Key Bank(KeyCorp) demanded i put my thumb print on the payroll check i cashed today because i don’t have an account with them. I feel insulted and imposed upon. Is the practice legal? What action can i take in response?
This practice is apparently legal. A local bank asked for my thumbprint to cash a check from my credit union. Since my check was actually a withdrawl from my credit union I politely told the bank staff to shove it. I then re-deposited the check and used the ATM. I complained to the credit union and they soon arranged with a different bank to honor their checks. Apparently I was not the only person to complain.
Since yours is a payroll check, complaining to the bank it is drawn on will probably have no effect. They don’t care if you can’t cash it. You can however open an account at a different bank so there will be no need to patronize Key Bank.
You said it in a nutshell when you said you didn’t have an account with Key Bank. They don’t know who you are, and have no information about you apart from a check drawn in your name and a thumbprint.
The thumbprint is there to protect everyone, including you.
If some joker stole your check, they could go to Key Bank and cash your check. At least they would have a thumbprint of the person who cashed your check.
In the early days of grocery stores, they used to have a camera that would photograph you and your payroll check simultaneously. However I really wonder if it really worked or if it was basically all show, cause I never saw anyone take used film out of the machine.
I had a valid photo ID in my wallet-State driver’s license.
Banker checking in.
Yes, it is legal. The bank for which I work has the same policy for non-account holders. It boils down to corporate policy, not laws. Legally, the bank could require that you swing a dead chicken over your head while reciting passages from the Kama Sutra as a condition of cashing a check. The bank would probably, however, be liable for your medical claims if you contracted salmonella from the chicken.
This issue is, as RainbowDragon stated, one of proper identification. Your drivers license, yamo, (and any other documentary ID) can be counterfeited quite easily these days. Identity theft is the fastest growing area of fraud in the United States. Not coincidentally, the biggest fraud losses for banks come from cashing checks for non-account holders.
The presumption is that the bank’s own customers have been properly ID’ed during the account opening process and a check of documentary ID is sufficient for subsequent transactions. The only truly reliable ID that you have is yourself. Fingerprinting with a non-staining ink is becoming commonplace in the industry. I would not be surprised to see other “bio-ID” options pursued in the not-too-distant future. Retinal scanning technology, for one, is becoming cheap enough to mass install. Information storage is cheap enough to amass and keep a database of bio-ID’s.
Another benefit of fingerprinting is deterrence. The thought is that one would be less likely to attempt fraud at a bank which collects fingerprints.
Bottom line: a bank is a business. Like any other business, a bank is not going to spend the money to implement such a solution if there were not a substantial problem. Your choices are: A) Open an account at a local bank and do your business there; B) Do all your business in cash; or C) Continue to adhere to the policies of the bank on which the check is drawn.