Computers to put heat on cold-check writers in county

After a year in which local merchants lost more than $200,000 to bad checks, Franklin County Attorney Rick Sparks has installed a more streamlined computer system to deal with the problem.

Sparks said from Jan. 31 to Dec. 5, there were 3,602 bad check cases that his office dealt with in Franklin District Court. Those bad checks resulted in $207,045 of losses for businesses in the county, Sparks said.

The Web-based system, a product of Advent Financial Systems, is called the Checkrighter. Sparks hopes and is pretty confident that the system will help merchants get their money back.

On its Web site, Advent touts the CheckRighter as one that increases successful collections by 70% or more.
With that confidence, Sparks warned local residents during the holiday season, don't write a check your hind-end can't cover.

The Advent system works like this: When a bounced check comes to a business, that merchant turns the check over to Sparks. Then, his office enters the check information into the computer.

From the information entered into the computer, a letter is printed and sent to the check writer, who can then go to any Whitaker Bank and deposit the amount on the check, plus a $25 administrative fee and a $25 merchant fee.

The administrative fee pays for the program, Sparks said. Its paid as it goes along, he said.

Sparks also believes the new system gives a bad-check writer an opportunity to pay back the money in anonymity.

If the amount is paid within 14 days, the charge is dropped. If not, the computer prints a criminal complaint that the merchant signs and which is served to the bad-check writer for a date in court.

The old system was all done by hand the information and letters written out before being entered into a computer. Sparks called the system cumbersome and said it relied heavily on the merchants contacting the county attorneys office again to relay if the bad check had been paid.

In addition to nabbing more bad-check writers, Sparks said the consumer-friendly system will cut data entry for each bad check from 20 minutes to five minutes a feature, no doubt, that will save office staff time.

Sparks eyed the system last year at a prosecutors convention. In 2005, cold checks were an even bigger problem when the county attorneys office handled 4,881 bad checks, resulting in $286,778 of loss.
Its something District Judge Guy Hart continues to see and has seen for a long time.

Bad checks are a problem, they remain a problem and I guess will always be a problem, Hart said.

Hart believes the rise of the cost of gas contributed to people writing bad checks, forcing the less affluent to decide between paying for gas or other items. He also said he saw an increase in people driving without insurance when gas reached the $3 per gallon level.

I do believe there is a direct correlation to the rising cost of gas, Hart said, adding though that the lowered prices have helped some. But it doesn't excuse writing bad checks or canceling insurance.

Sparks said with the old way of doing things, he was not able to track how much of business losses due to cold checks actually was recovered. With the new system, he'll be able to track the losses, what is paid before a court date and what's paid after.

But it wasn't just bad checks the county attorneys office saw this year. Sparks said through Dec. 11, there had been 470 felony charges, 2,144 misdemeanors and 9,010 traffic cases that had gone through his office.
It seems like were busier than I ever was as an assistant, said Sparks, who took over as county attorney in August 2005 for retiring Jim Boyd.

After cold checks, Sparks ranks drug transactions as the second-largest number of criminal cases his office pursues, then assaults, harassment and driving under the influence.

In addition to the CheckRighter program, the new system at the county attorneys also office deals with warrants, summons, subpoenas and keeps track of cases. Sparks calls the entire package one that will help us function a lot more efficiently.