InfoDial brings checking on-line

Consumers may have made it to the point where they are perfectly comfortable surfing the Net - but when it comes to giving up a credit card number for an on-line purchase, it's a different story.

Web hosting company InfoDial is trying to boost consumer confidence in on-line shopping by introducing a new, more familiar payment option - Internet checks.

"Most of us write checks more than we use credit cards," said Jane Way, president of InfoDial. "This opens the market up to people without credit cards or who don't want to send their card numbers over the Internet.

A customer shopping on a Web site supported by InfoDial's Cashier 3.0 transaction processing system is asked to provide a name, address and driver's license, as well as the routing information that appears on the bottom of the check. The customer clicks on an icon that "signs" the check, then freezes the transaction so it cannot be altered and sends it to a secure central location. The merchant retrieves the transaction information, processes the order and prints an actual check to deposit.

Cashier 3.0 also includes full database integration, which enables real-time availability and pricing information; real-time credit card authorization and secure server layer encryption and authentication for transaction protection.

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