Our organization is introducing to our customer base a checking product called "Check Safekeeping and Imaging". This will eliminate the need to return checks to customers.

A couple of highlights to the product is:
One benefit to Bank(s): we will experience a lower cost factor as we'll be able to print up to 24 checks per 8 x 11 sheet of paper.
One benefit to Customer: they will be able to immediately get copies of checks, deposits, etc upon request.

We currently are considering this as a no charge product.

My question goes to future pricing strategies. What if in 12-months we want to charge a fee for this? Should we be now advertising it as free for at least the first 12-months?

Is there anything in the regulation(s) that states we have to say there may possibly be a fee at a later date? I am REALLY leary of saying that not knowing if there will be or not.

I feel that since we don't know if there will be charge in the future nothing should be said about it now. If at some point in the future we decide to charge a fee we give the customer the 30-calendar day notice as required.

Thoughts or comments? Thank you for any feedback you may offer.

It's all about aligning expectations with reality. The reality is that there is currently no charge and you have no plans to impose one in the foreseeable future.

Legally, as long as you don't enter into a binding contract that requires you to offer it free forever (which, obviously, you aren't going to do), you can impose a fee later if your contract permits it and, on consumer accounts, you give the appropriate change in terms notice.

In terms of customer psychology, and whether promoting it as "free for a limited time" would be a turn-off, I'll have to defer to the expertise of the marketing gurus.

I don't think you have to disclose a possible future fee now - you'll just have to disclose it 30 days before it becomes effective some time in the future.

I think you'll find, however, that you'll want to start charging those customers who want things done the old way! We began imaging a couple of years ago, and recently started charging customers who still insisted on getting their physical checks back. Imaging is so much more cost efficient, effective for research, etc.

Imaged statements/items are typical in today's environment. (But I have to say, 24 per page is extremely small and difficult to read.)

You can't predict the future so I would not advertise it as "free for now" unless that change is planned. Unless this is a free trial, there is no disclosure requirement. It is more difficult to implement a charge later. Look at ATMs.

I assume this will apply to all your products and that you are making it optional? When we did this, it was all or nothing for certain products and there was little resistance done that way.

Then you could choose the pricing based on product if you wanted, or simply require all products to have this. That way, it is incorporated into the account pricing whether accounts with it are reduced or accounts without it are increased.

I agree with Andy, 24 checks per page is too many. We normally offer 12 per page (fronts only), unless the customer requests more or less per page (yes, some want more checks on a page). Your savings in postage & in the sorting/stuffing of statements may/will offset most of your costs. BTW all of our accounts are imaged only. No physical items are returned.

We started imaging a couple of years ago, and it has been wonderful. I think the only mistake we made was giving the customer a choice of whether to have their checks imaged. As of now, we don't charge for either way. If you wanted to advertise your imaging as free and later decide you need to charge for it, you could always simply increase the fees on your checking accounts (with 30 days notice of course).

Our standard is also 12 items per page. I think any more would be way to small for the average adult (over 40 anyway) to read.

Let me jump on this bandwagon--24 per page is way too many. The checks will be too small to be of any use. 12 per page seemed to be a good fit for most customers. We have been imaging statements for a number of years and even though we had some resistance (mostly from the employees who felt that the customers would leave us) it has worked out well. Eventually the other banks in our community followed and here are some of the dos and don'ts that we learned----
1. Set a short date for the change and market it to the customer as a great convenience for them.
2. Do not provide binders or any other storage solution; let the customer pick the one they like best. Print statements on 3-hole paper. If they ask for a binder, give them one, we gave out about 5 Wal Mart binders.
3. Give them front only in their statement and provide front/back on a check-by-check basis, free. Some will want all the checks at first, but with some discussion, they will say that they really only need one or two. After a month or two, they quit calling.
3. Don't mention a fee---you didn't charge them for the real checks before, therefore don't even think about charging for image copies now. They may just tell you that they would rather have it the old way -- and free of charge.
4. Don't even think about letting the customer decide to go image or not. It's all or nothing if the bank is to realize any savings.
5. If you have a customer that absolutely has to have his checks, they have to pay a lot, painful amount even. However, the better solution is fewer checks per page with front/back option. Most servicers can accommodate this type of account customization.
6. Be prepared to order new checks--free first order--for those that do not image well.

In regard to fee income, if you want to increase your fees on your accounts, it would be better to build it into the monthly service charge. Customers do not want to pay an extra fee for something that they didn't want in the first place, i.e. imaging, especially when they figure out that you are saving money and therefore double dipping the customer. Of course, these guidelines assume that you will be going to imaging on all of your account products.

Thank you for the tips. Our bank is in the process of converting our IP system to capture images, and when complete we will begin to offer images with statements. Some think it should be optional, but I'm happy to hear so many who've gone through it recommend to make it more of a mandatory thing. I'm recommending that our retail clients who are currently getting checks back be automatically converted to images, while those that are currently truncated remain as is. I would also like to see a hefty fee for anyone who still thinks they need their actual checks! Anyway, I'm passing along this thread to the decision makers, and hopefully they will take your experiences into consideration. I love this forum!

We went to check imaging a few years ago. We also used paper with holes for three ring binders. We ran this as a positive promotion, and customers could come into the bank to get a three ring binder. Few requests were made.

We also provided 3-ring binders when we converted years ago. The cover looked like it had dollar bills all over it. We thought everyone would come in get one. "Limit one per customer", we disclosed. Last I heard we still had some left!

We also have imaging. Our customers loved the binders, including me. The binders were conceived as a "gift" and are great for storing a year's worth of statements. Imaging was marketed as a positive benefit and we had few complaints.

We've had a hard time keeping the binders in stock! Who knows what dwells in the minds of our customers!