COLUMBIA, S.C. -- By the end of this month, the volume of imaged checks will surpass the volume of paper checks processed by the South Carolina Credit Union League's Palmetto Cooperative Services.

In March, the organization received approximately 700,000 checks that had been scanned at 130 member branch locations. That marked an increase of more than 200,000 items over February's numbers.

"We had a lot of credit unions that were testing and in various stages of implementation, but over the past few months it's really taken off," said Ed Culpepper, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the league.

Culpepper predicted that by the end of 2008, the transport of paper checks will be a thing of the past for financial institutions.

"Sure, people will still be writing paper checks, but as far as once it's reached the clearinghouse, checks will be moved by image instead of paper," Culpepper said.