Company: CheckAlt
Website: www.checkalt.com
Year Founded: 2010
Founders: Shai Stern, George Karfunkel
Investors: Self-funded
Employees: 10
By Shai Stern, CEO
There are more than 40 million households using electronic payment today. Time is money and people want business done quickly and efficiently. Now more than ever, companies are adopting 
high-tech methods when dealing with their corporate needs. CheckAlt is at the forefront of this technological revolution. They are helping businesses run more smoothly and cost effectively.
An alternative electronic processing solution, CheckAlt provides merchants with a fast, affordable, and reliable means to receive payments online. Not only are businesses improving their bottom line with the service, but they are also doing their part to help the environment.
Paper checks are outdated; they are a strain on our natural resources, not to mention an inconvenience in today’s fast-paced business environment. Receiving payments from a consumer can sometimes seem like a losing battle. Whether the check is “in the mail” or payment simply slips the mind, CheckAlt is the solution that benefits both the merchant and consumer. Merchants can debit a client’s account directly, making “just in time” payments easy and late fees a thing of the past. A paper check can take up to ten days to clear, whereas CheckAlt’s e-checks or ACH are posted in only 48 hours. Companies using CheckAlt are mitigating risks and improving customer loyalty, making business transactions a breeze.
Merchants no longer need carry the burden of credit card or wire transfer fees, plus the worry of lost checks can be eliminated.
Furthermore, CheckAlt provides a streamlined means for businesses to send and receive invoices by reducing accounting errors and freeing up valuable time. The CheckAlt website is easy to set up and even easier to use. Merchants simply apply for an account online and are quickly able to begin sending and receiving invoices and payment with a few clicks of the mouse. An automated, concise and detailed email is sent to the consumer providing them with the option to pay. The merchant is then immediately notified when payment is received and posted.
Normally, merchants would have to spend a great deal of time manually balancing invoices—CheckAlt alleviates that weight. The system does the work, so merchants don’t have to.
The idea for CheckAlt came about when discussing with a friend of mine, (George Karfunkel, now co-chairman) the immense hassle provided by invoicing business clients and processing payments. The amount of paper used with paper checks and mailing materials, compounded with the time lost while mailing and waiting to receive payments, seemed like a huge setback to businesses. I wanted to create a solution that would allow companies to free up time spent on tedious tasks and leave them with ample time to handle more important corporate matters. I was already using Quicken to create my company invoices, now I just needed something that would accelerate payment time. In that moment, CheckAlt was born. From there, it simply snowballed into a complete payment solution.
Though the company is relatively young, founded only in 2010, we have already achieved the capability to process hundreds of thousands of transactions. As a result of CheckAlt, companies are becoming more modernized and increasing their bottom lines. Not only are companies providing a great service to their business by using CheckAlt by reducing fees, CheckAlt is also an extremely convenient solution for consumers or vendors needing to pay quickly. Consumers can create a CheckAlt account completely free, with no monthly payments and no hidden fees.
Payments are available to be made at any time and from anywhere. I believe it is something both merchants and their consumers can agree is extremely helpful.
Obviously, with any high-tech service innovation must be a constant. Each day we are evolving new concepts to further simplify business payments in a way that is secure, fast, and affordable.
A sister company, CheckAlt is in alliance with Skyline’s DirectFED, a service that allows businesses to scan paper checks and transfer payments directly from one account to another.
DirectFED incorporates a successful remote deposit capture system that has been successfully guiding payments since 2004. Now in conjunction with CheckAlt, the two companies are affording businesses the luxury of handling corporate transactions without leaving the office.
Once again, payments are cleared in less than two days, and time is no longer wasted.
Similar to my other company, Vintage Filings, CheckAlt has no formal business plan. Though the company is small, the efforts are large. The CheckAlt team seamlessly works in union to show the value of CheckAlt to business owners. It is nothing fancy—just passionate people hustling a service we believe in. In future years, I hope to see CheckAlt implemented into every merchant’s office. The product really sells itself; it is just a matter of bringing merchants’ attention to its benefits. Since the company is so young, we are constantly updating and emerging with new concepts and means to save businesses more money and further simplify their office.
Recently, we launched the most updated version of CheckAlt which improves reporting, invoicing, allows one-time payments, and even faster processing.
I believe in services that think with the whole world in mind. CheckAlt thinks about the business, the client, and the environment. Money does not have to grow on trees and businesses no longer need to succumb to outdated banking methods. I am confident that CheckAlt will reduce financial woes and redefine corporate banking. Every merchant should be a CheckAlt merchant.
CheckAlt – www.checkalt.com
