#6. Complete Review of Chax Software. Chax Review.
                                                   Overall Rating for Chax   POOR
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Features:
Chax from 2007 had scattered teal colored menus that allowed for the creation of a draft, saved transactions and batch printing. It was a bit clumsy, but to the point and easy enough to figure out. The drafts were not Check 21 compliant. It lacks an import and proper monthly billing features as well as invoice printing. The software won't automatically store data, you must specify to 'save' the information to keep it.

Ease of Use
Chax software was simple to use. It was good for checks by phone or checks by fax but had no import interface in the version I had. Once I entered in a few test items I printed them without issue in a batch.

How It Works at the Bank
The drafts I printed did not work with my desktop deposit, even with MICR toner, but I did get one to go into the auto-scan envelope free ATM. The teller also took my item for deposit but it was manually processed and a strip was applied to correct the MICR on the low check number I used.

Installation Ease
I did not have installation issues, and the software did work on my XP and Windows 7, but I had errors after using the software where it produced Run-Time error 5.

When evaluating these programs, I made up tons of drafts from one Citizens Bank account to deposit into a Bank of America account.  I used low check numbers to identify each, much like if it was for a monthly billing cycle.  If I use a check number like 0012, it would remove the leading 0 and print |"12|" rather than |"0012|"  Because this wouldn't work with the desktop deposit, I tried 0000 and it won't allow it.

When I tried to use a short account number from a very old checking account, the program produced errors and quit.

Help and Support
Their 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. telephone support hours of operation were a bit annoying, but they are located on the west coast and run on a west coast schedule. They did answer and told me that I could avoid the error by entering a valid account number and valid check number.  They made it out like the error was designed into the software to alert me I was entering invalid data.  Of course the data is what I wanted to enter.

The Full Picture
For $199 plus $150 per additional PC you get a clumsy product that has not been updated in 5 years. Chax produces software errors, lacks sophisticated features, and produces drafts that are not Check 21 compliant. Even though Chax installs on Windows 7, the drafts still need to be manually processed and jacketed by the receiving bank. Because the items don't work properly with the bank, and it produces errors, this software gets poor ratings. 

Screen Shot

Overall Rating for Chax   POOR

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