What is Check Conversion?

WHAT IS CHECK CONVERSION?

Companies in the United States have begun to use a process of converting consumer paper checks into electronic payments. This process will save the U.S. economy billions of dollars annually and will cut down on the amount of paper you keep.

Your Insurance provider has chosen to participate in electronic check conversion beginning in September 2004.

The primary reasons why we have decided to participate in this process are:
-	Added security and privacy for our policyholders.
-	Added security to the Federal Reserve Payment System.
-	Electronic check conversion is an established technology that can reduce costly errors.
-	Electronic check conversion offers a higher level of consumer protection through the Federal Reserve’s regulation E.
-	Electronic check conversion will save the U.S. Economy billions of dollars annually.
-	Electronic processing is less costly than paper processing.
-	To be better prepared for upcoming government mandated changes in the banking and financial industries.

While we hope this website was educational regarding the subject of electronic check conversion, you can find more educational resources regarding this subject at:

www.checkconversioneducation.org

www.federalreserveeducation.org

www.nacha.org

If you are interested in placing your insurance premium payment on a bank draft payment plan, please contact your insurance company for more information.

This is part of the nation’s overall migration to electronic payments that started over 30 years ago with Direct Deposit. These electronic payments are processed over the Automated Clearing House (ACH), a secure network (not the Internet) used by banks and credit unions to transfer billions of dollars daily. Electronic payments are private and secure - a network of computers does the work.

You do not need to do anything new or different. Your insurance company notifies you that it will use the check conversion process via an enclosure in your bill or a statement on your bill. You write a paper check for the amount of your payment and mail the payment. The company converts the check into an electronic payment, stores a copy of the check and then destroys the original paper check. The payment shows up on your account statement with the date of the payment, the name of the company paid, the check number, and the amount of the payment.

The efficiency of the nation’s payment system requires shifting from paper checks to electronic payments. This change is in everyone’s best interest. Electronic transactions provide more privacy and federally regulated protections than paper checks; electronic payments can result in less fraud and fewer errors; and electronic processing is less costly than paper processing.