I too tried to cash my check at Wal-Mart and was declined. When I called Certegy to find out what the problem was, I was informed the decline did not have anything to do with my information, but it had to do with the company that wrote the check. She stated that they just needed to update some information in their system. There was no other reason. Not only was I embarrassed by this, but I am furious that they can decline to cash a check simply because they needed to update information on a vendor. No other reason. The funds were available and there were no negative information against myself nor the company that issued the check. This is ridiculous! Something needs to be done.

On 18 Mar 08, I attempted to write a check for grocery purchase at a local grocery store chain in North Hampton, NH. The check was not authorized for the purchase. I have written checks for purchases at this and other of their stores over the years. There has never been a problem until this. The store clerk handed me a preprinted card with information from Certegy Check Services along with a telephone number to call to make an inquiry on the matter. I am not familiar with Certegy. I called their Customer Service Center, and although the representative was polite, she, in my opinion, wanted too much personal information and I declined to provide it. All I wanted to know was why the check was not authorized for the purchase. I was concerned if something happened to my credit, payment history, or bank accounts. On 19 Mar 08, I confirmed my bank accounts are intact and Credit History is excellent via an on-line Credit History request.

I was able to conduct an on-line search and determined there are a great number of complaints against Certegy for the same reason as my complaint as well as other types of complaints. A look into the Better Business Bureau records located where Certegy's home office is located in Florida disclosed "Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with BBB due to one or more unresolved complaint(s)." The question is still unresolved as to why this occurred. Until this is resolved, I will decline to conduct any further business at the chain's stores and will inform friends and family of this incident so it does not happen to them. Complaints filed with FTC, the store's home office and BBB in Florida.

As I was reading through all the other complaints I kept wandering......why can't we do something about this company? I have been fighting with them since August 07 when my check was denied to Eyemasters. They told me to send in a Certegy Gold Application, and I wouldn't have anymore problems. So I did. I had tried to call numerous times to make sure the application had gone through so I would not have that embarrassment again. At Christmas I had a check denied, which I just blew off because it was Certegy. Then last Friday (2-15) I had a check denied at Target. When I called the number I got the same recording, that it was just protection for me, not because I had a bad check writing history. I have been calling every day since then and finally got someone today. The reason they gave me for it being denied was just so stupid I couldn't hardly believe it. Here is the reason. On 2-7 I wrote a check (ck # 1176), on 2-15 I wrote a check (ck #1183). They said my check was denied because of the big gap between my check numbers! I was pissed off to put it quite frankly. She just kept saying "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, this is just a measure we take to protect you". I told her I was getting no protection from them, all i was getting was a pain in my you know where and alot of embarrassment, because the teller and the people behind me in line will just automatically assume its because I write hot checks.

So what can be done about this company? Reading through all the other complaints you realize how ridiculous it is the problems they have caused people. It ought to be against some kind of law?

I ATTEMPTED TO PAY FOR TWO FENCE BOARDS, BY CHECK AT HOME DEPOT TODAY. MY TOTAL WAS JUST OVER 5 DOLLARS. TO MY SURPRISE, MY CHECK WAS DENIED!! I HAVE QUITE A BIT OF MONEY IN MY ACCOUNT, BUT, UPON CALLING CYNERGY, WAS TOLD THEY WERE ADVISED MY ACCOUNT WAS CLOSED!! OF COURSE, THIS CAUSED ME GREAT CONSTERNATION, SO I IMMEDIATELY CALLED THE BANK. (I'VE HAD MY ACCOUNT THERE FOR YEARS.) THEY VERIFIED MY ACCOUNT IS STILL INTACT. HOWEVER, THIS COMPANY IS TELLING MERCHANTS THAT I'M ATTEMPTING TO CASH CHECKS ON A CLOSED ACCOUNT. HOW ARE THEY ABLE TO GET AWAY WITH THIS?

I just went to Albertsons to purchase 4 $100 visa gift cards for my kids for X-mas. I don't like to carry that much cash so I wrote a check and it was declined by Certegy. I called the number and they said there was no negative information that it was just a "precautionary measure" - who are they trying to protect?? It should be a simple matter of is the money available yes or no and have any bad checks been written yes or no. This crap about artificial intelligence is b.s. All the clerk has to do is check ID to prevent fraud. I write checks bigger than that all the time and there was over $3000 in my checking account at the time. I looked them up on the internet and found about their employee selling names to fraudulent marketing companies - but no info about how to submit a complaint. With all the people who have been inconvenienced and humiliated, there really should be a lawsuit - anyone know a good lawyer??