FISGlobal.com / Certegy
reviews and complaints

On November 7 I lost my debit card and wrote a check at Wawa convenience store for 39.11 the check bounced because someone found the card and charged purchases to my account. Less than a week later the check was redeposited and cleared. Then on the 24th of November Certegy deposited an electronic check for 50.00 as their fee. I was told Wawas policy was if the check bounced and they were unable to collect I would be charged the fee but Wawa says the check cleared and no fee was charged. Certegy says they "bought" the check from Wawa and that's why the fee was charged. I'm writing this as a warning to others this company has cost me over 130.00 in fees for a check that was paid. They refuse to list the merchants they represent so you might want to ask first and yes I did have my bank fax documentation to them but a supervisor whose English was not that good actually laughed and said "well Virginia allows us to charge that much. Big Brother is here

I will never shop in any store that uses askcertegy check verification. I called askcertegy about a declined check. They were very up front in indicating that I have no prior history for bad checks, and they had no reason for declining my check. They said it was a random decline to protect me and the companies they service. I talked to a supervisor and the supervisor's supervisor. Still no reason, just "we are sorry" and it was "a random decline to protect..." I will never shop in any store that uses askcertegy check verification.

i purchase a money order from walmart today 11/11/11. I then went to cash this money order to be told i can not cash this money order because certegy check services has declined it. Numerous times i have tried to cash my pay checks and money orders and at times it goes through and most the time it dont but when i call to see why they are doing this they say we dont know and there is nothing we can do about this to help you resolve your issue. how can you decline a money order that was just purchased? how can you tell me that you dont have to give me a explaination of why you are declining my checks or money orders to be cashed? i have purchased this money order to pay for my rent and i know can not cash it or do anything with it because walmart asked me to sign the back of it and put my drivers license number on the back to cash it and certegy check cashing declined the money order that we know is good because it was just purchased. please help me to resolve this issue i find it to be a sham and a big inconveinance i can not pay my rent without this money order being cashed what type of company are you if you can not help your customers to resolve the issue and refuse to do anything to make things right?

I was declined cashing a small payroll check for $298.30. When I was declined at Wal-Mart, and I called Certegy the reason was "patterns in the check are suspicious, this is a risk factor, therefore they denied". What the heck is this about. I feel like the Nazi's are back and they are picking and choosing on who meets there criteria. When I called and complained I might as well been speaking to a robot. I am the Administrator of the company, therefore I know the check is valid, I know what our balance is which is close to 500k, I obviously am quite aware the check is valid. I have NO outstanding or negativity. Due to inputting my social security number, I suspect they are ONLY approving extremely high rated credit worthy clients. However, they will NOT admit this due to me NOT giving them permission to run a credit report. However, this is a bunch of mumble jumble and why our government is NOT involved, is not fair. Why Wal-Mart even uses a company like this is unfortunate, because I won't be shopping at Wal-Mart again!

Went to Walmart twice to try and cash my payroll check because I sometimes work late. Twice my check was declined. After the first time I called certegy and was told it was a precautionary measure because I had never cashed a check through them before and that I.shouldn't have a problem next time. ###! CERTEGY IS A ### COMPANY that plays God with people's finances. Don't believe a word your told, they SUCK A BAG OF DICKS!

After doing business with Walmart for the last 10 years at this location, my payroll check was declined by Certegy. The ladies know me and where I work and harass me with the same questions for the last 6months with all the new requirements for payroll cashing..They have become unfriendly and act like you owe then for bringing you business with them... Well this week I didn't get to spend 50.00 of my check because of this Certegy crap! I have no checking account so I will have no way to cash this check even though I have been bringing my payroll checks there for years. It is a nationwide company and the lady hands me this little receipt that came out of the register and says well my its insufficient funds! I call the number on the receipt and the only thing they can tell me it to cash it with the bank the company uses what a smart **** she was.. Ok the closest PNC Bank is 50 miles away in PA, Ok so now I ask myself do I take control of the situation and sue, or let them all keep my and my family from the money to buy food, gas to go to work this week, cloths, and personal needs? Well Walmart has lost our whole household, of 8 members. Thats a good 1000.00 a month. Does Walmart realize Certegy just cost them this loss? I am off to find a way to cash this check, on a Sat so I may be walking to work, I needed gas... That's the Walmart way...

