TELECHECK First Data Corp Denied check, $129.99, was told it was too large of an amount Internet Phoenix, AZ

   The place that you tried to pay by check is the one causing the problem and you really should complain about them.    They do not trust your check, so they hired Telecheck to guarantee it.  Telecheck looks at whatever info they have on file about you and decides not to risk it.   That is their option, because they would be providing the guarantee.

  The real problem is that the merchant refuses to accept a check that is not guaranteed by this third party.   They have decided only to accept guaranteed funds.   If you pay by credit card or debit card, they are guaranteed that you have the funds available when they swipe your card.   There is no such guarantee for a check, so they attempt to cover themselves by using a third party service like Telecheck.

   By law, Telecheck does not have access to your banking records, so they can only make a guess at whether or not your check will be good.  If it's not, they eat the full amount.  As such, they will balk at guaranteeing a check if they don't have a lot of information about you, or if the check is above a certain amount.

  You don't have too many choices here.   You can pay with debit/credit cards instead of checks, or you can refuse to do business with any merchant that does not trust you and won't accept your check without a third party guarantee.

  There's no real ripoff here.  It's just merchants who no longer trust their customers as much as they used to.