Congress Urged to Allow Extra Check-Clearing Day

Top FBI and Secret Service officials told Congress that giving banks an extra day to clear local checks is one of the best ways to combat fraud.

"Processing those things so quickly has contributed to the losses," said Charles L. Owens, chief of the FBI's financial crimes section, at a House Banking domestic and international monetary policy subcommittee hearing last week.

Kevin T. Foley, deputy assistant director of the Secret Service Office of Investigations, added that even one extra day would reduce losses from counterfeit checks.

Mr. Owens warned that check fraud is only going to get worse because ethnic-based gangs have begun using laser printers to produce high-quality, bogus checks.

The Federal Reserve Board issued a report last year urging Congress to amend the Expedited Funds Availability Act to give banks an extra day to clear local and out-of-state checks.

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