DO NOT do business with any merchant who uses Certegy Check Services. Let me explain. I have had two checks denied at Petsmart three weeks ago and at Gamestop yesterday. Neither retail outlet could give me a reason other than to tell me they use Certegy Check Services. I contacted Certegy this morning and was told that there is nothing wrong with my financial history and that their system randomly declines certain check based on the risk management parameters they have set up. This answer was not good enough for me and I insisted on a more SPECIFIC reason for declining the check. A supervisor at Certegy told me to contact Early Warning Services because they provided info that led to my check being declined. Early Warning Services told me that I had a stop payment I had placed last month had be erroneously coded by my bank as a returned check and that I would have to provide a letter from my bank with complete account number, etc., or else I would have problems cashing checks for the next 6 months. I explained I had a copy of my Stop Payment Confirmation from the bank but they said that was not good enough. I needed a letter and it needed to be faxed (per Becky who would not give last name). I called my bank and they said there were NO returned items on my account, only the one stop payment, and that no error had been made on their part. They offered to write me a letter to that effect but said they would not fax it to Early Warning Services as they had never heard of the company before and didn't feel comfortable doing so. I have subsequently researched the internet and found out that Certegy is causing lots of problems for lots of consumers! Before writing a check, ask if they use Certegy. If so, take your business elsewhere. This is what I am doing. I am also in the process of filing a complaint with the Attorney General of Texas. Please help out by being proactive and stopping these financial companies (many of who we bailed out) from taking advantage of the consumer. Ask which check processing service a merchant uses before writing a check. If it's Certegy, take your business elsewhere. Let's send a message to these companies reminding them that WE are the consumers and it is OUR purchasing power that drives the economy, not their ability to establish ridiculous anti-consumer guidelines.

I just opened a new account with AT& T online. I did not like the refurnish phone, and decided to go to an AT&T store to exchange for a new one. Everything went well until I wrote a check $ 108.25, and my check was declined. It was the most terrible moment in my life when I was told that the check declined in front of many people. I wrote another check with different bank account, and it was declined also. I called my banks, and learned that my accounts were Ok. There were no any problems with my checking accounts. The only problem is Certegy Checking Services.
The receipts showed that I should call Certegy at [protected]. Certegy asked me a lot of privacy information and account number, and said that they could not override my check. Embarrassed and worried, I went home, and researched about Certegy Check Services. It is the one “provides authentication and risk management services to merchants and businesses nationwide.”
I finally learn Certegy has had a lot of complaints about providing inaccurate information on consumers’ checking accounts.

The inaccurate information Certegy Check Services provides for AT & T store today has caused me a lot of damages. I have to cancel all of my credit cards and closed all of my bank accounts because Certegy told me that all of my checking accounts are locked. They asked a lot of sensitive information about my checking account in order to clear my checks. However, Certegy did not do anything to solve the false information they created.

I write this letter hoping that you will aware of the situation Certegy Checking Services may create in future. Please inform to your employees so they will be aware of the declined checks.
Bad experiences when using checks in your store, Certegy might be the barriers to prevent customers coming back to your business. Please take some time to think about this.

I will send this letter to the store maneger, and will file a formal complain with the Federal Trade Comminsion.

i just tried to write a check in martins food store and it was denied by certegy check cashing.i wrote checks in there before martins took over and brought certagy check cashing with them, now martins will not take a check from me due to not writing enough checks. and this isnt the first time with certegy check cashing i went to write a check at wawa for 20 in gas and i was denied there also.certegy check cashing is a joke, i wont every shop at martins again because i was so embarassed.and with them having certegy there going to loose business they did mine and i use to spend in there at least 300 a week or more

