
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 11, 1995                   TAG: 9508110039
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

NOT ALL CHECK CASHERS CHECK IN

Despite a new law requiring that any company charging more than 2 percent to cash a check be registered, no Virginia retailers who cash checks have filed with the State Corporation Commission.

Also, three of the 14 check-cashing companies that have filed with the SCC have not sent in copies of the fees they charge, as required by law.

An employee at the only check-cashing company listed in Roanoke, America's Cash Express, referred inquiries to corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas. Calls to that office were not returned Thursday.

Concern about the high fees some check cashers charge, and about the possibility the companies could be used by money launderers, sparked legislation requiring them to register with the SCC by July 1. The SCC can ban a check casher from operating if it does not register or if it charges more than its posted fees.

SCC Commissioner of Financial Institutions Sidney A. Bailey said he thinks most check cashers have complied with the law.

``As is the case with any new set of rules, somebody will forget, somebody will overlook, somebody will say: `I wish I knew about it' or `My lawyer told me wrong.' It takes a while for the application of the law to wear itself into a track,'' Bailey said.

Jeff Tanner, controller of the Lucky Convenience Stores chain in Richmond, said his company did not think it had to register if it cashed checks as a sideline.

Lucky charges 2.5 percent of a check's face value as a cashing fee, he said. Bailey said the fee is high enough to require registration as a check casher.

Staff writer Megan Schnabel contributed to this story.

by CNB