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How To Write A Check- Step By Step Guide
Are you filling a check the first time? Maybe you already know how to write a check but forgotten because you are writing it once in while, whatever the reason is, this guide will help you out with how to write a check.
Although, you might not be having a lot of work to do with checks writing a check is a skill you must know as an adult. While they are less common than they used to be in previous days, checks are still accepted and used widely in this digital era.
Just follow this tutorial on how to write a check step-by-step.
How To Write A Check- Steps Involved
Step One: Date Your Check
The first and foremost step in writing a check is figuring out the date. You will see easily a date column at the top right-hand corner of a check. Just write the date you are signing the check on. This step is highly important because the bank or the person you are writing the check for will easily know when you have written the check.
Step two: To Whom Are you are Writing This Check
The next line or step after the date is done, there is an option written: “pay to the order of”. This is the place where you are supposed to write the name of the company, organization, or individual person to whom you wish to write the check.
If you do not remember the exact name of that person, company, or organization you can just write a simple word “cash” and leave it as it is. It is quite risky if your check get’s lost or stolen on your way. If the word “Cash” is only written and the wrong person gets hold of it, they can easily redeem it to transfer that much amount of cash in their bank account or withdraw that. Either you have to remember or recall the name you are paying to or keep it safely until you hand it over to the person it is written for.
Step Three: Mention The Amount Of Payment (numerical)
The third step of how to write a check involves writing the payment amount. The check contains two numbers where you can easily write the amount you are paying to the person. In the two boxes for mentioning the payment, first, one involves writing the amount in numerical form, for example, you have to rite $100.50 (for reference you have to write the amount you are paying). It is given on the right side just below the place you wrote the date of payment.
Make sure you are writing this very precisely and accurately so that the bank deducts this amount from your bank wisely. It should be accurate and easy to read by anyone.
Step Four: Mention The Amount To Be Paid ( In Words)
Just below the line “pay to the order of” where you wrote the name of person or organization you are paying the amount to, you will see a blank line. In this line, you are supposed to mention in words the dollar amount you have written in the numerical form above in the previous step. For example, you wrote $100.50 dollars above, so you are supposed to write “One hundred and 50/100”.
If you are writing a check using cents, make sure that you are putting the amount to be paid over 100. Even if the dollar amount is a round number with no value after the points, you have to mention 00/100. This is important to give additional or extra clarity to the bank or individual you are paying to.
Writing this section that includes the amount to be paid in words is important because it helps the bank confirm the total amount and deduct that only from your account. It acts as a confirmation overall.
Step Five: Writing The Memo
This step involved in how to write a check is not mandatory as the previous steps involved but it provides extra clarity and it is good if you mention the memo. The memo gives the information on why you are writing the check, it mentions the purpose of writing overall. For example, if you have written the check for suppose paying the electric bill or school fee for your child, you can write “electricity bill” or maybe “monthly rent” to be paid to the owner of the flat or house you live in.
When you are paying the check for a company, the company may ask you to mention the account number through a code in place of a memo. You can also mention the month in a memo.
You can mention your social security number on this particular line when you are paying the IRS or any account number you have for utility payments.
Step Six: Signature
The last step that is involved in How to write a check is providing your signature on the check. On the bottom right corner in front of the memo section, there will be blank space for your name and signature.
Just sign your name over there. The signature should be the same as the signature you used initially when you opened your bank account. Your signature is a precious value you have with yourself while writing a check. Make sure you do it well. The signature can be done only by you on the check you are paying.
Signature shows to the bank that you have agreed to deduct the stated amount from your bank account to be paid to any company, organization, or individual person you are paying to.
These were 6 easy steps to know how to write a check, I am sure you will be able to fill your check just by looking at these steps.
Once you are done with writing the check, you have to make a record of all the payments you have made using this mode of payment. The “Check Register” is the ideal place to perform this does not matter if you are using paper registers or electronic means. Recording these payments is a must because some people have tendencies to forget the payment they have made using checks because they keep no records with them.
In case you are using a register to maintain all the records you need to write 4 important things in it. These are:
- The check number
- The date on which you have written that check
- A description of that transaction you made or to whom you have written the check to.
- The amount you mentioned in the check.
Once you start keeping records you will not have to worry about making a simple payment twice and then hassling to change it. Once you have deposited the check, it will take some time for the processing of payments. If you cannot store all the details of payment in your mind, keeping a record is definitely something you should practice.
Before writing a check to someone you should know that sending money through a check is not the fastest mode of sending money and processing payment in this digital era. If someone needs money urgently, you cannot wait for the bank to process your check. In case you are wondering how to write a check, you can follow the guide provided above, but urgent money transfer has different modes too, let me show you what are these.
Other Modes Of Transfer (For Urgent Cases)
- You can pay the bills online instead of giving so much time and searching how to write a check. In this manner, you can ask the bank to keep sending the checks automatically every month. You will not have to learn how to write a check or pay for postage or get the checks in mailboxes. This can simply prevent you from many things.
- Use a card- debit or credit, for spending or transferring money. This includes paying the same amount but the mode will be electronic. There are absolutely no requirements of writing and using checks which you will eventually re-order. This saves a lot of time and additional work because you do not have to spend time writing and keeping a record of each transaction you are doing. The debit card will hold all the information about the payee, date of payment, and reason for payment.
- You can also set automatic payments if you wish to make payments every month for the same purpose like paying house rent, electricity bills, mobile bills, internet bills, etc. You can also use it for insurance premiums. One great thing about paying the bills using this way is that you will not have to worry about additional charges. It makes your life much easy when it comes to managing payments.
- You have to make sure you have enough amount of cash in your bank account to cover these bills. Every month you will be sent bank statements too by the bank which mentions all the transactions sent and received.
These were some important things you needed to know on how to write a check and what to do in case there are urgent payments you need to make.
For all the college students who want to know how to write a check, you can follow the guide and also see these amazing jobs you can do online to earn passive income.
