Do you own a commercial bank? Are your customers scattered across your place of business? Are you interested on having a lockbox installed in your business? If you answered yes to the questions stated above, then read on further to know the advantages and disadvantages of installing lockbox service in your commercial bank.

Owning a commercial bank means dealing with customers from different places of your region or country. One of the services provided by the bank is that it accepts deposits and offers lending services. Lock bock banking is another service offered by banks that aim to ease up collection and processing of receivable account payments. This is by having the customers mail their payments bill to a specific location accessible by the bank. It is also called the Remittance Services or Remittance Processing.

In other terms, the lockbox acts just like a post office box where customers can send in their payment to. It is then collected, transferred and the account payables are then processed by depositing them to the respective company’s account. The typical cost for service are around $100 per month with addition per-item fees for the basic service and would reach up to $500 for business services with a high amount checks.

The only difference between the lockbox and a regular post office box is the customer’s payments are brought to it. You do not have to pick your payments; instead the bank has appointed a messenger that has key to the lockbox wherein he can remove the contents and deliver it. Lockbox banking also improves the pace of your payment and deposit through 2 different ways. First, it cuts down the delays in sorting out your mail by having a customized post office box and second, with a right courier to deliver the payment directly to the company’s account where your payment is needed. The payment is processed at the same day the amount is received and deposited.

Utility companies prefer to use lockbox as well as city and county government offices in collecting taxes. In addition to that Lockbox banking service can be customized by banks that will fit your needs.

There might be some problems to be encountered in lockbox services. In any financial establishments, key employees are being targeted by criminal minds and other employees are being tempted due to its contents entails to large amount of money. If these employees are poorly supervised, underpaid and not well-trained, then they are the most vulnerable to temptation and act recklessly that would cause trouble to the customer’s payable accounts and the bank. Counterfeiters may also try to swindle and the checks that the customer’s have sent to the lockbox for themselves for they know that they have the customer’s account number and other information needed for them to do so.

Although these things may happen, the bank can avoid and counter it by having their employees trained well. With proper supervision and management, these things can be prevented.