clear my wife's problem, so, do not write any checks during this time. One week later, I called to make sure everything was alright and guess what? Oh, we are very sorry, but it will take another four days because the first person did not process the paperwork properly. Now people I have read many of you with the same problems with this company. Listen up! Forget this complaint website and do what I did and write your State Representative, U.S. Congressman, and Senator with your problem. Do it now!

I filled up at Kum and Go in Springfield, MO. I went inside and wrote a check which was declined. No reason was given. I called Certegy and was placed on hold for 15 minutes at which time I hung up. I know they don't really care, but I will go elsewhere when possible.

I purchased gas and a pack of cigarettes at Kum & Go in Riverside, Iowa. My check was declined. I called and the person told me it was not due to my bank account or social security number, but because a check for this amount, $47.00, caused it to be declined for fraudulent or identity theft! I was 6 miles from my home and have had none of these things happen to me. They could give me no more information. I asked who protected me from this kind of embarrassment and harassment!

We went to Wal-Mart to cash our Federal Income Tax Return check. After the clerk wrote down all kinds of numbers from me and my wife--DL number, SS number, passport number--on the front check, then they ran through the Certegy system and confirmed that they declined to cash this check with Code 2. Then I was asked to call Certegy Check Service where only the machine told me to enter the check amount of $4800 then quickly declined after mentioned, because it fell under their safety criteria. Then, it hung up. Last year, even with larger amounts at the same store, everything was ok. It was very confusing and time-consuming!

I wrote a check at Bellagio Las Vegas for $100. My mistake: I grabbed the wrong check book, which is an account that I rarely use unless I'm traveling for business. As a result, the money wasn't in my account to cover the check. I accept and own that mistake. The check for $100 was put through a second time and cleared my bank account. However, a week later, Certegy (the check processing company Bellagio uses) debited a $25 fee from my checking account, which in turn made the account overdraw. The bank charged me a fee of $35 on top of it. I want my total of $55 back from Certegy. Certegy should notify customers when they will be taking out a fee. Or they should have emailed me, called me, or sent a letter that I owe them a $25 fee for the original returned check. They sucker punched me and just took out the $25 fee, which caused my account to be overdrawn and the bank charged me $35 as a result. Bad business practice. They sideswiped me. I want the $55 back.

My wife and I went to Lowe's to purchase new appliances. When trying to check out, I wrote a check using our home improvement checking account for an amount just over $5,400. I was informed it was declined based on a computer risk based system. I called the toll free Certegy number and spent over 40 minutes on a call with the idiots that had no authority to do anything. I was told to wait another 10-15 minutes and try again, since he had elevated my account to gold status. This is a load of crap! We tried again after 20 minutes and it was declined a second time. At this point, I cancelled my order and Lowe's has forever lost my business for using such a despicable company.

Certegy is costing the companies that use them more money than they claim to save them. The ridiculous part of this was that I was not even leaving the store with any of the product I was purchasing, since they were going to be delivered the following weekend. This would have allowed them plenty of time to clear the check through my bank and insure that the funds were available. Their policies need to be revisited and they should certainly stop using this Certgey Company if they want to stay in business. I will never shop there again after this experience.

O/A 6th of April 15:30 hours, I presented a check for payment to a vendor. That vendor processed the check through Certegy. Certegy declined the check. I contacted Certegy's assistance line and received a very well spoken, computer generated voice script that advised the check was declined as the proprietary software suggested fraud. Immediate conversations with my bank reflected no negative information against the account or the check in question. I am awaiting any impacts on my credit history or report at this time. I do want to talk with a lawyer on this issue as this appears to violate the fair credit act.

Amica sent me a check to refund me for overcharging me on my insurance. I went to cash the check. Certegy declined it with no explanation on how to get the check cashed. I listened to their automated phone system that told me, "We aren't going to cash it. Thanks for calling." I am just finishing switching my insurance company. Certegy is screwing with me and I in turn drop their client. I can do this all day.

I had an issue with this company last year and again this year when trying to cash my student loan checks. I was given the same runaround of an automated system. Then I got a rep who barely spoke English and gave me the automated responses of a system that has a number of factors they review and it had nothing to do with my credit or check history but to prevent fraud. I asked to speak with a supervisor and same issue. It seems like any check over $1000 they don't want to cash and Wal-Mart should not advertise they will cash checks up to $7500 when their company they use won't do it.

Last year, I did get a hold of someone there that increased my limit and put me on some gold status allegedly and I was able to go to a Wal-Mart Money Center and cash one of the checks. This year, I tried again and the check was a bit more and when I told the rep about last year, they said they have no one there that would do that and there was no way they could change it to accept my check and that I should go elsewhere. So this company that represents Wal-Mart is sending their customers elsewhere and when those customers go elsewhere to cash their checks, they're not going to be so keen to come back to Wal-Mart to shop. If there's any pending class action suit against this company, I'd love to be a part of that.

