Your Opinion: Caught in check authorization snafu

Dear Editor:

This is something I think the public should know about. I was told by different people I've talked to that this has been happening since September 2011.

Certegy Check Services, Inc. is a check risk management company that provides check authorization services to merchants who process checks for purchases and returns it back to you with your receipt. A customer can be randomly selected and your check can be declined at anytime for no reason.

We have spent thousands of dollars at a business with locations in Jefferson City and Columbia since our home was destroyed by fire in 2010. On Sept. 9 we made a purchase in Columbia. I wrote a check for $44.19 and it was declined two times. I was given a cash register receipt with an 1-866 phone number on it. It instructed me to call Certegy Check Services, Inc. to clear this up.

First I called my bank thinking someone cleaned out our checking account but it was fine. I could not write a check anywhere else that returns your check back to you along with your receipt until this was taken care of.

I called Certegy as soon as I returned home. I was put on hold for one hour and 35 minutes. I finally got to talk with a person and after answering nine personal questions which I was reluctantly willing to provide they said everything was fine and I could start writing checks again. They still could not provide me with an explanation as to why they declined my check. She did tell me that their records showed in 2012 they checked our account 13 times, 2013 two times and 2014 four times.

Never in our 55 years have we ever had a check declined. Now Certegy has our checking account number information for no reason and they cannot give me one. This very troublesome to us as we would never provide such information to just anyone.

We were humiliated in from of other customers. I don't believe this should be allowed unless they have a good reason to do it. They should be monitoring people that have had a past history of writing bad checks and not those of us that have had no issues.