Legal Question in Business Law in Georgia

Thumbprint blues

You could lobby the Congress for a law prohibiting banks from imposing this ort of requirement. You could organize a boycott in your community of banks that have this policy. A problem with your asserting "religious grounds" is that the bank, not being the government or an arm thereof, is not constrained by the First Amendment from adopting business policies which conflict wiht your religion in this manner. If this is going to recur, I'll bet a letter and follow up visit with the bank president or manager would lead to an arrangement to accomodate you.

Then again, you could just open an account at a nother bank and simply deposit your renter's checks.

Thumbprint blues

I wouldn't be so alarmed. First, you have the option now ofopening an account -- by the way, does that require a print? ! So your damage is limited to having made an extra trip and to losing a few days of interest.

Secondly, read their fine print: I bet they don't share your printwith anyone nor do they request any information against that print.It sounds like a safeguard against someone else coming in with a checkwritten to you, with forged ID, and running off with 'your' money.(It would end up being a long hassle for you to convince the bank that you didn't already get your money.) They could use a photo idsystem instead, I guess. I think it's kinda neat, actually. And keep in mind their point of view ... they just want to be sure they're giving the money to the right person instead of an imposter.(Now that you've refused and walked out, they could be suspicious!)

I don't know if what they're doing is authorized under state or federal banking laws, but it probably is. Laws tend to stay vague in certain areas, e.g., "Bank may require proof of identification to ..."