I have written about six checks to vendors and Certegy has refused acceptance. I have a FICO score of 815.

I recently started a job on the road and received my first payroll check. I tried to cash it at Wal-Mart so I could Moneygram some money home to my family. My check was denied, even though I had cashed a check from my boss for fuel, there earlier that day. So then I went to Kroger, same problem. How is a man, who is making an honest living, supposed to support his family if he can't cash a payroll check and send money home?

On Saturday, March 10th, 2012, I went to our local Walmart and used their Money Center to cash my California state refund check. I had no problem doing so. On Monday, March 12th, 2012, I received my federal return in the mail. That evening, I drove back over to Walmart to cash this check. Their system would not accept it. I thought maybe I had entered my SS number incorrectly and asked her to please re-run it. Same problem. She handed me a small slip of paper and circled "reason 2". I walked out to my car and called the number. Just like everyone else on here, I received the same automated response. When the economy tanked back in 2008, I lost my job. I received unemployment checks until I found work again. In that time, while unemployed, I cashed my unemployment checks there without a problem.

I do not trust banks, therefore, I choose not to have an account. This is my right. I do not choose for this company, who I have never heard of, to tell me that a check issued by the federal is no good. Whoever runs this company and those who use their services should be ashamed. I wish they would provide a list of companies who uses Certegy so I could again choose not shop there. I look forward to the day when I read about this corrupt company being sued or fined for shady and unscrupulous practices.

On March 9, I attempted to cash a check the IRS sent me, drawn off the United States Treasury, at the local Wal-Mart in Hatfield, PA. After giving all my information, including my social security number and driver's license, I was told the check could not be cashed. I was given a piece of paper with a Code 2 on it and a number to call.

I called the number and went through a series of automated prompts that eventually resulted in some excuse that the check matched a pattern of a known fraud. Unhappy with the automated explanation, I spoke with a representative who would not give me any more information other than that they would never authorize the check and I should just go somewhere else. I asked to speak with a supervisor.

After a few minutes, I spoke with a supervisor who would only say that even though there may be nothing wrong with me or the check, they were not going to authorize it to be cashed. She would not elaborate further other than to say their proprietary fraud system very rarely denies legitimate checks. I am still fuming, because it is not a personal check that I am trying to cash. It's not even a check that I wrote. It is a government-issued check! How can they deny such checks?

In the end, I believe they are using me as a statistic to sell their services. Certegy must realize less and less people are writing checks or having them cashed, so they invent these fraud detection models that end being completely wrong. I don't think Certegy should get away with this. They are causing consumers to believe there is fraudulent activity going on while refusing to elaborate as to why. I hope Wal-Mart, at least, drops Certegy. Certegy's system is flawed.

I tried to cash my state of CA income tax refund check at Wal-Mart, La Habra, CA, but I was told they could not cash it due to some ** of having written bad checks. I haven't had a checking account in over 4 years. But the funny thing is that I was able to cash my federal tax refund check at the same time. Something is funny somewhere. I called the number Wal-Mart told me to call and the rep was no help at all. She suggested I go to a check cashing place that doesn't use Certegy system. I also tried Certegy online to see why they would not cash this check and it came back with no information. This is a scam!

On March 8, 2012, I went to store named Marshall's in Houston, Texas and wrote a check for $242.37 and the check was declined. I asked why and the employee gave me a card and ask me to call Certegy. I called Certegy and was told that it was not because of any negative reasons but a preventive reason. The money is in the bank. I have excellent credit history and credit. What is the problem? I never had a bounced check. I feel this company, Certegy, is a scam.

Is this big brother government? This company has private information on everyone from my understanding. When I called, they knew my banking information, driver's license number and could see my bank account balance and status. This is crap. I never gave access like this to a third party.

I wrote a check today and they would not accept it when I had the funds in my checking account to cover it! They said I had an outstanding check with Yall that I don't know nothing about! I usually get mail from Yall when I bounce a check, but I hadn't gotten anything from Yall in a few years because I don't write any checks until now! I do not want an attorney to contact me either, but if I do have a bounced check, send me an email or call me and leave me a message please so I can get it taken care of please. Thank you!

I went into my local Walmart to cash my federal income tax return. The check was declined due to recommendation from Certegy Inc. I called the number that I was given to contact Certegy. They had no explanation of why my check was declined, only that the decline was computer generated. Certegy refused to reverse this issue and told me I will have to find a merchant that does not use Certegy Inc.

