I went to Target on 12/23/09 to make a purchase of 297.83 for christmas gifts. When I got to the cashier and tried to pay with a check I was told my check was declined. Sure that I had more than enough to cover the check I told her to run it again and there was no way my check was declined. Sure enough it was declined again and I was giving back the check with Certegy's information and contact number. Still in line and very upset, I called the number to get an automated system that after 5 minutes couldn't tell me why my check was declined but that it was for MY PROTECTION! After sitting on hold another 10 minutes I get a live agent and after speaking to her for some time I was told that I didn't have a bad check with them and they don't verify funds, but that the numbers on my check or on my account are too close to some one that is writing bad checks. Okay so since someone else is using bad checks I can't use my good checks to purchase anything. Then i am told there is no way to override the system and they have no control over it... Okay so let me get this straight, you are the check cashing company that declined my check but you can't verify funds and override the decline???? Hummmm, bad business, bad company, and Target and any other retail store that uses this worthless company will be out of business soon from pissed off customers. Every one that has encountered this situation with Certegy should file a BBB complaint!!! pronto!

I just arrived home from shopping at Target for Christmas. I have had the same checking account for over 30 years and have shopped at Target since they came in. After loading my cart I wrote a check for $163.01 -- not close to 1% of what I have in my account. With many shoppers around me, I was notified my check was refused. Of course, the clerk had no idea why.
I then spent 40 minutes on the phone waiting for assistance from CERTEGY, the company that refused my check. The recording stated it was refused for my protection against identity theft, so I knew I wanted to speak with a real person. No real person ever came on the line.
I am furious that any system is capable of willy-nilly refusing my good check. At this point I don't know where to go or what to do. I will try again tomorrow, but I have a gut feeling I will not get a good response. If anyone has been able to successfully fight this unfair practice, please let me know.

My wife wrote a $21.12 check at The Dollar Store and was declined. We called Certegy and we were told that we had a check returned. We have been with our bank over 19 years and we have never had a returned check. We called our bank to check this out and they confirmed that Certegy was wrong. Our balance is modest but always more than adequate to cover our checks.

We have not been able to resolve this yet and my wife is afraid to try and write checks.

We would appreciate any help on this issue.

My husband and I went to TARGET today to purchase clothes and some things for Christmas. We opened a new checking account about a month ago and unfortunately didn't have our debit cards yet due to them being sent to the wrong address. My hubby was writing the check and, per protocol gave them his drivers license (which the address on the check matches). The check was denied. We have NEVER had a check denied by any other retailer. Keep in mind, my hubby just got home from the Navy and lived off of a debit card for 4 years. He never even USED checks in the military or ever had a bounced one in his life for that matter. Anyway, I called Certegy and asked what the problem was. They told me that he fit the "profile" of a person that would bounce a check. Keep in mind, we have over $8000 in the account! This whole situation is preposterous! I was embarrassed and very very furious! We needed diapers for our baby and other things for him. I can understand if we had bounced a check previously, or even if they verified it and the funds weren't there. However, that is not the case. A computer decided if we were worthy enough to write a check and obviously we aren't. I will not boycott Target because I do love the store. I do however wish that they would use a more reliable system for check verification because I can imagine that they would loose some business over this type of situation. I am filing a complaint with them and Certegy though.

I just got declined for a $26 check and I have over $1000 in my account. I called certegy and was advised by the rep. and his supervisor that the reason the check was declined was because of pattern of check writing, and they are actually trying to protect my account.
when I looked on certegy web site, I figured out why they are decling checks right and left. They want people to pay a yearly fee to become a certegy gold member, and then they will cash your checks. I cannot believe that they are actually blackmailing people to pay them an anual fee. I am planning on contacting the attorney general's office on this one. I am just pissed.