Bill Brock wrote in the USCF Issues forum, of the Chicago Open:
Which raises in my mind a question relating to an event I directed this weekend. If you have a player who joins the USCF as a new member and pays by check, made out to the USCF, is there any way to get the tournament rated the same day, or must it inevitably wait for the check to reach Crossville, Tenn., by mail?
Pay for the membership yourself to get everything processed and then ask the USCF to reverse the charge to your credit card once the check arrives at the office and clears the USCF bank.
Or ask them to pay you instead of making the check to the USCF.
There may be additional merchant fees associated with this method incurred by the USCF.
My suggestion is that if you don’t want to take the risk of bad checks, have the membership fee paid in cash or by credit card. Many affiliates do it this way to avoid the financial exposure.
You can enter the member cC when entering the membership. It helps to get the security number off the back of the card. But make sure you shred, brun, multilate or all 3 whatever form you have it on!
No worries there. I always shred entry and membership forms after the event.
I forgot that it was possible to use a member’s credit card to charge a new membership even if I don’t have credit card processing capability myself. I’ll have to remember that next time.