How to Get Codes for a TeleCheck Merchant ID

731 million bad checks were written in 2000 (resource 1)

TeleCheck, a company owned by First Data, is a validation service that provides risk analysis and check validation for companies who want to accept checks as a form of payment. For merchants, accepting checks is risky, as the check may bounce or be invalid. TeleCheck turns a check into a debit to help minimize that risk. When processing a check through TeleCheck, you must also put Merchant ID codes into a point of sale terminal.

Instructions

1. Locate your TeleCheck welcome booklet. The eight digit TeleCheck merchant ID code is located on the inside front pocket of the welcome booklet you received from First Data/TeleCheck.

2. Call the TeleCheck customer service for your merchant ID code and any other TeleCheck code needed to process a check. Please note that there is a fee assessed for any customer service assisted transaction if you decide to inquire about codes and have the operator process a check validation.

3. Refer to the TeleCheck quick tips guide. It has codes that are often needed to validate a check via the TeleCheck point of sale terminal. Locate State ID codes for driver's licenses by locating the state and then finding the associated code. Use the TeleCheck quick tips guide to also identify codes like, code 3, code 4 and code 40. Code 3 is for checks that contain no negative history but fall outside of the approval guidelines. Code 4 is for checks with negative information on file and Code 40 denotes lost or stolen checks.

References

• First Data.com: How TeleCheck Works
• First Data: TeleCheck Automated Authorizations
• Cardware International: TeleCheck Procedures

Resources

• No Bounced Checks