Please note that this answer discusses the requirements of the Check Printer and Check Number Act before it was amended in 2014. For a current version of the law discussed in this answer, please see 205 ILCS 690/10.

Most likely, many of the customers who are opening new deposit accounts at your bank are moving to your bank from another financial institution. The Check Printer and Check Number Act provides an exception to the rule that you described above for checking accounts that are opened within thirty days after the closing of a checking account by the same customer, under the following conditions:

. . . when a consumer-deposit account at any financial institution in Illinois has been voluntarily closed by the customer, the number displayed on the checks, drafts, or orders for a new consumer deposit account opened within 30 days thereafter, titled in the same manner as, and with the same owners as the closed account may commence with a number that is not greater than the next consecutive number higher than the highest consecutive number displayed on a check, draft, or order processed through the closed account.

Your side question correctly infers that this law was put into place by the retail industry. Many retailers will not cash checks that are under a certain number. While high numbers do not guarantee anything, low numbers indicate that the drawee bank does not have a longstanding relationship with the drawer and may not honor an overdraft. Also, new account holders are subject to longer holds on their deposits under Regulation CC (for the first six months after opening the account). For these reasons, many retailers apparently find some comfort in seeing higher numbers on the checks that they accept.

It strikes us that the current exception in the Act — the one set forth above — could be broader and arguably still accommodate some of the retailers’ concerns. For example, many new accounts are simply additional accounts opened with the same institution, in which case there is no account that is closed. Also, many people open a new account at a new bank without closing an existing account held at another financial institution. Certainly in the first example, retailers should have no concerns with providing higher numbered checks at the onset of the account. Even in the latter example, the existence of other accounts at other institutions should give rise to a greater level of confidence that a check will clear.

Perhaps the IBA should consider seeking a broader exception to this Act in the next legislative session. We would be happy to present this issue to our Government Relations Committee when it next meets. Thanks for the insightful question!