The rejected checks cause more than a headache to those who must charge them. They can be the product of several causes: insufficient funds, formal defects, irregularities in the endorsement, expired deadlines, among others.It is known that these accounting documents have been transformed for a long time into one of the most used tools by businesses and companies of all kinds to pay their suppliers.The problem arises with the "flying checks". That is, the values ââof third parties that are passing from one company to another and, if rejected, trigger an imbalance in the entire payment chain that translates into losses, both of time and money.During 2018, Argentina faced the worst year in terms of checks rejected in almost two decades. According to the Central Bank, there were two months in which the proportion that had been reached in January 2002 was exceeded.In fact, in February and April, almost 12% and 14% -respectively- of these values ââwere "rebounded", surpassing the record of January 2002, when 10.46% was registered.Although today there are some tools that allow consulting the situation of several firms, credit reports are complex, unnecessarily long and, often, unworkable for SMEs.From the need of small companies was born Checks, a mobile platform that allows to instantly check the status of the issuer in just three seconds and from the phone."We started to see that the companies did not have any procedure to verify this information, it was done when the checks arrived at the office and it was too late," explains Lett-Brown, co-founder of the tool, to iProUP."I prefer to have debts before rejected checks" was the phrase that triggered the creation of this startup. With its partners Martin Glascher and Manuel Astesiano Agote, Lett-Brown developed this tool that contributes to providing greater predictability.Using the service is simple. You just have to download the application (available for iOS and Android), and enter a phone and mail to verify the account.After accepting the terms and conditions, the system offers 20 free consultations to prove its usefulness. After that limit, the app is blocked and asks if you want to have advice from an executive to know the different payment plans.Currently, the company offers three monthly installments, in addition to tailored corporate plans:- 50 queries ($ 400 and up to one device)- 100 requirements ($ 600 and two lines)- 400 searches ($ 1,600 and up to three teams)."With these clients we can see what they need, because they can have 30 vendors with 1,000 queries per month or more," explains the co-founder. Today, his biggest client has 10,000 monthly requests and 60 telephones.Digital inclusionWith the problems presented by this collection segment, the founders knew that they had to generate an easy to use and agile app to respond."If you know how to use WhatsApp, you can use this tool without problems," says Lett-Brown.To check the data, the application allows you to take a picture of the check and recognize it through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or enter the CUIT reference with the phone's keypad. All this information is public access and taken from the Central Bank and the AFIP."This is a solution for small and medium companies to introduce a check method in the collection process, so before accepting a check, any collector can know if it is in good condition," he explains. He adds: "Before, they did not do it because it was uncomfortable and it did not work".Part of the success of this platform is based on the inclusion of companies that saw the digital transformation as something distant."Sometimes, the questions about these issues have to be simple and simple, and the new account does not work," says the executive.Changes in internal processes come into play. Even, there are clients of the firm that hire the service for their own payments. The answer to this action is simple: "If the suppliers improve their collections, the clients will also do it".The platform began to be devised in September of last year and its launch was in January of this year, with a portfolio already established and turnover in progress.Today, Chequeas already has 800 subscriber lines from 50 different clients, with the ambitious idea of ââreaching 1,000 by mid-year."We do not intend to lower the growth rate, we are in talks to generate a round of investments," says Lett-Brown.By 2019, the roadmap of new features includes a line of denials of rejected checks (something that the Central Bank takes 30 days to verify) and a personalized scoring by client.Finally, although the first focus of Checks was placed on small companies, they are already in dialogue with large corporations to be integrated as an additional solution to the traditional tools of the Central Bank and NOSIS."We are in the process of auditing, but we are moving forward with very large companies, and our app can work as a complementary tool that serves them," he concludes.Goodbye to paper?On the other hand, at the beginning of October 2018, the Central Bank began to record the death certificate of paper checks.Specifically, through communication A 6578, the body in charge of Guido Sandleris put a limit of 180 days for all banks to accept the deposit of electronic checks.With the deadline already almost expired, the Interbanking Commission of Means of Payment (Cimpra) met to write the fine print of this new tool. This group is made up of officials of the Central Bank, the Nation and the City, representatives of the four banking chambers (ABA, Adeba, Abappra and ABE), and executives of the clearinghouses and ATM networks.The purpose of this commission is to give life to a computer platform so that all entities begin to receive electronic checks, regardless of whether or not they offer the product to their customers."Banks' self-service terminals are usually collapsed or do not work directly, and any error in the endorsement causes it to be rejected and, often, to expire. , which is an almost impossible mission ", explains iProUP, Ezequiel Passarelli, Tax Director of SCI Group, who adds that" the paper check is a nuisance "."The electronic check will be added to the different technological obstacles implemented in this last time in order to close the roads to the evaders," added the expert.In a complete article, Ezequiel Baum, economist specialized in financial education, founder of Financial Trainer and co-founder of Future Payments, assures that "although it is too early to anticipate when we will see the first electronic checks, we believe that it is a step in the right direction "A minor issue to consider is the legal aspect. "The paper check has the virtue of being an executive title, which means that the executive action against the drawer, the guarantors or the endorsers is enabled, so that the way to claim payment is extremely expeditious," said Passarelli. ."Surely, the government will address this issue because it is one of the most criticized when establishing the electronic check, if its execution does not go through an agile way, it will be a big problem for many companies," they advanced from SCI Group.In this regard, Baum developed a computer solution that not only provides the basic benefits of a physical check in digital format.In addition, continues Baum, offers "the partial payment, a variant of the fractionation that in front of a case of insufficient funds would facilitate the payment by the part that can be covered and the rest is left to negotiate, avoiding that the chain of collections be cut".And he adds that "the issuance of payment packages can be enabled, opening the game to an alternative quota financing scheme, coexisting with different products tailored to the great variety of needs of the financial system".The regulations of the Central Bank establish that "without prejudice to the maintenance of the current system for the paper format of the check, electronic means may be used for its release, guarantee, circulation and presentation to collection."By the end of March, the eCheq should begin to circulate."The signature requirement will be satisfied if any electronic method is used that undoubtedly ensures the externalization of the will of the drawer and the integrity of the instrument, the reliability of the issuance operation and its authentication as a whole," the text explains.Either through virtual and mobile methods of checking information or with new electronic systems of emission, this payment method entering a new digital age. Meanwhile, there are ways - also digital - to avoid "getting stuck" with a rejected check.