Guilford, Connecticut
May 2003

To most, summer brings images of long days and warm afternoons, but for Bishop's Orchards it also brings an increased number of returned checks.

Bishop's Orchards is a family-owned and operated business that has been serving the shoreline area of Connecticut since 1871. Each year, as the thermometer creeps higher, Bishop's Orchards already bustling business greatly increases with even more customers buying locally grown fruits and vegetables, cider, fresh baked goods, and bedding plants and flowers. More customers, however, mean more bad checks written. Bishop's Orchards turned to CheckAGAIN over a year ago to relieve the costly burden of recovering checks written for insufficient funds (NSF).

"As a small company, even several returned checks can have a significant impact on our bottom line," said Kimberly Brockett, controller for Bishop's Orchards. "That's why recovering checks quickly is a CheckAGAIN benefit we value." With CheckAGAIN, the check recovery process begins immediately when CheckAGAIN gets the bad check. Often times, CheckAGAIN can recover the funds within 24 hours of receipt.

Prior to signing on with CheckAGAIN, Bishop's Orchards used employees to recover bad checks. "Our folks would manually re-deposit NSF checks. Often times, the check still came back unpaid and we were charged a bank re-deposit fee," reports Brockett. In cases where re-deposit didn't work, the accounting team would write letters or make phone calls to the customer. "If re-depositing the check didn't work, we knew there was a very slim chance of getting our money."

"With CheckAGAIN, our employees can now be better utilized on other important projects," said Brockett.

Electronic re-presentment is the key to quicker check recovery. CheckAGAIN recovers more checks for Bishop's Orchards and does it faster, often 20-30% percent faster than other methods. With electronic re-presentment, NSF checks are electronically re-presented directly to the consumer's bank account. This means Bishop's Orchards has a better chance of recovering the funds.

In addition, Bishop's Orchards can view and retrieve information on all of their returned checks from CheckAGAIN's secure website. "I like to visit the site every day, so I can check on the status of our checks," stated Brockett. "The web site allows me to access reports and look at information in a practical way that helps me compile my end-of-month reconciliation reports. It's a great tool and helps me do my job better."

Summer will be here soon and bad checks will again be creeping back into the picture for Bishop's Orchards. But they are ready. With CheckAGAIN, the popular orchards can be confident that recovering checks will yield fruitful results.

About CheckAGAIN

Established in 1998, CheckAGAIN uses innovative technology to simplify and improve the recovery process on returned checks for merchants. The widely used system helps businesses nationwide increase their recovery on return checks, while lowering associated transaction fees. CheckAGAIN assists consumers by significantly reducing inconveniences normally associated with resolving misunderstandings due to returned checks. For additional information please visit www.checkagain.com or call 800/666-5222.