With Wachovia, I have never been clear what would happen to an on-line bill pay check if the recipient did not cash it. This mainly had to do with the paper checks that are sent to people or small businesses rather than corporations… corporate bill pays tend to be electronic.

At Wachovia, my account would be deducted right away, and I had no way of knowing if the person had received or deposited the check. I didn’t like that.

At HSBCdirect.com, the “laser checks” act more like a real check. It only comes out of my account when the recipient deposits the check, and I see an image of their endorsement on the back. So I like HSBC’s on-line bill pay better than Wachovia’s.

Of course, none of this is good news for my company.

Letter attached.

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Thank you for contacting HSBC Bank USA, N.A., the world’s local bank.

There are two types of checks which may be issued through the Bill Pay

service, a corporate check and a laser draft check. Corporate checks

are cashed against HSBC’s Bill Payment Account, rather than your

personal checking account. As such, funds are debited from your account

the business day after the payment has been sent. Laser draft checks,

similar to personal checks, are cashed against your account. This

payment is therefore debited only when the payee receives and cashes the

check.

If you wish to stop payment on a corporate check, it will be necessary

to contact HSBC directly. This will allow us to process both the stop

payment as well as the reversal of funds which have already been debited

from your account. Please note that corporate checks which are issued

through the Bill Pay service will automatically expire if they are

outstanding for a period of three months. Once this time period has

elapsed, the check will automatically become invalid and your account

will be refunded for the payment amount within 5 to 7 business days.

If you wish to stop payment on a laser draft check, it will also be

necessary to contact HSBC to process this request. If, however, the

payee indicates that they have destroyed the check and you can be

assured that the check will not be cashed, it is not necessary to

contact us. As no funds are debited from your account unless the laser

draft check is presented for payment, no refund is necessary in this

instance.