Noncustomer Check Fees Reinforce Financial Divide

Earlier this year the Texas legislature passed a law that required that banks cash their own checks at their face value (the “par value” law). In other words, if someone walked into a bank with a check drawn on that bank, and proper identification, the bank could not charge a fee to cash the check. On August 17, two weeks before the effective date, the largest banks in Texas filed suit and a Federal District court judge granted a temporary injunction halting implementation of the new law.