My event happened in 2005 with these idiots. I went to Wal Mart to cash my paycheck, and it was declined! I was given the number for those stupid myopic ###s that work at Certegy in FL. All the cashier would tell me was that my "file" had expired and I would have to contact my payroll dept. I contacted Certegy, and no help. I then contacted my payroll dept, and the said they never heard of such a thing! This was brand new to me., Apparently Wal-Mart had never heard that excuse there either! I had been cashing my paychecks at Wal mart for over a year when this happened, so I had to go to a payday check cashing store. Instead of paying Wal-Mart a 3 dollar fee to cash it, I had to pay 17 dollars at the check cashing store. Then, and heres the good part...I was contacted by Certegy thru the mail that a Senior Analyst with Certegy had stolen bank account numbers, and routing numbers off of the lists of people that had paid their past bounced checks, and that many people were the victims of this analyst's "id theft". What they would "offer" me however, since I was one of these so called victims was 3 years of credt monitoring for free! What a bunh of crap! I dont know what ever happened to this person, but I only hope that I never have to deal with these idiots at Certegy again!

Been cashing my payroll check at walmart for quite some time,,, until tonight, 02/16/2011, went to the customer service for help in cashing payroll check and was declined because certegy was supposed to say some thing like "check amount too large" I have been taking 2200.00 and 2500.00 checks and getting them cashed at wal-mart previously with niot one problem. I think certegy is the rats belly in so much as reputable

Was told by Wal-Mart that they could not cash my payroll check because certegy check systems said that my SSN didn't match my Name. When I called certegy OF COURSE nobody was there only a computer generated voice. My name has been the same for the past ten years. My advice to any one who uses certergy check systems is to quit paying them for false information. went to another Competer of Wal-mart and they cashed my check with no problem. Word to the wise, watch cashing anything at Wal-mart!

CERTEGY WILL NOT CASH MY PAY CHECK AND WILL NOT GIVE ME A REASON. I HAVE CASHED CHECKS AT WALMART FOR ABOUT FIVE MONTHS NOW, BUT ABRUPTLY THEY ARE REFUSING TO CASH MY CHECKS.
THIS IS VERY HARD ON ME. BECAUSE I AM AN AIRCRAFT CONTRACTOR WORKING AROUND THE COUNTRY. AFTER WORKING A FOURTEEN HOUR DAY, I WAS KICKED OUT OF MY HOTEL AND MY EMPLOYER HAD TO RESCUE ME THE NEXT DAY BY WESTERN UNION. IT WAS A 9 DEGREE DAY.
I WLL CONSIDER A LAW SUIT. [protected]

I submitted a personal check for purchases at WalMart and it was denied. I was, first, surprised and then angry. There was no way the check was not good. After speaking with an echeck agent over the phone, I got even madder. There was no negative on my driver's license, so it must be my husband's. Could she speak to him...! Right! I am shopping at Walmart in the afternoon and he is working. After some heated discussion, I call and get my husband's driver's license. I, of course, then have to call back. All the while, the line at the service desk is growing longer and longer...it is Friday...and I have one of the cash registers tied up. I give them my husband's drivers license number. After putting me on hold for a while, the lady comes back and tells me that there is no problem with my check. There was an internal problem...some mistake they had made! It has been fixed and my check should go through. I told her to hold on while it was run through. Of course, it did not go through. She, then, said it would take 72 hours for it to go through their system. So, I needed to use another method of payment. I asked her if I was supposed to stanfd there with my buggy of groceries for 72 hours. I was SO mad. I had lost my billfold with my credit cards. I had no other means of payment. I said that surely there was a way to override the system, but she said there wasn'[t. I then asked to speak to her supervisor. I was put on hold and waited for a long time. I finally hang up. Ask the clerk to hold my groceried while I go to my bank and get cash. Totally ridulous...and very little recourse.

My wife wrote a check for $147.18 on the evening of 11-29-2010 at one of the local Hobby Lobby stores - it was declined and the only "explanation" given was a small slip of paper that provided the number to "Certegy" (a check authorizing company that Hobby Lobby has a contract with to process their transactions). Overwhelmingly embarrassed, and almost in tears, she called me to ask if anything was wrong with the checking account she wrote the check on (i.e., did we get notified of any “identity theft” activity). I said “No, not that I am aware of.” and I told her I would check into the issue when she got home.

