A bad check can buy more than a bounced payment. Certegy built a business around spotting the trouble before the money moves - and taking the loss when a covered payment goes wrong.
A check is a promise. Cash pays the rent. PAYOMATIC built a New York business in the gap between the two - and its sudden shutdown showed how much a neighborhood counter can carry.

From twelve Atlanta bank branches to digital payment infrastructure, the Ingo founder has kept returning to the same question: when can people actually use the money they have earned?