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How It Works

How It Works

Seamless transaction flow

Visa's POS Check Service is another way for merchants and consumers to easily do business, giving the merchant added confidence in accepting checks while providing the consumer with a seamless purchase flow.

The steps to a transaction

Consumer - presents check, signs sales draft, gets check back. Sales Clerk - swipes check through MICR reader, voids check, hands check and copy of sales draft back to consumer. Merchant - formats transaction, sends transaction to merchant bank/processor. Merchant Bank/Processor - formats transaction into an authorization message and forwards to VisaNet. VisaNet - edits/validates transaction, forwards participating transactions to drawee bank, forwards non-participating transactions to a third party. consumer's Bank - performs standard authorization processing. Third Party - performs standard authorization processing.

  • Swipe your customer’s check through a MICR reading terminal which captures the routing and account information.
  • Enter the purchase amount and optional customer ID data.
  • The transaction is electronically sent through your existing processor connection to either the customer’s direct deposit account or to a third-party authorizer for approval.
  • An authorization response is sent back to your terminal. If the transaction is approved, the paper check is voided, the customer signs a sales draft, and their check is returned.
  • The electronic check then becomes part of the daily terminal batch that settles with your Acquirer/processor for deposit into your bank account for easy reconciliation.

Get started now

For more information on how you can begin participating in the POS Check Service program contact your Acquirer/processor or email us at poscheck@visa.com.