Unsurprisingly, the number has mysteriously risen to 8.5 million. Eight million, five hundred thousand: that's how many people have had their personal information stolen from a company whom they most likely hadn't authorized to even have that information to begin with.
Some commenters here have suggested that it is the consumer's fault their data was stolen because, after all, they shouldn't be using checks in the first place. I find it difficult to think of a more ridiculous justification. It reminds me of what domestic abusers say - "If she didn't provoke me, I wouldn't have to hit her." Perhaps it's also my own fault if my vehicle is stolen, because, why have a car? Nonsense.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: that other people have committed fraud or had overdrawn accounts is not my problem. The ONLY factors that matter in a check transaction are the correct identity of the check writer, the legitimacy of the physical paper check, and the presence of sufficient funds in the account. This is plainly inarguable. All of these are easily verified by a number of means. And as long as the paper check is legal tender, people have the right to expect a legitimate check to be accepted by a business that still takes them.
Another commenter suggests that this isn't Certegy's fault, really, because they're going after the person who did it and come on, no employee screening is going to be foolproof. I understand that a large corporation can't control every movement of its employees. I get that, I really do. It's just not the point. What angers a lot of people is not that the data was stolen, but that the data was there to be stolen in the first place! Certegy does not need to be keeping decades-old records on millions of people. Even a bankruptcy comes off a credit report after seven years, but Certegy has records on people who haven't written a check in fifteen or more years. They even have credit card numbers, which makes little sense if their job is about checking accounts. What's more - and by their own admission - they frequently don't even use that information to verify checks. Instead they use silly "risk calculations."
Finally, on lawsuits: I say, go for it. Every single person who has had their information compromised deserves to be compensated. I believe that's the case any time there is data theft, but it's especially true in this case as many people never gave consent for Certegy to have any sort of "account" on them to begin with. In a way, there were two data thefts here.
I came home from work two days ago and had a letter from this company called Certegy. (I had never heard of them before) I opened it, assuming it was your ordinary "junk" mail, that is until I saw my personal information on the top of the letter. The letter contained my full name, address, phone number, Social Security Number, & my Bank account numbers. So, I preceeded to read the two page letter. It was a letter sent to me to tell me that an employee of theirs had stolen ALL of my personal info!!! It stated that he had bank account numbers & everything!! It also stated that the employee was fired!! A lot of good that does me ~ he has all my info!!!!The emails are rolling in now. This is how it works: John Doe gets a letter from Certegy telling him that all of his personal information has been stolen. But don't worry, the letter says, we fired the guy. Poor John has never even heard of Certegy. "Why would they even have my information in the first place?" he wonders.
Well, what a surprise. Evidently a Certegy employee stole some 2.3 million customer records and sold them. Oh, but don't you worry - he only sold your credit card and banking information to marketing companies. You'll get some junk mail and that's about it. No need to worry about identity theft. If you're an idiot, that is.
You may create a hypertext link to the Certegy Inc. homepage (www.certegy.com) provided such link does not portray us (or our affiliates or any of our products and services) in a negative, false, misleading, or derogatory manner... Finally, your right to link to our homepage may be revoked at any time by us, for any reason.
A while back I posted about how Certegy was harassing a young girl by repeatedly calling her cellphone. It looks like that situation has been resolved.
Her brother writes, "Well, I finally got a hold of a real Certegy person. After entering a fake information, which included three last names, a very fake phone number, and zip code, I was finally transferred to a friendly woman with a southern accent. I asked if they were aware that they were calling a seven-year old for debt collection. She told us that they were calling my sister's number for a Miss/Mrs. McDaniels; and I told her my sister's name was Regan (it is, she didn't ask for any more information). She asked if I knew the person in question. I said no (that's the truth). She said she would update the number as a false phone number, and we shouldn't recieve any more phone calls from Certegy after today; the system would update itself at midnight.
Hopefully this will be the last time I need to deal with Certegy. I know I haven't been as lucky as others. I was all ready to tell my grandma about the whole thing; she works for the Department of Justice/U.S. Attorney's Office in our state. I'm sure she could've offered some legal advice as to what we could do about them. Anyways, I don't know what I would've done without your site and your help. Thank you so much!"
