Check Collections: Returned Check Statistics

Merchants received over $13 billion in bad checks in 1996, an 18 percent increase over the year before, according to the Nilson Report in June 1997.

The Nilson Report also projected the number of checks written annually to rise by 2 to 4 percent by the year 2020. At the same time, more than 1.2 million worthless checks enter the payment system daily.

According to Global Concepts Inc., banks charge an> average of $19 to the check writer for a returned check and $5 to the depositor,for a combined revenue stream to banks of $24.With an average of 300 million returned checks, the annual revenue from returned checks is $7 billion.

According to Jack Walton of the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington D.C., less than 1 percent of all checks bounce. Since there are approximately 60 billion checks written each year,about 600 million checks bounced nationally.

In 1996, Ernst & Young reported that 75% of merchants used third-party verification services, 16% used manual approval methods, and 13.3% established an in-house authorization system.

Check Fraud Statistics

According to a report by Ernst & Young, more than 500 million checks are forged annually, with losses totaling more than $10 billion.

According to the Create-A-Check website, in 1997 there were about 496 million fraudulent checks written for a total of approximately $9.9 billion. This means that an average of 1.4 million fraudulent checks was written daily worth $27.3 million.

According to the National Check Fraud Center, over $300,000 worth of counterfeit checks has been reported by victims selling merchandise over the internet in 1996.

According to a report issued by the American\ Banker, losses from check fraud will grow by 25%\ \annually in the coming years.

ACA's Check Services Program

ACA's Check Services Program (CSP) was created in July 1990 to help ACA members become aware of the opportunities in check collection and to assist them in developing an understanding of the check industry.