12 U.S.C. § 5003

Current through P.L. 118-59 (published on www.congress.gov on 05/07/2024)
Section 5003 - General provisions governing substitute checks
(a) No agreement required

A person may deposit, present, or send for collection or return a substitute check without an agreement with the recipient, so long as a bank has made the warranties in section 5004 of this title with respect to such substitute check.

(b) Legal equivalence

A substitute check shall be the legal equivalent of the original check for all purposes, including any provision of any Federal or State law, and for all persons if the substitute check-

(1) accurately represents all of the information on the front and back of the original check as of the time the original check was truncated; and
(2) bears the legend: "This is a legal copy of your check. You can use it the same way you would use the original check."
(c) Endorsements

A bank shall ensure that the substitute check for which the bank is the reconverting bank bears all endorsements applied by parties that previously handled the check (whether in electronic form or in the form of the original paper check or a substitute check) for forward collection or return.

(d) Identification of reconverting bank

A bank shall identify itself as a reconverting bank on any substitute check for which the bank is a reconverting bank so as to preserve any previous reconverting bank identifications in conformance with generally applicable industry standards.

(e) Applicable law

A substitute check that is the legal equivalent of the original check under subsection (b) shall be subject to any provision, including any provision relating to the protection of customers, of part 229 of title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Uniform Commercial Code, and any other applicable Federal or State law as if such substitute check were the original check, to the extent such provision of law is not inconsistent with this chapter.

12 U.S.C. § 5003

Pub. L. 108-100, §4, Oct. 28, 2003, 117 Stat. 1180.

EDITORIAL NOTES

REFERENCES IN TEXTThis chapter, referred to in subsec. (e), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 108-100, 117 Stat. 1177, which is classified generally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 5001 of this title and Tables.

STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES

EFFECTIVE DATESection effective at the end of the 12-month period beginning on Oct. 28, 2003, see section 20 of Pub. L. 108-100 set out as a note under section 5001 of this title.

State
The term "State" means any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the United States Virgin Islands or any federally recognized Indian tribe, as defined by the Secretary of the Interior under section 5131(a) of title 25.
Uniform Commercial Code
The term "Uniform Commercial Code" means the Uniform Commercial Code in effect in a State.
bank
The term "bank" means any person that is located in a State and engaged in the business of banking and includes-(A) any depository institution (as defined in section 461(b)(1)(A) of this title);(B) any Federal reserve bank;(C) any Federal home loan bank; or(D) to the extent it acts as a payor-(i) the Treasury of the United States;(ii) the United States Postal Service;(iii) a State government; or(iv) a unit of general local government (as defined in section 4001(24) of this title).
forward collection
The term "forward collection" means the transfer by a bank of a check to a collecting bank for settlement or the paying bank for payment.
person
The term "person" means an individual, partnership, company, corporation, association (incorporated or unincorporated), trust, estate, cooperative organization, or other entity.
reconverting bank
The term "reconverting bank" means-(A) the bank that creates a substitute check; or(B) if a substitute check is created by a person other than a bank, the first bank that transfers or presents such substitute check.