Taylor writes, "Hello, I have a question regarding Certegy (obviously). My sister is seven years old, and she has a cell phone (she is diabetic, the cell phone is for her safety; but that is a different subject in itself). Lately, she has been getting voicemails from CPRS (which I have discovered is Certegy) about "important business matters." I am wondering if you have any idea why a seven year old - which no checking account, credit cards, etc. - would be getting calls from CPRS? I have asked her repeatedly if she has given out her number to a sweepstakes or anything else that I wouldn't consider secure. Our parents are in no debt (except for our house), and I just don't see how they got a hold of her number. I find it rather irritating that even a child isn't immune to scams."
Wow. I have no idea. My day job is teaching young children - including diabetic children - so you can imagine how appalled I am at this.
Is the phone a prepaid one, like a Tracfone, or a plan? If it's a plan, is the plan in her name? I also wonder if someone who IS in debt may have accidentally (or purposely!) given your sister's number as their own. Could she even be a victim of identify theft? That's the only thing I can think of. In order to be involved with a debt collection agency, one would have to have debt. In order to have debt, you generally need to give out your name, address, phone number, SSN, etc. etc., which I doubt your sister did. I can't believe that just giving out her phone number to anyone would be enough to get Certegy on her case.
Certegy is notorious for queries about "important business matters." Infuriating, isn't it? They are also notorious for mistakes like this.
If it were me, I would call them right up and demand to know exactly what is going on. Or have your parents do it; that's probably better. I would call them using your sister's cell phone so they don't caller-ID your home phone and give you trouble on that line too. I would just say, "I'm returning your call as requested by the voicemail message." After they tell you what's up, you can decide how to respond. My personal response would be something like, "Are you aware that the person to whom you're referring is seven years old?" You could guilt them out even more by telling them why she has the phone in the first place.
God, stories like this make me so angry!
"C" sent me the following testimony to Certegy's fraudulent business practices:
"I have been doing a lot of reading about certegy since Wednesday evening when 2 of my checks were denied at Target and Best Buy. I have been writing checks for over 20 years,have never bounced one, have a credit score in the 800s,and have more than enough money in the bank to cover these checks. None of that matters when dealing with Certegy. I went in and talked to my personal banker on Friday. I wanted to know if I had unlimited check writing. She looked up my account and assured me that I did. I told her about certegy and how they wanted me to fill out an application for gold status so I could write more checks and she was shocked. She has never heard of them. I gave her a copy of my denial ticket to show her boss. I am so angry. I have been firing off emails to Target,the BBB,FTC,etc...What I don't understand is one of their excuses for not taking a check is that it may be stolen so why is it I can hand use my credit card immediately after my check is denied and that is ok? Why can't the sales person just ask for another form of ID with my check? Why can't they use electronic checking or something? Why does applying for their Gold account make me able to write more checks? It can't be a stolen check if its Gold Status? I REALLY like how they can charge a fee in the gold status if your check is denied when THEY are the ones doing the denying. What the hell is going on here? Please tell me that there is something we can do about this!"
You're right about them charging a fee if your check is denied, when they're the ones who deny it to begin with. It's about an obvious a scam as you can get.
"A client has a Certegy “open account” for a returned check. In violation of the 2006 Credit Reporting Manual, they do NOT report the account as collection and they do NOT identify the original creditor."
Read the whole story at: 2006 Credit Suit
It doesn't seem to matter what your credit is, how your check-writing history looks, or even whether there's enough money in your account to cover a check. Certegy goes after everyone!
Emails like this one tell the story much better than I ever could. "J" writes:
"Well Im glad Im not alone in this. I was so embarrased today at Macy's. A store I frequently shop at.
While trying to purchase a designer handbag, certegy "declined" my check. I have written other checks at Macy's, no issues. I checked my bank account from my cell phone, and it was good. The clerk tried again, they still said code 2, decline. The clerks supervisor was so rude to me, and treated me like a criminal or something. I spend about $1000 a month there on purses and makeup, so they know me, or at least thier commission checks do. She did not even offer me another way to pay, she gave me a paper with certegys number and code 2, and told me to call. I was so embarrased I cried all the way home. If she would have asked nicely I would have paid with my debit card or credit card, or cash.
