GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After serving as pilots for Processing Alliance's CU*Check 21 electronic deposit automation solution, three Michigan CUs–Frankenmuth Credit Union, Kent County Credit Union and Alpena Community Credit Union–are now scanning, transmitting and retrieving live check images online.

The three CUs will soon begin the forward exchange of image cash letters. Forward exchange of cash letters can result in faster clearing times, earlier credit, reduced check fraud exposure timeframes, and lower costs. CU*Check 21 also features a battery of fraud detection and prevention features including routing and transit number verification and MICR detection.

CU*Check 21 captures images of items at the credit union's back counter and transmits them to Processing Alliance. By translating the MICR information on the item, an exchange unit determines the financial institution upon which the item is drawn, and the least costly route to present the item for collection. Routing may be done through the Federal Reserve Bank, a national exchange network such as Endpoint Exchange or SVPCo, or directly with the financial institution upon which the check is drawn. By instituting this type of routing, Prime Alliance is able to keep processing costs down and passes those savings along to its clients.