Personal Attacks She has also attacked his participation in the House bank, which was closed in 1992 after a scandal over its practice of covering overdrafts until members made their checks good.

Although banks have always offered lines of credit to higher-income depositors with large balances, these programs are aimed at depositors with smaller balances and usually will not cover overdrafts of more than $500.

The House bank has covered overdrafts of members for at least half a century.

Thus, some members' funds were used to cover overdrafts written by others.

As for overdraft fees, she said banks have long covered overdrafts as a convenience to their customers.

There has also been a rise in people seeking loans to cover overdrafts of their credit cards.

New Federal Reserve rules give debit and ATM card users additional protections covering overdrafts.

Unlike ordinary banks, which charge fees to depositors who write checks they can't cover, the House bank covers overdrafts without assessing a penalty and without requiring prompt repayment - offering members, in effect, no-interest loans.

Prosecutors define criminal check-kiting as a form of fraud in which a customer draws checks on several banks, using the checks from one account to cover overdrafts written to another institution.

Very Limited Cases' Mr. McHugh said investigators had found that a few members had signed checks "with insufficient funds to cover overdrafts the bank was already holding."