I normally use a big bank debit card, but it was not on me. So I wrote a check for purchases at Target Vallejo, CA on 2/27/2012. It was declined without reason. Never mind, I had a valid California driver's license. When I called Certegy, the robot (no live bodies, they know folks are angry when calling) advised that I did not meet the "preventative measure criteria" for check acceptance! This is for an individual with a 6-figure income and a FICO score of 720. Here's my preventative measure: I'll shop elsewhere. There is nothing in my financial profile past or present that warranted declination and I felt humiliated in front of a line of waiting customers as I do not use credit cards and I had to walk away from the cart.

Sold a motorcycle and the buyer went to Walmart to get $3000 in MoneyGram. Went to Walmart the next day to cash them and Walmart would only cash one. Certegy said they could not cash the MoneyGram. They should be investigated. They are not protecting people from fraud. They are committing fraud!

My daughter and I were shopping at Pac-Sun Monroe Ohio, and tried to purchase $173.51 worth of clothing for her. I wrote a check to Pac-Sun for $173.51, and it was denied. I know that I have over $5,000 in my checking account, as I looked at it this morning to verify. I then tried to use my Discover card, and that was denied as well. As you can well imagine, I am very unhappy at this moment. I just used my Discover card a half hour prior at Saks Fifth Avenue, and the transaction went through just fine. The clerk then handed me a card to contact Certegy. I called and they had me on hold for an hour. When I got home, I went to their website, askcertegy.com, to verify my check and the website stated no records found with this check.

A couple of years ago, while Christmas shopping, Target refused to take my credit card because Certegy said my shopping didn't match my habits. Every card I tried got the same result. So I tried writing a check with same result. I tried my other checking account with the same result. I cancelled my sale and went to Best Buy only to find they use the same incompetent process.

I wrote to Certegy, and to both retailers with no satisfaction, not even an apology. I told them both I would never ever shop in any of their stores again until they got rid of Certegy. I have never shopped at either store again and never will. They could have called my bank if they had a question about my cards or my checks. This company should be fined heavily or totally blacklisted and have civil suits filed against them.

I received a check from the California Child Support Disbursement Center. I took my check to Wal-Mart to cash it like I'd some twice before. This time I was told they were unable to cash my checking, gave me a receipt with a number to Certegy with a code number 1. I called Certegy who offered no assistance and was told call the child support office and have them fix it. Child support office has no idea what they are talking about and that the check is fine. Now, I've been unable to cash a $40 check because of Certegy. I've not written any checks in well over 3 years and I only have a savings account. There is no reason for them to deny me all of a sudden from cashing a state issued check!

I took our tax refund check into local Walmart only to be told they could not be cashed . We were given a receipt saying reason was code 2 and call Certegy. Cashier said that had it had been doing this to refund checks like ours all day. I called and got automated operator and was told nothing is wrong with the check. It just did not match their parameters. It is a holiday this Monday so I don't have access to bank until Tuesday. Why should they be able to say a federal check is not able to be cashed?

Cashier in the grocery store declined my check based on Certegy saying I had a returned check. This is not true. When I contacted Certegy to question the reason, clerk asked for driver's license number, bank routing and check number, amount of check, date of transaction, and other personal information. I don't share this information over a cell phone connection, and there apparently is no way to handle this in a secure online format. Guess I just won't be doing business there anymore. Too bad.

My husband and I went to The Shoe Dept in Thomasville, GA. A store that we have shopped in for years for the whole family's shoes and the strip on his debit card would not read. The sales associate stated she could call in for verification, but it was a hassle for her to do so. No problem, we could just write a check. When she ran the check, Certegy denied it. Of course, she couldn't give any information, just a card with number on the back. As we sat fuming in the parking lot, the customer service lady ran all of our information. So sorry, she said. Although there is no history of bad checks, they won't approve it because it could be fraudulent. What the hell. Over $4,000 in the bank and can't even get a couple pairs of shoes. I could understand it better if there had ever been a bad check, but really? This place just cost this store (and any other using them) to lose my business.

I went to Walmart to cash my payroll check from the LDS Church. The banks were closed so this was my only form of option. My check was declined and I had to call a number on a Certegy information thing. It was an automated response which indicates that the check may be fraudulent, poor printing quality, unreadable, or a bad company. So I moved on to my second option at a 7-11 machine where I used in the pass to cash checks. I have a membership there, but the machine declined me.

So I went to Smiths and they declined me as well. Then, I went to Albertsons market where I have cashed a check before but then, they declined me too. So if this Certegy (forgive my spelling) is somewhere along the line, wanting money from these individuals, then why are they rejecting people to cash their payroll checks? Sure, I will pay them but I need to get the cash, money order, and send it in. In order to do that, I need to make my buck first somehow. I finally went to Check City where they accepted my business. I think Certegy has very poor practices and should just be shut down.