scope:

Scope and Purpose

This report presents guidelines for the design and usage of Unsigned Items including Remotely Created Checks (RCC). RCC items are a subclass of Unsigned Items, they all share the same characteristic of not bearing the signature of the Payor (also known as the maker or drawer, and is the check writer). RCC items are not created by the Paying bank while Unsigned Items can be created by the Paying bank or its agent. Although Unsigned Items are legitimate payment instruments many of the Unsigned Items being cleared today do not follow any design or usage guidelines. These items cause manual exception processing to complete the clearing process. The intent of this technical report is to provide a single document to originators and processors of Unsigned Items to provide guidance. Currently design and usage guidelines are spread over many different standards and technical reports.

This report presents guidelines for the layout, production, and processing of Unsigned Items. Certain elements of check design are specified in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards or are mandated by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation CC (Reg CC). This report provides a recommendation of these elements as they apply to Unsigned Items. The guidelines contained in this report are intended to promote greater uniformity in the design and processing of Unsigned Items that will improve processing and handling throughout the check processing system. There are different guidelines for originators of Unsigned Items who produce physical paper items that will be deposited into a bank and originators who will produce physical paper items that will be scanned and deposited into a bank in a cash letter file.

This goal will, in part, be achieved by encouraging widespread distribution of this report throughout the population of Unsigned Item originators and processors. Although the guidelines in this report are not as restrictive as a standard, they do provide many suggestions on the preferred ways to achieve a functional Unsigned Item within the bounds of existing standards, along with a discussion of the reasons for these requirements.

All recommendations described in this report are compatible with existing check standards and should be used to supplement the standards.