With banks reporting checks declining from 3-8% a year, the need to move to electronic check processing has become acute. The October 28, 2004 effective date of the Check Truncation Act has created a deadline on which banks and industry associations are focused. Check conversion, in the form of ARC (Accounts Receivable conversion) and POP (Point of Purchase conversion), has already begun a sharp upward trajectory, growing in excess of 800% in 2003. This growth will continue, joined in 2005 by slow but steady growth in image exchange and check truncation.