The paper trail is disappearing.

An already electronic world will further hit the banking industry on Oct. 28, when the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act goes into effect.

Though bank officials say most people won’t see much of a difference in their accounts, Check 21 may make a difference to those who like to float their checks.

Floating, the term used for writing a check one day in hopes that it will not clear for several days until money is deposited in the account, won’t be possible with the new system.

&uot;They should not depend on the float anymore,&uot; Britton and Koontz Operations Supervisor Mary Lynn Jordan said. &uot;The rule of thumb has always been that you deposit your funds before you write checks.&uot;

The new system cuts out a step in the banking process that has been in place for years. Currently a check is first deposited at the bank of the person receiving the money before being sent back to the bank of the account holder to receive the money. Checks are physically transported from bank to bank.

The new act is in response to the problem that was magnified in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, when airplanes were grounded.

Check 21 cuts out the transportation of the physical checks and creates an electronic reproduction of the check to be instantly sent to another bank. Banks also will create substitute checks that will be sent to the account holder for their records. These substitutes are paper copies of the original check. The bank can decide what to do with the original check, most have said they will destroy them.

Since most local banks already return images of the checks to the account holders, AmSouth, B&K and United Mississippi banks said their customers should not be too affected by the change.

&uot;For us we are expecting this to be transparent to our customers,&uot; Jordan said. &uot;They really aren’t going to notice a difference.&uot;

Jordan said businesses probably wouldn’t see a major change because of Check 21, but would have quicker access to their funds.

Banks nationwide are sending their customers information regarding the new system this month, but most local banks say Check 21 won’t immediately go into effect in their bank but will be phased in over the next year.