What is Check 21? (Does that mean it can drink?)

So more and more people are saying Check 21, but what does it mean?

Well it doesn't mean checks are legal now, but it does mean that they are all grown up. Known originally under several names such as the Check 21 Act or the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, or any one of a dozen other names that did not launch; Check 21 was signed into law by Bush on Oct. 28, 2003 and launched exactly one year later in 2004. It allowed for a paper 'substitute check' to be the legal equivalent of the original. However since then the second clone check which was greatly speeding up the process and was being used for presentment and returns has had it's paper buttocks been dumped like a girlfriend after graduation. This is because the speed and usefulness of the scenario has led to the ability to simply have the check's image. Not a second paper check, but a second digital check in image or soft copy only. That's why more and more people do not get their check's back at the end of the month, but a copy of the check on the back of their statement. The amount of money this saves in paper alone is astounding, but what it really has been doing goes sight unseen.

First of all, with the faster clearing of checks, fraud has been dropping like a... (insert some plummeting mental image here). Secondly, there are less issues with the fact that one no longer has to transport the check physically, but if the image is bad the original bank is able to resend and correct the data. However, the biggest impact this has on the individual depositor is this and this alone: extended deposit deadlines. Haven't you been wondering why you don't have to have the check in the bank by 2:00 o'clock anymore? Well the faster clearing times, and the ease of presentment and representment have made the deposit time not such a factor anymore.

All in all, what Check 21 means is that the modern check has had a digital face-lift. That process is easing tensions on a lot of us, speeding up the process, eliminating a lot of costs, making banks more green, and in the end, continuing to provide a real niche for checks in the modern world.

There's only one drawback: I don't get the same float I used to...