I had an experience this past weekend, similar to one that I read about on your website. I wrote a check at a Home Depot. The check was denied, with no explanation. I was eventually told to contact Certegy, the company that approves the checks.
Certegy had no information that would suggest that they should deny a check written from this account, other than citing that the amount was a large amount ($600), while I have thousands of dollars sitting in that account.
They offered me an opportunity to fill out a Gold application that would give them additional personal information about me, and would allow me to write checks from this account. I have no plans to do so.
This is not consumer protection... this is fraudulent. I have made a complaint to the FTC. I am also looking for other government agencies to look into this. I have seen other complaints about Certegy on the internet.