E-payment: Cheque 21

Cheque clearing in the USA is manually intensive, involving multiple handling of the physical cheque. Cheque Clearing for the 21st century (Cheque 21) was passed into a law in October 2003. Cheque 21 allows for banks to truncate cheques and begin transferring their electronic images. Businesses will benefit from the rapidity of funds transfer inherent in Cheque 21. Consumers will benefit from the speed with which they can view their transactions online in a post-Cheque 21 USA. This paper discusses the history of cheque clearing, the consumer debate over Cheque 21 and technological solutions to bring chequing into the electronic age.