FIRST TENNESSEE AND THE TVMA: Working together to find new value in financial services.

For over 140 years, First Tennessee has been helping families and businesses just like yours reach their financial goals. And in that time, we’ve come to understand that meeting financial needs is about listening to our customers and working to truly understand the obstacles they face every day. Through the years, this simple philosophy has been at the forefront of everything we do. In fact, it has been the catalyst for the growth we’ve experienced nationally and the reason our customer retention rates are consistently some of the highest in our state.

 Now, as a sponsor of member financial services to the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA), we’re excited to be serving your needs and finding new ways to help you reach your financial goals. As a part of this new relationship, we are offering you, as a TVMA member, a special package of discounts on our wide array of financial products and services. You’ll find discounts and extra benefits on everything from checking and savings to financial planning, mortgage and cash management tools. A few of the offers you’ll find include:

 • ¼ point off origination fees for a First Tennessee mortgage*
 • No annual fee for a year on a line of credit
 •  Special CD rates.

It’s everything you need to save yourself a little time and money – whether you’re interesting in personal or commercial banking services. You’ll also find ways to simplify your banking experience, so that you can focus on the important job of strengthening your client relationships. To find out more about these discounts and other services we offer, please review our specially designed program at www.firsttennessee.com/tvma
*All loans subject to credit approval. Banking products and services and financial planning provided by First Tennessee Bank National Association, member FDIC.

 
Calm economic fears and avoid potential check fraud

Raise your hand if you’re concerned about our economy. Each of you did, if you’re smart. Statistics show record-breaking energy, food and gas prices may put more consumers at risk for defaulting on payments—putting your business at risk as well.

Americans write about 1.7 million bad checks each and every day—more than $50 million in revenue losses. ~American Collectors Association
       
More than 17% of low-income households are behind on credit card bills due to rising ?unemployment, consumer debt and a slow economy. ~National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association and Energy Programs Consortium survey   
   
With this in mind, what precautions are you taking to protect your business against rising credit card rates? What about the inevitable bad checks that will occur as consumers look for other ways to pay for goods and services? If you’re not thinking about how this affects your business, you should be.

Federal Check Recovery has provided association members with free electronic recovery service of bad checks for 6 years. The company has grown into a complete payment-processing service, and is now known as FedPayUSA. This name change reflects the diversity of services offered to help combat rising check fraud concerns. Recommended by more than 70 professional associations nationwide, FedPayUSA is a leading provider of check recovery services serving a membership that exceeds 150,000.

FedPayUSA has solutions to help protect profits and ensure checks are as safe as cash or credit cards. FedPayUSA’s signature service bundle—Check Verification backed by Electronic Check Recovery—verifies checks at the point of sale through a database of 240 million accounts. In addition, it electronically collects any bad checks that happen to slip through. This signature service virtually eliminates loss from bad checks and protects against check fraud.

Benefits of FedPayUSA’s Signature Service
• Proactively “weeds out” bad checks at the point of sale
• Fast and inexpensive precaution (15¢ per check swipe; $57 monthly minimum)
• Scans databases containing more than 280 million checking accounts?
• Provides approval or denial codes within seconds at point of sale
• Includes Electronic Check Recovery for bad checks that slip through undetected

If you haven’t prepared your business for the possibility of check fraud, now is the time. If your business is not taking checks, you may be losing at least 15% of your income potential. With FedPayUSA, there isn’t any reason for not accepting checks along with credit cards. FedPayUSA makes taking checks as safe as cash.

Call toll-free, 1.888.808.8128, for a no-obligation cost analysis for your business. For more information about FedPayUSA services, visit www.fedpayusa.com.