How to Fill Out a Check

We demonstrate how to write a check

There are five simple steps to filling out a check. These steps, if followed every time, will ensure that you provide the correct information and pay exactly what you had expected to exactly who you had expected to pay. While they will eventually become second nature, it is necessary to pay attention to the steps to writing a personal check at first.

1. Fill out the date on the check. There will be a line for the date in the upper right hand corner of the check. How you write the date may vary according to the design on your check, but the date should always include the month, day, and 4-digit year. You should write the current date on the check, as many institutions will not honor checks written in advance.

2. Write the full name of the company or person you are paying in the line that follows “Pay to the order of”. This identifies who you want your money to go to. There may be many people with the name Sarah Jones, so it is helpful to add a middle initial when you have it. Do not worry if you only know the person’s first or last name. Do not use nicknames or abbreviations.

3. Under the line you wrote the payee on, you should write, in words, the amount of money you are paying them. After the dollar amount write "and" then the cents are written as a fraction out of 100, for example $10.63 is written as "ten dollars and 63/100". Next to this line, you should write, numerically, the amount of money you are paying them in the box. Be sure to include a clear decimal point and the cents, even if the check is for a whole dollar amount. The cashier or banker will check that the amount you wrote matches the numbers you put in the box. This ensures that the banker or cashier do not accidentally over pay or under pay because they misinterpreted your handwriting.

4. You can fill in the bottom left hand line with what the check is written for. This line is optional, but can be beneficial for record keeping.

5. Finally, be sure to sign your check with your full name. Sign your check legibly, so the cashier or banker can confirm your name matches the name in the left hand corner of the check. Unless a check is signed, it cannot be cashed. An unsigned check is the same as no check at all.
filled out check diagram
For your personal safety, never leave empty blanks on your check. If the amount you wrote the check out for does not take up a lot of space, you can simply draw a line though the space. Once you have filled your check out, and given it to the payee, you should document in your checkbook register how much money you spent and to whom you wrote your check. This will help you keep your records straight and will make filling out your next personal check much easier. If a check is written it should be used soon. A check with a date older than a certain time (find out how long in your state) is a stale check and can be returned by the bank.



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