Senate Bill No. 642
(By Senators Snyder and Wooton)
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[Introduced February 22, 1999;
referred to the Committee on Banking and Insurance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact article four, chapter thirty-one-a of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated
section thirty-b, relating to limiting bank charges to
merchants for returned checks or stop payment services.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article four, chapter thirty-one-a of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended and reenacted by adding thereto a new section, designated
thirty-b, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. BANKING INSTITUTIONS AND SERVICES GENERALLY.
§31A-4-30b. Limitations on fees banks may charge merchants for
returned or overdraft checks and for checks on which payment has been stopped.
A banking institution may charge and collect a reasonable fee
when a check is presented for payment or deposited into an
account by a merchant and that check is worthless or when a stop
payment has been issued on that check. However, those fees shall
be limited based on a standard of reasonableness and actual cost
to the banking institution for processing. The commissioner of
banking shall promulgate rules consistent with this section
setting forth reasonable limitations as aforesaid.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide limitations on
the amount that banks may charge merchants for returned checks or
stop payments.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.