Is It Okay To Be Over The Amount That Your Register Suppose To Have In It?

Example

A check filled out with labels showing where to complete each section — A completed check. Employ this every bit an example or move through the steps below (View larger). Justin Pritchard

Hither's an overview of the perfect check.

Current date: Write this near the pinnacle right-manus corner. In nigh cases, you'll utilize today's engagement, which helps you and the recipient go along authentic records. Yous tin also postdate the bank check, simply that doesn't always piece of work the way y'all think it volition.
Payee: On the line that says "Pay to the order of," write the name of the person or organization y'all're paying. You may accept to inquire "Who mdo I make the check out to?" if you're not sure what to write, because this information needs to be authentic.
Amount in numeric grade: Write the amount of your payment in the small box on the correct-hand side. Start writing as far over to the left as possible. If your payment is for $8.15, the "8" should be right up confronting the left-manus border of the dollar box to preclude fraud. Run into examples of how to write in the amount.
Amount in words: Write out the corporeality using words to avert fraud and defoliation. This volition be the official amount of your payment. If that corporeality is different from the numeric course that you lot entered in the previous pace, the amount you wrote with words will legally be the amount of your bank check. Use all capital letters, which are harder to modify.
Signature: Sign the check legibly on the line in the lesser-correct corner. Utilize the same name and signature on file at your bank. This step is essential—a check volition not be valid without a signature.
Memo (or "For") line:If you similar, include a note. This footstep is optional and volition not bear upon how banks process your check. The memo line is a adept place to add a reminder about why you wrote the cheque. It might also be the place to write data that your payee will apply to process your payment (or find your business relationship if anything gets misplaced). For instance, you could write your Social Security Number on this line when paying the IRS, or an account number for utility payments.

Later you write the check, make a record of the payment. A check register is an platonic place to do this, whether you use an electronic or paper register. Recording the payment prevents yous from spending the coin twice—the funds volition still bear witness as available in your business relationship until after the check is deposited or cashed, and that could take a while. It's all-time to brand a note of the payment while it'south fresh in your mind.

Before writing a bank check, brand sure that it'south really something you demand to do. Writing a cheque is cumbersome, and it's not the fastest way to move money. You might have other options that would make your life easier and help you save coin. For example, you lot tin:

Pay bills online, and even tell your banking company to send a cheque automatically each month. You won't demand to write the check, pay for postage, or get the bank check in the postal service
Become a debit bill of fare and spend with that instead. You'll pay out of the same business relationship, merely you'll do it electronically. There's no need to use up checks (which yous'll have to re-order), and you'll have an electronic record of your transaction with the payee name, the date of your payment, and the corporeality.
Set upwardly automatic payments for regular payments similar utility bills and insurance premiums. There's typically no charge to pay this way, and information technology makes your life piece of cake. Just be sure that y'all've always got enough cash in your account to encompass the neb.

No matter how yous choose to pay, make sure you always accept sufficient funds available in your checking business relationship. If you don't, your payments may "bounce" and create problems, including hefty fees and potential legal issues.

Record the Payment in your Check Register

An example of how to copy information from your completed check to your check register — Make a note of the transaction in your check register. Copy everything from your check so you know what happened later. Calculate your running balance so you know how much money you accept right now. Justin Pritchard

Make a record of every check y'all write in a check register. Doing and then will let you to:

Track your spending and then yous don't bounciness checks.
Know where your money goes. Your banking concern statement may only prove a cheque number and amount—with no clarification of whom yous wrote the cheque to.
Detect fraud and identity theft in your checking account.

You lot should have received a cheque register when you lot got your checkbook. If you don't have one, It'southward easy to make your ain using paper or a spreadsheet.

Copy all of the essential information from your check:

The cheque number
The date that you wrote the check
A description of the transaction or whom you wrote the bank check to
How much the payment was for

If you lot demand more than details on where to discover this data, see a diagram showing the different parts of a cheque.

You can use your register to remainder your checking business relationship. This is the do of double-checking every transaction in your bank account to make sure that you and the bank are on the same page. You'll know if in that location are mistakes in your business relationship, and if anybody has failed to deposit a check you wrote them (thereby making you believe you accept more coin to spend).

Your check register can besides provide an instant view of how much coin you lot have available. Once you lot write a check, y'all should assume that the money is gone—in some cases, the funds are fatigued from your account speedily, because your check is converted to an electronic check.

Tips for Writing a Check

A check that has been altered from $8.15 to $8,159 — Justin Pritchard

When you write a cheque, make sure it gets used the manner you intended—to pay the corporeality you expected to the person or organization y'all intended.

Thieves can modify checks that become lost or stolen. Checks take multiple opportunities to go lost after they leave your hands, so make it difficult for thieves to create headaches for you lot. Whether or not y'all lose money permanently, you lot'll have to spend fourth dimension and effort cleaning upward messes later on fraud.

Security Tips

Develop the habits below to decrease the chances of fraud hit your account.

Make it permanent: Apply a pen whenever you write a cheque. If you lot use a pencil, anybody with an eraser can change the amount of your check and the proper name of the payee.
No blank checks: Don't sign a check until after yous've filled in the name of the payee and the amount. If you're not sure whom to brand the check payable to or how much something costs, just bring a pen—it's much less risky than giving somebody unlimited access to your checking account.
Keep checks from growing: When you're filling in the dollar amount, make sure you print the value in a fashion that prevents scammers from adding to it. Do this by starting at the far left edge of the space, and draw a line later on the terminal digit. For instance, if your check is for $eight.15, put the "viii" every bit far to the left as possible. And so, draw a line from the correct side of the "5" to the end of the space or write the numbers then large that it'south difficult to add any numbers. If you leave space, somebody can add digits, and your check might terminate up being $98.xv or $8,159.
Carbon copies: If you want a paper record of every check you write, get checkbooks with carbon copies. Those checkbooks feature a sparse sheet containing a copy of every check you write. As a result, you lot can quickly identify where your money went and exactly what you wrote on every cheque.
Consequent signature: Many people don't have a legible signature, and some even sign checks and credit card slips with humorous images. But consistently using the same signature helps you and your banking company identify fraud. Information technology'll exist easier for you to prove that you're not responsible for charges if a signature doesn't match.
No "Cash": Avoid writing a check payable to cash. This is just as risky as carrying effectually a signed bare check or a wad of cash. If you need cash, withdraw from an ATM, buy a stick of glue and get greenbacks back using your debit bill of fare, or simply get cash from a teller.
Write fewer checks: Checks aren't exactly risky, merely at that place are safer ways to pay for things. When y'all make electronic payments, in that location'southward no paper to get lost or stolen. Most checks get converted to an electronic payment anyway, so you're not avoiding technology by using checks. Electronic payments are typically easier to track, considering they're already in a searchable format with a timestamp and the name of the payee. Use tools like online bill payment for your recurring expenses, and utilize a credit or debit card for everyday spending.

Ofttimes Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can I write a check to myself?

You lot tin write a check to yourself and and so deposit it in an ATM, at a depository financial institution co-operative, or through your mobile cyberbanking app. Use the aforementioned process outlined in a higher place, and put your name in the "Pay to the Order of" surface area of the bank check. Yous will need to endorse the dorsum of the check when you deposit it.

When should I sign the check?

Practice non sign a check until you take filled in the "Pay to the Order of" department, besides as the numeric and written amount. Signing a bare check leaves your bank account exposed if yous accidentally lose it or if information technology is stolen.