My wife posted this on another forum. Thought it might be of interest here. The end of the bank float? http://www.business-opportunities.biz/archives/2004/06/10/5733.php "The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21) was signed into law on October 28, 2003, and will become effective on October 28, 2004. In the small-business world, this change will mean several things in the months and years to come. At the simplest level, businesses will begin to have quicker access to revenue from customers who pay by check. Faster return and collection of checks was among the top benefits that businesses polled expected to see from Check 21, according to a survey by Greenwich Associates, based in Greenwich, Conn. At the same time, however, it means the checks these same businesses write to their own suppliers may also clear more quickly -- decreasing the so-called float time that many entrepreneurs depend on, which was a concern noted in the same study. Then there's the matter of paper storage. Under Check 21, businesses (and consumers) are no longer entitled to get back their original checks, which can be destroyed. Businesses can obtain "substitute checks," legal copies about the same size of a business check, or let banks store the copies electronically and only request one when it is needed to settle a dispute. About two-thirds of small businesses still receive their canceled checks now, but say they don't place a high degree of importance on retaining the originals, the Greenwich survey noted. "If I'm a small business, there's always a storage and security issue of keeping all the checks lying around," says Tom Kunz, director of payments and e-business for PNC Financial Services Group, based in Pittsburgh.