I was even more devastated when certegy gave me the same line about them trying to protect everyone from ID Theft, and Fake checks, and since my check was flagged by thier computer(which we know computers are always perfect, yeah right) they cannot overide anything, and declined it. But the clerk told me it was " in no way a negative reflection on you, or your bank account, we are doing this to protect you". She also added it had no reason whatsoever due to any negative history .She said the check still would not be approved if I had a million dollars in my account.
After telling her they violated my civil rights, and the FCRA and FTC laws, she transferred me to a manager.The manager had to have been brainwashed, telling me one minute they were trying to protect me from fraud and ID theft, the next minute trying to get so much personal information from me to approve me for thier "gold status account", so I would never have an issue with them again. I even thought he was going to need my fingerprints,name of my kindergarten teacher, and DNA sample.I refused to provide this over the phone or in writing, telling him either the money is there or it is not. I will not deal with thier communist way of dealing with how to verify a check is good or not. The manager then told me I was "flagged" from EVER writing a check to any merchant using thier system. I told him this is not lawful, if my check is good, and passed thier algorithim.He said calling them a communist agency was a threat, and I am now flagged.
So they again asked if I wanted to fill out a gold membership to get around this. They basically bullied me to try and scare me into providing needless information to them. I told him I was not living in Nazi germany, and told him Hitler was dead, thier company needed to be also, telling him they will be shut down for this. He then hung up, which I am glad he did.
I filed a complaint to the FTC, and BBB, and verbally called the local manager at Macy's who also had her check decline there, and told me it happens to at least 90% of thier regular customers. She said she would offer me 20% off my next purchase for my embarrassment. I also called Macy's corporate customer care, and they offered me a discount also. I explained I do not want a discount, they need to stop using certegy. They never responded to that.
It is embarrassing to me, a professional who by day tracks down criminals and thiefs to basically be treated like one. ( I am an ID Theft investigator of all things). I never bounced a check in my life, and hold a platinum checking and savings, which means $10,000 are always in my accounts.My credit is good, I recently bought a house. So certegy's reasons are bogus.
I can certainly understand not having a check approved because you have had proir NSF's or you do not have funds in your account according to your bank. However, we do not fit these categorys.I would like to assist you and whoever else is out there with the same problem to help get these people to act within the law. Maybe the problem is we need to change the law to protect us?
sorry for venting, but certegy needs a "reality check"
I couldn't have put it better myself! "Either the money is there or is not." Isn't that, plus the fact that you are the actual owner of the account, the only thing that really matters when writing a check? It damn well should be! Thanks, J.
Pat writes:
"I just got caught in the Certegy trap. This is what I am doing/did.
Contacted the company and was told that they had no information on me BUT if I would fill out thier Gold form I would not have that problem in the future.
Read the form and decided that I certainly wasn't going to hand over my personal information, including SSN to an unknown company.
I'm a member of a senior, world wide organization. I contacted them and gave them the general info with the hopes that they will publicize it on their website. (Now that I found this site, I will pass that informtion on to them).
Sent a complaint into the FTC.
I will be contacting my Congressional Representative; sending emails to everyone I have in my large email address book; contacting local tv stations to see if they might be interested in this problem; contact a lawyer friend to see what else is suggested; more as I think of it.
This needs to be stopped ASAP."
Way to go, Pat! Everyone who gets burned by Certegy should take these actions!
Another reader writes to tell me about his experience with Certegy:
"I have never heard of this company and neither has our bank that we have the account with.\We never had this problem before. U cant even get a live person on line and if u press 2 it just hangs up on you! Theyre not even open weeknd after 1pm central time so u are left just hanging all weekend wondering whose got your identity and who the heck thinks u are bad credit risk -do they have u confused with someone else of same name or what and have they accessed your bank acct. or what.....its very very upsetting and this happened to me on satur at local grocery store Albertsons and I was so so embarrassed I had more than enough money ck was only 69 dollars and i have well over 1000. in there so how the heck could this happen we dont owe anyone and I will never go to that Albertson grocery again why u dont even know if they entered correct info and they dont want to explain a dam thing all weekend u worrry and grandkids were with me they opened chips b4 i paid and course ck was not accepted they wanted cash for opened chips and i didnt have cash on me-total humiliation and embarrassment....We dont owe anyone anything We have good credit ....manager at albertsons grocery response is nonchalant and what happened to customer service they just lost a customer and i will tell everyone about this and still i cant get a live person on the phone from cetergy-my wife and i are just livid-it screwed up entire weekend for us ....i still dont know what happened and why we were blackballed."
