Re: Voice/Fax Checks

At 09:19 AM 7/20/94 UTC, j.hastings6@genie.geis.com wrote:

>"Attention Businesses...Accept Personal and Business Checks Over The
>Telephone (or by fax) for Your Orders, Payments, Collections and
>Donations!"
> 
>If you want more details about this, drop me a note. I have no
>other connection with the company besides the fax from a sales guy,
>so far. Does anyone out there know something about this concept?
>Could this be useful for a digital cash bank interface?

Say that you're selling something and someone says "I'll mail you a check
today."  This lets you say:

"Don't bother.  Take out the check you were going to send me, read me the
routing code and check number on the bottom.  Give me your name and address
and the bank's name and address as they appear on the check, the amount you
will pay and the date.  I'll collect that check electronically without you
having to bother to send it."

They reconstruct the check as an electronic payment order and submit it.  Works.
Even easier if they have a fax of the check.

DCF

Privacy 101 - States without mandatory auto insurance: Alabama, District of
Columbia, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Tennessee,
Virginia, Wisconsin. (The last time I looked -- updates welcome.)

> At 09:19 AM 7/20/94 UTC, j.hastings6@genie.geis.com wrote:
> 
> >"Attention Businesses...Accept Personal and Business Checks Over The
> >Telephone (or by fax) for Your Orders, Payments, Collections and
> >Donations!"

Dunan Frissell elaborates: 
> "Don't bother.  Take out the check you were going to send me, read me the
> routing code and check number on the bottom.  Give me your name and address
> and the bank's name and address as they appear on the check, the amount you
> will pay and the date.  I'll collect that check electronically without you
> having to bother to send it."

Isn't this kind of like writing them a blank check?  If I tell
them to make the check out for $20 and they make it out for
$100, how do I repudiate that?  Not only that, how do I prevent
them from writing and cashing more checks by increasing the
sequence number?

On the flip side, what happens if I make out a check for $100
and later claim it was only $20, accusing them of cheating?
How does the judge determine who cheated?

Since the check doesn't contain my signature, why does
the bank honor the check?

Jim Hart
hart@chaos.bsu.edu