{{B}} Checking accounts{{/B}}
In the United States, checking accounts are available only at commercial banks. Commercial banks specialize in demand deposits, such as checking accounts. A checking account is money that a customer deposits in order to use that money to write checks. Saving accounts pay the depositor interest but checking accounts do not. In fact, checking account customers pay the bank a service charge for the bookkeeping involved in administering the account.
The method of recordkeeping is also different in savings accounts and checking accounts. A depositor must present his passbook for any savings account transaction. The bank records these transactions in the depositor's passbook. Checking account customers, however, do not have passbooks. They themselves record the amounts of the checks that they write and they receive a monthly statement from the bank. This statement lists all the checks that the bank paid and all deposits that the account holder made during the month. The bank usually sends the statements with the customer's cancelled checks. The customer then compares the balance on the statement with the balance in his own records by subtracting the total of his outstanding checks.
There are other fees that the bank may collect from checking account holders. For instance, banks charge a fee for stopping payment to a check. When a depositor decides that be doesn't want the bank to pay a payee, but he bas already written a check to that person, he may give the bank a stop payment order. The bank will then refuse to pay this check, and charges the depositor a fee. 'Banks also charge a depositor a fee when he is overdrawn. A depositor is overdrawn when he writes a check for more money than the balance in his account: The bank marks the check "insufficient funds", returns it, and charges a penalty for it. In everyday language we say that a check returned for insufficient funds has "bounced".
Recent changes in banking regulations have allowed savings banks to offer negotiable order of withdrawal accounts. These accounts, called N. O. W. accounts, are very similar to checking accounts but they pay interest like savings accounts. The depositor can write withdrawal orders against the balance in the account. These withdrawal orders look like checks, and depositors receive a monthly statement summarizing deposits and withdrawals. There is often no service charge if depositors keep a minimum balance in their accounts. Commercial banks also offer N. O. W. accounts.
As far as checking accounts go, the difference between savings banks and commercial banks is growing smaller in the U. S.
State whether each statement is true or false based on the reading.