11.12.2001

Oxford's Security Check booming

OXFORD, MS - You could call them "bad-check bounty hunters."

But if you bounce a check, one of the 200 college students who works for Oxford-based Security Check may be calling.

What started as an after-hours venture for University of Mississippi students John Lewis and William Alias III has grown into a check collection and verification business whose revenue will top $15 million this year. That's up from $9 million last year.

Security Check recently was ranked 91st on Inc magazine's list of the nation's 500 fastest-growing private companies.

The firm handles all of its collections from a location in Oxford and has 36 sales and service offices throughout the Southeast.

"It's hard to say if this economy is affecting us because we're growing so fast," said Alias, 29. "But we do know that people are still writing a lot of checks."

Alias said Security Check collects on about 65 percent of the bad checks it receives. He said the key to the company's prosperity is using college students to make the calls — about 30,000 each day using a computerized dialer.

The company prides itself on its polite, professional employees. Their philosophy: "Good manners for bad checks."

"Merchants spend a lot of money on advertising to get people in their stores, and making clients angry is the worst thing we can do," he said. "Our folks are business school students, law students. They're smart and they don't badger people. They're not your typical collectors."

Because of its success using college students, Security Check plans to open a second collection center in another university town, possibly Lincoln, Neb., or Norman, Okla.

Security Check www.securitycheckllc.com is a privately owned and operated company that offers a full range of payment and customized process solutions. By offering their clients a customized payment solution, Security Check has been able to develop new products that will enable their clients business to grow.