When evaluating Alliance’s services, compare your internal costs for the following types of activities:

• Time spent by employees when opening mail
• Sorting payments
• Manual processing of payments (deposit slips, endorsing, etc.)

Additional considerations include the loss of interest earned if there are processing delays and errors made with a manual system. Hardware investments include mail opening equipment, as well as the transports, servers, workstations, etc. associated with an automated in-house remittance processing system.

Anyone who receives payments from customers can benefit from our services. Examples include utilities, charitable organizations, insurance companies, hospitals, newspapers, mortgage companies, schools/educational groups and governmental agencies.

We begin by asking a few general questions about your payment mix (via a brief survey). Sample questions include ‘What is your total number of payments? Of the total number of payments, what percentage include one coupon and one check? What percentage include checks only? What about multiple checks or multiple coupons for one transaction?' Upon review of this information, we will prepare an accurate and competitive price estimate for your review.

We can work with you wherever you are located. The only requirement is to have a local financial institution to make your daily deposit. Alliance has teamed with several banks in the area to meet this requirement. We can also help with your account setup.

In most cases, Alliance can be ready to process your payments within two weeks. This depends on the status of your existing documents and the timing of your internal transition.

Our image-based processing offers superior advantages over conventional methods. Because we capture each item as an ‘image’ (or picture), we can process your work faster. This means that we can control our costs and give you a competitive edge. Image processing also allows you to research transactions online, receive transactions monthly on a CD for long-term archive and recreate a transaction with a click of a mouse.

For financial institutions, our services can be private-labeled or we can work out a teaming agreement. In each case Alliance will work with you to provide a superior service to your business customers.

Alliance does support the pulling of items that you do not want processed for whatever reason. All we need is an updated file with the accounts number(s) you want excluded. Once these items are pulled from your work, they will be handled according to your instructions.

Correspondence is removed during the mail opening process. These items are returned to you and processed according to your internal procedures.

Unlike microfilm research that takes days, our turnaround time is measured in seconds. You will be given a username and password to access our secure on-line research website. You enter the search criteria and within seconds the transaction is displayed. You can view the image of the coupon or the check and print a transaction report.

Our technical staff is available to assist you in the design of the remittance coupons.

Whether you use monthly statements or coupon books, the main component for proper and efficient processing is the scanline.

A scanline is a line of data located on the remittance coupon. Our software automatically reads this line and captures the information electronically. This line is typically in an OCR Alpha font and includes information about the account. The account number, balance due, due date and late payment amount are normally included within this area.

We can still process transactions without a scanline. Processing involves more manual steps and, in turn, is priced accordingly. However, please note that scanlines are normally very easy to incorporate into your billing remittance. We would first review your documents and make recommendations based on the best route to take.

If you have additional questions, please contact us directly.