How to Write A Check

You can open a checking account at a local bank usually with your Social Security Number, photo identification, funds to open the account, and filling out some paperwork. Different banks have different kinds of accounts so you might want to shop around. Many offer a Free Checking option, but don't pay any interest. Some might have interest bearing checking accounts, but they have a Minimum Balance Requirement (meaning you have to keep a certain dollar amount in the account at all times, or you'll pay a service fee).

You will complete a Signature Card, which makes you an authorized party to write checks on the account. The bank will usually give you a few starter checks to get you going. They may give you an order of complimentary checks to get you started or you may need to order some. There are also numerous companies that will print checks out for you, using custom backgrounds like flowers or cartoon characters. You can choose the very simple ones offered by your bank, or make them very personal by using one of these services.

You should never write checks for more funds than you have available in your account, even if you anticipating funds coming in like via Direct Deposit. Should a delay occur, or a check clear faster than you expect, your account could go into the negative and you would incur some pretty stiff bank fees. Or if a payment should bounce, that is a crime and can be prosecuted in county court. Better not to take chances.

Balance your account on a regular basis to watch for any bank errors, or errors on your part in recording a transaction. I recommend getting a software program to help with this, and look for a bank that has free online banking services, then you can monitor your account closely instead of waiting for a monthly statement.

Most checks have several key sections pre-printed on them. In the upper left hand corner will be the name/address of the account holder. Sometimes other information like phone numbers may be included here. Down along the bottom of the check is a line of computer coding called the MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) line. This line of digital numbers provides key information about the check, and is pre-printed on the check with special ink in an OCR-readable font. The first number is the ABA Number, which identifies what bank the check was drawn on. The second number is the Account Number, which identifies which account at that bank the check was drawn on. Finally, the check number is shown, so you can tell transactions apart each check is individually numbered.

There are 6 areas of the check that would be filled out manually if you are going to write a check by hand.

Date: This is the date you are writing the check. Writing a future date is known as post-dating, and should not be done.
Pay to the Order Of: This is the person or party you wish to have the money.
Dollar Amount/Numeric: This is where you write the dollar amount of the payment, in numeric form, and usually there is a rectangle to be filled in. i.e. $165.25
Dollar Amount/Written: This is where you write out in text the dollar amount to be paid. Start as far to the left as you can. You should put any cents at the end using (and XX/100), and then draw a wavy line from the last part you wrote to the end of the line, to prevent anyone from editing your check amount. The word "Dollars" is usually pre-printed on the check, and need not be written. i.e. One Hundred Sixty Five and 25/100. Double check that your Dollar Amount/Numeric and Dollar Amount/Written match - if they do not, some vendors will return the check to you. Based on my own work in processing checks, the Written overides the numeric, and companies may process the check at the written amount. At the one company I worked for, this was our policy as long as the written was LOWER than the numeric. If it was larger, we returned the check to the customer.
Memo: This is an optional area, where you can write a note about what the payment is for. If your payment returns your cancelled checks to you, or if you view your cancelled checks online through your bank, your memo note can help to remind you why you wrote the check.
Signature: You finally sign the check. Signing the check should be the last thing you do, and don't do it until you're ready to give the check to the party, or put the check in the mail. Once it has been signed, anyone can take the check, claim to be the party you put in the "Pay To The Order Of" field and try to take your money - which is NOT GOOD! With security in place now, chances are they would be caught, but why take the chance?

You can see another image showing these different parts in this writing a check tutorial.

Never make your checks out with a pencil or pens that are erasable, you don't want your checks to be altered in any way.

Nowadays many people are writing less checks and switching to other methods of paying their bills and avoid writing so many checks.

People may choose to use credit cards to pay for their gasoline, groceries, and general shopping, and then only have 1 payment a month to make to the credit card company instead of writing individual checks to each place they shop, each time they make a purchase. The key to making this an effective way to avoid interest charges by paying your account off in full every month, and on time.

Many utilities and companies now accept electronic payments, either by keeping a credit card on file to be charges, or setting up electronic ACH (Automatic Clearing House) payments which would debit your bank account automatically each month for that month's charges.

Even if you write a manual check, it is quite possible that the company receiving your check is processing your check electronically instead of depositing it to their bank manually. Companies can create a data file with the routing number, account number, and dollar amount off of the check, and send that to the bank in lieu of depositing the checks. It allows them to receive their funds faster, and usually means your checks are "floating" for a far shorter period of time.

Personally, I have set up all of my utilities to either charge a credit card or automatically charge my bank account, so I don't have to write checks for any of these things.

Right now, the only thing I write checks for are the property taxes on my house, and paying for things my daughter needs at school (putting money in her lunch account, buying her yearbook, paying for fees associated with school activities).

Another option is to use a financial software such as Quickbooks to handle your personal finances. You can actually prepare your checks within the software to be printed on blank check stock that is prepared with your personal MICR coding in place, or printed with special magnetic ink to put it in place. Check out the options below for more suggestions on how to computerize the process of manually writing a check.

You can use them to prepare your checks for you:

Quicken:

Quicken Deluxe 2008 Download for Windows


Quicken Premier 2008 Download for Windows


Quicken Mac 2007 Download


Quickbooks: