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Starting Oct. 28, millions of Americans can start saying goodbye to the cancelled checks they may receive with their monthly bank statements.

That's when the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, or Check 21, becomes law.

It will allow banks to make an electronic image of each check and pass along that image — not the original paper — to other banks and eventually to customers.

The law does not require any given bank to participate. But it is much cheaper to ship electronic images than paper, and banks are eager to make the transition.

That could cause problems for unwary or reckless check writers. First, the check you write at the grocery store will hit your account much faster than in the past. Never again will it be safe to write that check on Thursday, knowing that you won't deposit your paycheck until Friday.

Second, there is no requirement that banks process deposits as rapidly as they do checks. Consumer advocates believe you might deposit your paycheck on Thursday, write the grocery check on Friday, and see the check come home to roost first.

Third, those consumer advocates believe banks might use the new law to impose new fees on customers.

"The law is designed to deliver efficiency and reduce costs for the banking industry," said Gail Hillebrand, a senior attorney for Consumers Union. "Whether it's going to be good for consumers is going to depend on how the banks do it."

The response from bankers: You shouldn't worry.

"Nobody in the banking industry wants to negatively impact our customers," said Carol Malicki, a senior vice president involved in Wachovia's Check 21 task force. "They will speak with their feet and walk to the bank across the street."

The changes will not be apparent to the majority of customers who have already chosen to let the bank hold onto their cancelled checks. As in the past, they will get printed records of transactions on their accounts.

Nor will the change take place overnight. Banks large and small are taking a cautious approach to the changeover. Many will start with pilot programs.

But change is certainly coming. Banks in the United States process about 150 million checks each business day. Some institutions process more than a million a day, zinging them through sorting machines at 60 miles per hour. Some of those checks have to be shipped from one bank to another, many from one state to another, before they end up at your house.

No wonder the financial industry wants to move electrons rather than paper. That desire got even hotter on Sept. 11, 2001, when the airplanes that routinely carry millions of checks around the country were grounded.

• Tips on how to handle the changes

• Internet resources

• Read more Bank on Hank columns