I called “Certegy” at 8:28pm that evening and started going through their automated system. Within 10 minutes, I was able to talk to a representative (although you could tell she was in-training, reading from script and being coached by another representative). After going through all the necessary steps to track down “the transaction, ” I was told that there was no “problems” with my check other than the fact that their system just happened to pick my check out to decline.

First off, this is totally absurd as a business practice and Hobby Lobby needs to investigate how many times this “practice” has happened because it is costing them (Hobby Lobby) sales and money. Secondly, as a company in this line of business, “Certegy” would be better off giving me any other reason of why the check was declined (low check number, too many checks written within a short amount of time, personal data not matching up with records, etc.) other than their system just happened to pick my check and that they are very sorry for the “inconvenience”.

I was then asked if I wanted to sign up for a “Certegy Gold Card” and when I pressed the representative for what it would do for me, she could not give me what I would consider an acceptable answer. I asked if I had the card and presented it along with my check if I would not have what happened to my wife happen to me. She said no, that’s not how it worked, but could not tell me exactly what having a “Certegy Gold Card” does for me. My bank provides me with “identify theft” protection, check clearance notifications, low balance, etc. As far as I can see from my wife’s experience, “Certegy” might provide “some protection” to Hobby Lobby on occasions, but the real question that Hobby Lobby and other merchants who do contract with them is “What does “Certegy” cost me in lost sales?”

[protected] PRESENTED MY CHECK FOR A PURCHASE OF LESS THAN
$50.00. CHECK WAS DECLINED BY STAPLES BASED ON CERTEGY'S
RESPONSE. STAPLES GAVE ME A CARD WITH CONTACT INFORMATION
FOR CERTEGY. I EMAILED MY QUIRY WHY MY CHECK WAS DECLINED,
NEVER, NEVER NEVER, RECEIVED A RESPONSE. MY CHECKING ACCOUNT
HAD SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS IN IT. I AM PRESENTING THE STAPLES
MANAGER WITH ALL THE NEGATIVE INFORMATION ABOUT CERTEGY
THAT IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET.

I attempted to write a check for a payment on a layaway and the check was denied. When I called Certegy I was told that they had decided my check didnt meet their criteria and they determined it might be fraudulent because my husband also has check writing privileges on our joint account. When I called them on that, he told me that he tried to call my bank, which is a lie because they were open to verify funds and couldnt, so they determined I was a risk. The entire situation is unethical and deplorable. I dont write checks ever but this was for a lay away payment and I wanted to be able to track the payments for my own purposes. The fact is, the ###s informed me that they have the right to unethically profile me and decide whether or not I am trustworthy enough to write a check based on criteria they would not share with me. When I requested the exact reason, he told me it was not my business why and that if he told me I might undertake fraudlent activity! This isnt over. I am goimg to the dept of financial affairs in my state, the governors office and the CEO of this horrendous company to get satisfaction. A class action suite needs to be undertaken against these people - or maybe a 20/20 expose exposing the for who and what they really are!

I am a disabled single mom and I went into Walmart to cash my child support money orders to pick up some things that child needed. I had more than one to cash but it only totaled $349. They would only cash one for $100.

When I first had my ex change over to the Money Grams at Walmart from Western Union, I had no problem cashing how ever many I had and at no charge to me. Then they put a $1 fee per money order on getting them cashed but I could still get them all cashed. Now they will only let you cash one per week and I guess Certegy gets to pick out which one and the amount they will cash. ITS MY MONEY AND I SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET ALL OF IT WHEN I NEED IT!

Money Orders are now considered checks even though you have to pay out the money upfront to buy one + a fee, now you cant cash them and there is a fee now to cash them when you can. And the people who work at Certegy DO NOT CARE!

I have a child to take care of and Certegy and Western Union are legalized crooks. Western Union wont even cash their own money orders anymore.