Since Oct. 1, opening a bank account has required more personal information.

The deadline for banks to comply with the U.S. Patriot Act was last Wednesday, which has caused banks across the country to follow a new set of customer guidelines for opening an account.

DeKalb is no exception, although the change has caused virtually no problems with local banks.

“What we have done has not really changed for the customer,” said Brad Hertzner, the assistant vice president of American National Bank in Sycamore. “If a customer does not have identification, we cannot open an account for them. We also need to verify the ID to make sure the person is not a terrorist.”

Hertzner said the act was established to eliminate problems with banking in larger cities, but smaller towns such as DeKalb must keep a watchful eye on certain situations.

“We don’t have as much risk as large cities,” Hertzner said. “The example I gave to my employees was that if somebody comes in who lives and works in Chicago and wants to open an account here, we need to be careful about giving him one.”

Although the act has changed the guidelines for opening bank accounts, Hertzner said it could have been much worse.

“Originally, they wanted us to keep customer files on everyone,” he said.

Banks from around the area have voiced no problems with the Patriot Act thus far.

“[Customers] must have a valid ID, which we required anyway, and there is one additional form that needs to be signed,” said John Peterson, branch manager at Resource Bank in DeKalb. “It really hasn’t been a problem.”

Fifth Third Bank in DeKalb has taken the changes in stride.

“Basically, what the bank is requiring is a solid ID, either a driver’s license or a state ID, and sometimes a social security number,” said Pat Huisinga, the manager of Fifth Third. “It hasn’t made things any more difficult because we already required those anyhow.”