Check Printing Negotiations – FirmServ

Firm Serv

Achieving exceptional results by way of experience, knowledge, and competence

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Financial and contractual results delivered by Firm Serv exceed what a financial institution can achieve when working directly with the check vendor or another consulting company.

Firm Serv Key Competitive Differentiators

● 41 years in the check printing industry provides us the expertise and knowledge.

● We know the 6 distinctly different profit centers and how to independently negotiate each one.

● We do not deliver a target number to the check vendor.

● We take the time to review invoices and the 11 unique components of the check program.

● The check vendors cannot be compared on an apples-to-apples basis – We know how to compare the apples and oranges.

● Outsourcing the work to Firm Serv will reduce your time commitment by 95%+.

● We fix problems with integrations, branch performance, channel usage, etc. – improving the customer experience.

Challenges that Firm Serv Solves

1. CHALLENGE – Check printing vendors need to be managed like other vendors and understanding, managing, and maintaining Key Performance Indicators is the key to success.

SOLUTION – Firm Serv uses proprietary models to identify fair market pricing based on our knowledge of the industry and pricing strategies utilized by the check companies. By understanding the 6 profit centers and the pricing strategies, Firm Serv has reduced check program costs by as much as 64%.

2. CHALLENGE – The check vendor approaches the FI with a new offer mid-contract term, based on an announced program change that would have an adverse impact to the FI. Unless the FI accepts the new offer and terms there will be an adverse effect to the FI and accountholders.

SOLUTION – Bringing in Firm Serv will allow you to identify if the deal offered to you is the best one based on your size and order history. For check companies, negotiating with a check program consultant is a distinctively different engagement compared to negotiating directly with a financial institution. Knowledge is power and Firm Serv has the knowledge and expertise to effectively negotiate the best overall check program for your financial institution and for your account holders.

3. CHALLENGE – The complexity and time requirement in auditing the check program, reconciling invoices, means most programs go unaudited for the term of the contract.

SOLUTION – Firm Serv has established fair market pricing models. We have identified 100% of the products and services check companies bill for, including a substantial list of “miscellaneous charges”. We ingest this data and deliver it back to you in the form of a program analysis and comparison tool. This allows us to understand the current state and the needed actions to take on your check program.

4. CHALLENGE – Check program reporting is extremely detailed and can be confusing, causing issues with the reconciliation of income and expenses.

SOLUTION – Through our over 60 years of experience, Firm Serv knows how to translate check company reporting into customer friendly executive summaries which allows us to scrutinize the 6 profit centers of your program.

5. CHALLENGE – The time and bandwidth to effectively manage a formal check program review can take several months and hundreds of hours. Negotiations can often extend beyond 6 months.

SOLUTION – Firm Serv manages the entire formal review by way of proprietary analysis process. FI’s typically spend less than 2 hours on their check contract renewal with Firm Serv.