5 Things To Avoid in a Payment Emergency

The last several years have seen the unexpected disruption or collapse of important payment and payroll services due to security breaches, product discontinuations, and temporary suspensions. Each of these occurrences forced the thousands of clients who were dependent upon these services to scramble for temporary, emergency fixes to keep payments issued and payroll going. If you find yourself in sudden need for a quick payment solution, you won’t have a lot of time to invest in researching products and services; you’ll need something fast to adopt and easy to learn.

Online check printing and mailing is a good alternative that can help bridge the gap until a disruption is resolved. But not all services are equal, and some may not have the features needed immediately. Consider five things to avoid when selecting a temporary check-printing fix in an emergency situation.

Avoid a check-printing service that:

1. Limits the number of checks you can print

Some services that offer free or low-cost check-printing may have a limit—a very low one—for the number of checks you can print before incurring higher fees. When you are in an urgent situation, you may not have the time or foresight to assess exactly how many checks you’ll need or for how long. Checkeeper does not place minimums or limits on the number of checks you can print, either during the free trial or afterward. Print only the checks you need, only for as long as needed, and never worry about hidden fees, overage charges, convenience fees, or pricing tiers based on heavy usage. One subscription unlocks unlimited check printing all month to use for bills, debt payments, and employee paychecks.

2. Moves your money out of your bank account

Most small business owners want to stay in control of their funds and maintain oversight into financial moves in between accounts. It is advisable to stay wary of services that want to handle your money or move it into their own holding account in order to enable check-printing services. Checkeeper does not touch users’ money; Checkeeper offers versatile check templates for creating, printing, and mailing checks, with bank account and routing numbers printed exactly as they are input.

3. Doesn't work with your payroll and accounting software

Make the most of your accounting and payroll software by adding a custom check option. Checkeeper integrates with many widely-preferred accounting, payment, and payroll software services, including QuickBooks Online, Gusto, Square, FreshBooks, and more, and it can seamlessly add check data to those applications for more updated records and reduced data entry. Check services that are not compatible with software you are using may add extra work to your bookkeeping process and leave room for data entry errors and transaction omissions.

4. Doesn't offer mailing services

Online check printing adds a convenience and portability to the payment process for busy and traveling professionals. Using a service that offers complete check mailing options is important, as well, as users never know when they may not have the time or supplies needed to issue an immediate check payment. Checkeeper offers complete check printing and mailing outsourcing so that users can order checks printed and mailed for them from anywhere, with no supplies, check stock, or printer access needed, and all data is automatically recorded and stored for later review and verification. Checkeeper offers four priority delivery methods so that users can select the one that best suits their timing and tracking preferences, and orders placed before 4pm EST can be in the mail by the end of the standard business day.

5. Makes you pay upfront or commit all year

Instead of committing to a software purchase that may or may not meet your payment needs, look for check services that let you try them out before deciding. Remember that some services that may offer “free checks” may have limits on usage or features. Checkeeper offers a free 14-day trial that unlocks all the features of online check printing, and there are no limits on the number of checks you print during or after your trial. Use the free trial to sample Checkeeper’s many bonus features and to train on more sophisticated options. A simple monthly subscription follows that can be canceled anytime.

Checkeeper has been consistently recommended as the go-to replacement in many types of payment emergencies. Checkeeper offers what business owners need when they need to adopt something quickly.