|
 |
Home >> My Bank Said ...
Another Patriot Act Alibi
Why does the Patriot Act require a bank customer to supply a social security number to cash a check?
|
|
 The USA PATRIOT Act, often referred to as the "Patriot Act," imposes no such requirement. When certain large cash transactions are completed, banks are required to obtain personal information on the individuals involved in order to complete mandatory government filings (see the article "What Your Bank REALLY Tells the IRS"), and one required item of information is a Social Security number for U.S. persons. However, that only applies to large transactions, and has nothing to do with the USA PATRIOT Act.
Banks are permitted to establish their own identification standards for check cashing. Some are more demanding than others. It is common to require a government-issued identification card, such as a driver's license, with a photo and the signature of the individual. Less common, and in fact prohibited in some states, is the practice of recording an individual's Social Security number on the check.
If you have visited a bank that has told you that the "Patriot Act" required it to obtain your Social Security number before cashing a routine check (less than the amount that would trigger a mandatory government report), obtaining the number is strictly a matter of bank policy, and the reference to the "Patriot Act" is an attempt to give the practice more apparent legitimacy than "it's our policy" provides.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 4/23/10
|
| |
|
Accounts
Article
Q&A
Podcast
Video
Blog
Discussions
PDF
Powerpoint
