New banking law will mean more fees and more bounced checks Sign our online petition to the banks! Bouncing a check soon will become more common because of a new federal banking law that speeds up the processing of checks starting October 28th.  Checks you write will clear faster, but your money from deposits won’t have to be made available to you any sooner. One industry expert estimates that consumers will bounce seven million more checks and pay $170 million in overdraft fees per month.  This new law, called "Check 21," phases out your ability to get paper copies of cancelled checks back from your bank.  The law gives you a new right to get speedy credit to your account when the bank makes a processing error, but only if you ask for a special copy called a substitute check.  Banks will save up to $2 billion, but aren’t required to pass savings to customers and may try to charge fees for substitute checks. Act Now!  Sign our petition and tell the banks to adopt policies to improve the new check processing law for consumers.

Our Petition to the banks: I’m not happy about Check 21, the new banking law that will allow banks to process all my checks electronically starting October 28.  Banks will save as much as $2 billion under this law, but aren’t required to pass any of those savings on to customers.  I’m concerned that Check 21 will increase the likelihood that my checks will bounce, result in more fees for banks, and provide unequal protection for consumers depending on how checks are processed.   I support the reforms advocated by Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America and urge you to adopt the following policies to improve Check 21:  Don’t use Check 21 to bounce more checks.  Give consumers the benefit of faster check clearing by crediting our accounts when the check clears, even if the law allows you to wait longer for deposited checks. Help consumers get used to this new law by suspending bounced check fees during the first two months of implementation. Promise to return funds to my checking account within ten business days when something goes wrong with a check no matter how the check was processed and no matter what kind of copy of the check I receive. Don’t charge a fee for substitute checks, the special kind of copy that replaces an original cancelled check. Offer an account that returns substitute checks every month for no more than the price you have been charging for an account that returns original checks.