Deb Heinrich

By: Hannah Vahi, Shoreline Times

2/28/08

State Representative Deborah Heinrich is ensuring that you don’t have to check your checks.

At least, that you don’t have to check them for hidden contracts. Some checks often contain fine print that say that cashing the check you agree to sign up for a promotional program or act as some other contract which costs money. These types of checks are often target seniors, whose eyesight tends to be poor.

Many who receive the checks don’t notice the small print. And when they find that they are shelling out extra for an unwanted service, cancelling that service can be expensive.

“It’s confusing, because people think it’s a rebate,” said Heinrich.

A friend of Heinrich mentioned to the legislator that ever since she became a senior citizen, she had started getting small checks in the mail for amounts ranging from about $2 to $20 dollars.

Madison resident Ginny Raff also brought it to Heinrich’s attention. One day she was with her parents in Florida, going through the mail with her dad. Her father had macular degeneration as well as cataracts, and had a difficult time reading print.

A check for $25 came for him from a phone company. He wasn’t sure what it was for, but of course wanted to cash it. Even Raff, who is nearsighted, had to remove her bifocals in order to read the tiny print on the check, which explained that cashing it, would enroll the recipient in the company’s long distance service program.

“To me it was fraudulent,” said Raff. “Companies shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”

Enter Heinrich. The legislator is co-sponsoring a bill introduced by the Banking Committee (individual legislators don’t introduce legislation during the Short Session) to prevent checks from being used as contracts.

The legislation would require a separate contract to come with the check, spelling out the terms and conditions, and listing the name and contact information of the maker.
The bill is currently in the hands of the banking committee. A screening meeting about where to send the bill could bring it to another committee for further study or to a vote on the Senate floor as soon as Mar. 4.

After the bill went nowhere last year, the office of the Attorney General offered to help legislators draft it differently.

The Attorney General had gotten interested when Connecticut, along with 14 other states, successfully sued a company who had used contracts written on checks.
 
At a public hearing held Thursday, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal testified in the bill’s favor. He said that on his way to the hearing, he was approached by someone who handed him a piece of the kind of mail in question and said, “Is this for real?”