How to Write a Check
78What is a Check?
Checks are used to pay bills or to buy goods or services. According to Wikipedia, a check is a "negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified demand account held in the maker/depositor's name with that institution."
Many people today prefer to pay their bills electronically through the Internet. However, there are still many people who prefer to use paper checks. Paper checks are not going to disappear soon so it is important that you know how to write a check.
How to Write a Check
- Write your name on the top left hand side of the check. You can get this pre-printed on the checks you order from your bank.
- Write the proper date in the space provided on the right hand side of the check.
- Fill in the "pay to the order of" area with the name of the person or company to whom you are sending the check.
- Fill in the dollar amount you wish to make the check out for in the box on the right side of the check (it usually has a $ sign at the beginning and contains a decimal point.) Make sure the numbers are close together and right up against the decimal point so they can't be manipulated.
- Write out the dollar amount (ie. one hundred dollars) and write any cents in as a fraction of 100 (please see the above illustration.) Make sure you draw a line from where you stop writing to the cents area so that it can't be manipulated.
- Fill in the memo field in the bottom left of the check with either an account number for the bill you are paying or information on what the check was for.
- Sign your name in the provided field on the bottom right of the check. Make sure you use a similar signature to the one your bank has on record.
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It's That Simple
And there you have it, how to write a check. If you make a mistake on any of the fields in the check you can fix it, but initial it so that the bank knows you are aware that a change was made on the check.
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Video Instruction on How to Write a Check
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Comments
Cheques vary from country to country - here in France we must also write the location in which the cheque is written - there is even a space on the cheque where this information must be written and the cheque is invalid if it's not completed. All cheques written in shops etc must be presented with a photo ID - the number of which is written on the back of the cheque by the vendor/service provider.
Thanks for the comments. Why don't you guys answer the request about how to write checks in other countries?
I was taught to write out the complete amount on the second line as
follows: "One hundred fifty-five & sixty-seven/100 dollars." Of course the purpose of writing out all the numbers is to provide a written out version of the numbers in case they are not written clearly or in error.
I might just do that Uninvited Writer!
We don't have a memo field in cheques in India. And your name is already printed on it.
This would be a good hub for teachers in elementary school, especially for teaching money knowledge. I remember how in fourth grade we were given imaginary dollars and had to balance our check book, which was a very helpful assignment.
I learned how to do it in grade 9 book keeping :)
Thanks for commenting.
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BristolBoy says:
6 months ago
I was thinking of writing a hub explaining how to write a check myself, mainly due to my own problems with doing it, but you beat me to it. However, it is interesting to note that US checks are slightly different to those in the UK by the looks of things!