Later, he added:
"Well I wrote this a.m. saying we too had been victims of certegy and never could figure out why our check was singled out and blackballed at albertsons grocery and finally got a live person at certegy and they said it fit certain perameters or some such gobbly gook and talked in circles and after it was all said and done they wouldnt tell me the perameter that was causing our check to be blackballed in the first place when theyr'e was plenty of money available in our account. check was only $64.25 can u believe that! Really ridiculous they told me go back in store and theyll now accept check- i said no that was saturday and u were closed and i will never go in albertsons again!! How can they get away with crap like this and what are the certain perameters that kept them from accepting my check and if they dont accept it why cant u reach someone day of check transaction so that it can be resolved they had us scared to write a check rest of weekend at ANY STORE and afraid of IDENTITY FRAUD too and humiliated and they should have to pay for their mistakes I SAY LIST ALL STORES THAT USE THEIR SERVICE and BOYCOTT THOSE STORES AN CONTACT EACH BY MAIL ADVISING WHY U ARE BOYCOTTING THEM!
I see other person had it happen at sears and other person had it happen at bed and bath whom else do these idiots use?"
(To answer that last question: look to the right of this page and click "Companies Using Certegy.")
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for the American dream and getting paid well for an honest day's work. But the CEO of the company that now owns Certegy raked in a whopping $12.8 million in salary and bonuses last year. That's $102 per MINUTE, assuming he never left work early, took a sick day or had a vacation.
Meanwhile, thanks to this guy's "hard work," millions of normal Americans can't even buy groceries at Wal-Mart, even with a check that's covered by ample funds. Funds which probably took at least a week to earn.
And look who our system protects.
If you earned as much as FIS CEO Lee Kennedy, you'd have enough money for a month's worth of groceries after only five minutes of work. After one hour, you could buy a state-of-the-art computer system. After four hours, you could buy a very good vehicle. In one day, a luxury motor home. In one week, a four-bedroom house. In three weeks to a month, you could purchase a small island off the coast of Maine. And I'm not including interest earnings or investments in my figures.
They gave him over $25,000 in "country club dues" alone.
Meanwhile, some 25% of adults over the age of 26 still live with their parents because their salaries aren't enough to cover the cost of an apartment. I once knew a public school teacher who was on welfare.
I'd really like to know exactly what kind of service someone can provide that's worth $102 a minute. Even if I had unlimited funds, I'd never pay anyone that kind of money for any service, simply on principle. I'd rather pay a reasonable rate and give the rest of the money to charity.
And look who our system protects.
These people are obscenely wealthy, and they're getting their riches by screwing over the rest of us. I've got no qualms with someone like Bill Gates, who created a product for which there is a huge demand, or Oprah, who provides services for people with her various media outlets. A person can choose whether to buy Windows or O Magazine. But I've got a BIG problem with people who make their fortunes by making the lives of others more difficult.
Robin writes:
"We have had 2 checks declined in the last 5 days. One at Sears and the other today at Lowe's. Both times we were given CODE 2 as the reason. We have banked at the same Credit Union for over 22 years. NEVER have we had this happen before. I spoke with a woman who told me we have NO 'marks against us', but could not tell me WHY then the check ($54.64) could not be accepted at Lowe's. EMBARRASSING? YOU got it!
The only thing different in our spending/banking recently has been that our checks now have 5 digits. (10256) Could this be a problem with Certegy? I know that along the bottom of the checks were the numbers are...the check number comes up without the 1 on the front. Could that be a problem for Certegy???
OHHHHHHH going to CASH again!!!!! LOL"
Unfortunately for Americans, most major retailers use the trainwreck of a verification system that is Certegy. This list will be updated as my research continues. I'd love to organize a boycott on all of them, but in all honesty that would be pretty difficult for many people.
It's important to understand that the employees of a store don't control whether your check is authorized by Certegy. However, they DO control whether your check is actually accepted. A check can be declined by Certegy and, in some cases, a store may still accept it. (Not often, though.)
