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On The Other Hand…
PNC is a very large bank, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has hundreds of branches in several states.
It has 242 branches in New Jersey, many of which were, of course, small New Jersey based banks at one time.
One of those was the bank where the payroll account for Rockaway Township was domiciled. The Township is a pretty good size, boasting about 25,000 residents. It employs 200 people. And it does more than $100 million in transactions annually at the local branch of what is now part of PNC.
The mayor and the town council were angered at the requirement that township employees who presented their paychecks to be cashed at PNC had to leave a thumbprint on the check if they were not account holders at PNC. The bank tried to explain that since introducing the thumbprint requirement in September in its New Jersey branches, it has reduced incidents of payroll cashing check fraud there by some 70%.
The mayor didn't want to hear it. Spurning First Union Bank, a large bank which also has the thumbprint policy, Rockaway Township closed its accounts at PNC and moved them to Jersey based Summit Bank, a local, small, community bank. Summit says it has "no plans" to incorporate the thumbprint requirement.
Note: Thumbprinting, using a special "inkless" pad, has become common check cashing practice in 27 states.
Copyright © 1998 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2/98
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