You are not required to include check images in customers’ account statements, but you must retain check images and provide them to customers on request. You may charge a reasonable fee for such images, provided that your customers have agreed to the fee.

Neither Regulation CC nor the Uniform Commercial Code require that you provide all check images to customers. However, the UCC does require that you provide a legible copy of a check on a customer’s request at any time up to seven years after you receive the check. 810 ILCS 5/4-406(b).

The UCC requirement to provide copies of checks on request does not prevent you from charging a fee, but the fee charged should be reasonable. As stated in the UCC Official Comments, “this Act does not regulate fees that banks charge their customers for furnishing items or copies or other services covered by the Act, but under principles of law such as unconscionability or good faith and fair dealing, courts have reviewed fees and the bank’s exercise of a discretion to set fees.” Comment 3, Official Comments, UCC § 4-406. Also, Regulation CC would not prohibit you from charging a fee for check images. An FAQ from the FFIEC also indicates that financial institutions may charge a fee for providing a copy or image of both a substitute check, and an original check. See Consumer Compliance FAQ for Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act and the Implementing Regulation, Question 29.

If you are going to start charging a fee for providing check images, you must obtain your customers’ consent. Section 5e of the Banking Act states that a bank may “elect to contract for and receive interest, fees, and other charges” subject only section 4(1) of the Interest Act and any laws applicable to “credit secured by residential real estate.” 205 ILCS 5/5e. Similarly, subsection 4(1) of the Illinois Interest Act allows banks to charge any “charge” that a customer agrees to pay: “It is lawful for a state bank or a branch of an out-of-state bank . . . to receive or contract to receive and collect interest and charges at any rate or rates agreed upon by the bank or branch and the borrower.” 815 ILCS 205/4(1).