Also, many store managers will tell you "it's not our fault, we have no control over it." Not true. A retailer does have the choice whether to use Certegy or not! Too bad so many of them are making the wrong choice...
Wal-Mart
Best Buy
Target
Staples
Home Depot
Bed, Bath & Beyond
Lowe's
Babies 'R Us
Sears
Walgreens
Amazon.com
Piggly Wiggly
Macy's
Petsmart
K-Mart
Land's End
Albertson's/Shaws
TJ Max
Marshall's
Brookstone
Dillard's
Circuit City
Helzberg Diamonds
Sally's Beauty Supply
Aeropostale
Game Stop
Goody's
Radio Shack
NTB
Garden Ridge
Kohl's
Cingular Wireless
Electronics Boutique
Game Crazy
Price Chopper
HEB
Footlocker
Footaction
Famous Footwear
Shoe Carnival
Netflix
BlockBuster
Holiday Gas Stations
7-11
Circle K
The Body Shop
Barnes & Noble
Ross
Raymour & Flanigan
Food Lion
Eckerd's
CVS
According to a Certegy employee, they also service "most casinos."
Certegy uses "Reason Codes" as a way to identify why certain transactions are denied. The codes are indicated on the slip you're given when a check is refused. Figuring out the meaning of these codes is about as easy as milking a bull. Certegy customer service representatives often refuse to explain what these codes mean, or at best give vague and nonsensical answers. However, based on the anecdotes of many people, I'm developing this list of possible explanations for each known code number. It's basically a compilation of the explanations people have gotten for each code.
I will update this list periodically as I get more details.
Reason Code 1: Negative information on file for the writer of the check; or writer of check may have bounced checks in the past; or the writer of the check needs to call Certegy to give them "more information."
Reason Code 2: "Some other reason for denial" (which Certegy usually won't disclose, other than to say that it's not that you have a bad check history). One verified example: the person lacked a previous history of writing checks. Code 2 seems to be the most common one.
Reason Code 3: Appears to mean that the check "seems risky."
Reason Code 8: Unknown. Possibly having something to do with writing more than one check to the same merchant in a short period of time.
I have not identified any other reason codes - yet.
Bet you're pissed. Bet you're ready to scream. I'll bet, if you found this blog, you're having problems with a company called Certegy.
You're not alone.
A quick web search reveals thousands of hits and testimonials from people who have had companies refuse to cash legitimate checks or accept checks for payment, all thanks to Certegy's "services." Dozens of major companies - Wal-Mart, Staples, major grocery chains, nationwide clothing stores, even Amazon.com - use Certegy to "verify" checks and prevent what Certegy calls "fraud."
The problem is, a very large proportion of the denials Certegy puts through are just plain wrong. People have had checks denied because they wrote what Certegy thought was "too many checks," "too much money," or "at too many different places." Understand that none of this has anything to do with whether a check is forged or whether there's enough money in an account to cover it.
And understand that once you're on their list, you don't have much recourse. Even when you call the number they give you, their answers are vague and meaningless, often not making sense at all. When they do admit they're in error, you often still cannot cash or write a check; to do so you must join their "gold" membership by giving them additional information. Essentially, a third-party company claims that you must have its permission to do business with a retailer.
This is not acceptable.
I want this company to own up to the fact that its "algorithms" for determining fraud and check validity are deeply flawed. I want the retailers that use this service to see that they are losing a huge amount of money and many, many customers by employing a service that is essentially fraudulent. I want to get the word out and get the ball rolling.
As you can see, this blog is in its infancy. To really get it started, I need your stories. Send me an email with your "Screwed Over by Certegy" story, and I'll post it here. I won't post your email address or name or anything, unless you tell me to. Just let me know your general geographic location, the store where you had the problem, and (if you called) what the Certegy people told you.
Also, if you've got it, please include the "Reason Code" on the Certegy slip you were given. It's time for us to figure out just what those codes mean. I intend to post a guide to those codes right on the front page of this blog, so confused and angry consumers can begin to decipher their meaning. It's simply not okay for Certegy to refuse such information to people who've been screwed over by their fraudulent activities.
Let's expose these bastards. Please, email me at fightcertegy@gmail.com. (Yes, I know it's not a live link. I'm working on that. Short version: I have a browser incompatible with Blogger's new post editor. Just copy and paste the address.)
