Most commercial and savings banks have discontinued the accounting practice of returning original cancelled checks to their account holders, replacing them with photocopies of both sides of each cancelled check instead. This way, account holders have a record of who actually signed the back of the check to redeem its face value.
This signature is universally required for resolving countless business transaction disputes. The back-of-check endorsement also proves ownership to resolve warrantee claims and is admissible as evidence in court cases. In short; no record of the back of each individual check, no legal documentation.
HBSC Bank, USA, N.A’s account holders have recently received written notice that they would no longer be receiving original cancelled checks, but photocopied facsimiles of these documents. When these statements arrived, consumers noticed that they had received photo facsimile copies of the face of each check only.
When they contacted HBSC management about these anomalies, consumers learned that a) the original checks had been destroyed and that b) if the consumers wished to have copies of both sides of a check, a $5 charge per check would be incurred. (Note: The Blog editor is not certain which statement is more disturbing- that the checks have been destroyed; that there is a sizeable service charge to receive a photo facsimile of both sides of one’s cancelled check OR how it is possible to make a photo facsimile from a check that allegedly has been destroyed!)
For some time it has been the practice for major financial institutions to include photo facsimile checks in lieu of originals in their account holder’s monthly statements. Both Citibank, N.A. and Chase among many commercial and savings banks provide their account holders with monthly statements including photo facsimiles of their cancelled checks. Their monthly statements, however, provide BOTH sides of each cancelled check.
This is food for consumer thought if one pays bills by check and may require proof “down the road” that they did indeed pay their gas, electric and fuel bills, mortgage, child care, credit card(s)……to name a few!
