10 Essential Questions Credit Unions Should Ask in a Check Printer’s RFP

Want to make sure your share draft/check printer is best positioned to serve the needs of your credit union and its members? Make sure you include these questions in the next RFP you send to potential check providers, and then read their answers carefully.

1. What is your company’s value proposition, and what is your company’s vision or growth plans? How does this benefit ABC Credit Union and our members?
2. Do you or your parent company own a retail check printing company or division (one that sells checks directly to consumers)? If so, please describe how that operation affects our members and if you are willing to share the revenue from check orders placed by our members with that company.
3. Describe your recommended methods to assist ABC Credit Union in recapturing members who have opted to order checks from direct mail firms.
4. What additional products and services does your company offer to help credit unions improve performance?
5. How do you handle information you collect about our members?
• How long is member order information stored?
• In what medium is this information stored, and do any other parties (including other divisions of your company) have access to it?
• Please provide your company position and include your written policy surrounding member database privacy and ownership.
• How do you handle (personal) information on ABC Credit Union accounts when you are no longer our vendor?
6. What kind of management reporting do you offer on the check program?
   • How often would these reports be available?
   • Are they provided in paper or in an electronic medium, or both?
   • Please provide a sample of how your reports would appear with the following data:
     • Branch (cost center), region, or corporate level
     • Product type
     • Style (custom, scenic designs, credit union expense items, etc.)
     • Waive activity (to credit union)
     • Charge to analysis
     • Other data (if applicable)
7. Do you have a credit union advisory board?
8. Do you have credit union benchmarking tools in place?
9. What kind of printing technology do you utilize in your production facilities? Is this technology the latest available?
10. Describe the mail processing and sorting system in place including the degree to which this is automated and how it affects the speed of order delivery to our members.