THUMBS UP: THUMBPRINT CHECK SYSTEM BECOMES MORE POPULAR WITH BANKS, BUSINESSES

Residue from an inkless pad rubs off easily.

Check fraud costs banks, retail businesses and customers, billions of dollars each year.

The Federal Reserve estimates that check fraud costs at banks reached $615 million in 1996 -- more than 10 times the losses from bank robberies nationwide during the same period.

American Banking Association statistics estimate losses from check fraud have reached $1 billion a year for banks, and $11 billion in losses to merchants.

Banks today are taking some safety precautions against bank fraud.

Walk into the majority of banks -- large and small -- these days and if you're not a regular customer, be prepared to show ID and leave a thumbprint.

Touch signatures and similar programs are in practice nationwide and have proven highly successful in discouraging fraud, lowering check fraud by as much as 40 percent or more in states where implemented.

Some retail businesses -- convenience stores, grocery stores, liquor stores, pizza delivery businesses -- now require thumbprints or fingerprints with checks.

A program commonly used by banks is an inkless thumbprint signature program and is used when non-customers request check-cashing services.

The inkless pad is quick and clean, yet the results provide positive identification, say officials.

People in Cape Girardeau have accepted the fact that the program provides added protection, said Judi Morton, of South East Banking Center (Wood and Huston Bank), 111 S. Broadview.

"We had a few complaints when we first introduced the program more than a year and a half ago," said Morton, "but, once we explained why we were doing it, most people understand. People have been very cooperative."

The program paid off for Wood and Huston bank the first month, when a thumbprint led to a check fraud arrest.

The thumbprint program was introduced as a pilot project in two states -- Nevada and Arizona -- during the early 1990s, said Carol Barnett, of the Missouri Bankers Association, which supports the program.

"It was very successful in those states and started spreading," added Barnett. "Now the system is being used nationwide."

When Texas initiated the program, it kept records.

"During the first six months, check fraud decreased from 40 to 75 percent in different areas," said Barnett. "Overall, in the state, the decrease reached 65 percent."

NationsBank, one of the nation's banking giants, started using the Thumbprint Signature Program more than a year ago but didn't introduce it to the Southeast Missouri area until only recently (in August).

"The program will not apply to account holders at our bank," said Kelly Polonus of NationsBank Media Relations. "We feel the program will help combat check fraud.

"When a fraud does occur, law enforcement agencies will have thumbprints as evidence to use in apprehending those responsible," said Polonus. NationsBank began requiring all non-account customers at some of its banks, including 300 Midwest branches in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Arkansas to sign the checks they cash with inkless thumbprints.

Union Planters Bank, headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., uses the program in a number of Southeast Missouri communities, including Cape Girardeau, Perryville, Jackson, Ste. Genevieve, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston. Also using the program is Commerce Bank in all its area branches.

The thumbprint process is simple. The program is an inkless thumbprint signature program. The inkless pad is quick and clean, yet the results provide positive identification, say officials.

By requiring a thumbprint next to the signature, anyone with a criminal record who passes a stolen, washed or reproduced check can be traced, even if the driver's license used for identification was fake.

Thirty-six state banking associations -- including the MBA -- recommend the procedure.

More than 100 Missouri banks and 202 Kansas banks have added the thumbprint touchpads during the past 18 months, said Barnett. These include branches of Bank of America, NationsBank, Mercantile, UMB and Commerce Bank.

Barnett expects to see thumbprinting at banks and businesses become more widespread.

"You never really eliminate fraud, it just shifts to another business," she said, "and we're already seeing big interest in the program from the retail sector."