Earliest Use of Bank Checks

Ancient Romans are thought to have been the first to use a form of bank checks, though the system was not nearly as complicated or regulated as it is today. Records indicate that they used what were known as praescriptiones as early as 100 BC. Nearly four hundred years later, bankers in the Persian Empire utilized a similar system of credit.

The Medieval Period

Another variation of the modern day bank check system developed in Europe around the middle ages. During that time, the banking center known as the Knights Templar used a check system to hold money for people who took trips across Europe. These people would deposit their money at one station, and then claim it from another by proof of a claim draft. This was one of the earliest uses of a paper check system for claiming funds. It is thought that the Knights picked up this idea from Muslims, who had been using it for a few hundred years prior.

Bill of Exchange

The roots of the current check system come from what was known as a “bill of exchange” by early bankers. Using this system, early banks would allow people to pay necessary bills using bank mandated orders. This made commerce much easier, as people could participate in trade without the need for a large exchange of gold or currency. Overall, this was a necessary development, as carrying around large amounts of coin was both difficult and dangerous for traveling merchants.

Bank Checks in the United States

In the U.S., bank checks were brought over during the Colonial period by European individuals. The system became prevalent and popular in Europe during the early 1700s, so it was natural that the colonists would pick up on the system. As banks have become more complicated in the last 100 years, more and more systems of control and security have been added to bank checks in order to protect the consumer.

If you are new to check writing, then listen up. Though it’s not the most difficult thing in the world, safely writing a check is something that everyone needs to know before it is all said and done.

Use Ink, Never Lead

Writing a check with a pencil leaves you at a huge risk of fraud. Someone could erase what you have written and simply fill in the blanks with how much money they’d like to receive. To keep from handing out blank checks to people, use some sort of ink. Though most people would say that a pen is good enough, it is best to use a permanent marker if at all possible. This is important because there have been instances where people have engaged in “check washing”, a process where criminals use chemicals to remove ink from checks. If you go with permanent marker, this won’t happen to you.

Dating and Identifying

When you first look at the check, it might seem complicated. All of those blanks are easy to fill out once you have all of the information, though. The first step is to fill out the current date on the check. Make sure to correctly identify the date, as post-dating a check is actually illegal. Once you’ve done that, you should write the name of the person who will be receiving the check on the “pay to the order of” line. Be sure to include their complete name.

Filling in the Amount

The most important piece of information on the check is the amount of money it’s worth. You will have to input this information in two places. First, you must input this in the dollar amount line, which can be found just under the “pay to the order of” line. Write out the full amount, including any cents that are involved in the transaction. Filling out this portion of the check will help prevent against someone changing around the numbers that you input. Speaking of those numbers, you will have to input them into the amount box, which can be found on the right side of the check.

Signing the Check

When you are all done with the other parts of the check, it’s time to sign the check. It is very important that you sign the check with your standard signature, similar to the one that can be found on your driver’s license. If you don’t take great care to do this, then the bank could throw up red flags on your check and you could have to answer annoying questions about potential fraud. With the amount of check fraud and forgery going on today, banks are on the lookout for signatures that look suspicious or don’t match your normal signature. The final part of the check is the “info” section, which is optional. Most people like to write what the check is for just for their own bookkeeping ease. Generally, the more information you provide, the better off you will be.

Overall, writing a check isn’t a difficult thing. It isn’t something that should be taken lightly, though. Take great care to fill out each part of the check as carefully as possible, so that there won’t be any chance that your check is altered. This will save you a potential headache in the future.

I go over how to order checks safely online. The many styles and designs available from Bradford Exchange Checks and many other aspects of their site. I hope it makes it clearer and gives you a head start when ordering checks online from Bradford Checks.

Visit Bradford Exchange Checks

Visit Bradford Exchange Checks or see our Bradford Exchange Checks page.

Artistic Checks Throughout History

The history of money has always been meshed with art and artists. Even centuries ago artists were commissioned to decorate money and other currencies like checks, notes and coins.

An excellent example would be the famous check used by the United States to pay Russia for the purchase of the state of Alaska in 1869. Featuring two stunning hand cut lithographs this artistic check is now a valuable piece of history in it’s own right. It’s doubtful whether any of our modern electronic fund transfers will be as useful in providing such a beautiful glimpse of history.

Artistic Checks Add Value

The reason that checks and other money have been decorated with art is simple: art increases the perceived value. Imagine a blank piece of paper scribbled with a promise to pay an amount as compared with a properly printed artistic check. Which one would give you more confidence in the financial transaction?

Decorating money and checks with art is actually quite necessary. With the exception of gold and silver coins, money doesn’t have any real value. Artwork, symbols and decoration are used to create a feeling of trust in the value of the individual or institution that is backing the check or note.

Artistic Checks Deliver Increased Security

Fraud protection is another important aspect of artistic checks. Banks use artistic markings to make checks and other financial notes much more difficult to reproduce or forge. Three important security features are:

• A watermark or other semi-transparent marks which only become visible if the check is held up to the light. They are specially created by an artist so they will not be reproduced easily if the check is copied.
• Holograms are little images etched into metallic foil. They contain what appears to be an artistic 3-D picture which is visible only when held at a certain angle.
• The third technique is micro printing. A special check inking technique that embeds words that are invisible to the naked eye into the lines that make up the images on an artistic check. These words cannot be read without the use of a magnifying glass.

Current Day Artistic Checks

In the past few years artistic checks have undergone a transformation. Rather than the banks and institutions dictating the styles and decorations on the checks, now these decisions are being made by consumers. Modern check printing companies offer thousands of artistic check designs and an almost endless ability to customize check printing.

This article is a brief history of the decoration, both practical and purely esthetic, which is found on bank checks and money in general. Hopefully it will allow you to appreciate the history of and see new possibilities the next time you’re writing or receiving a personal check.

Unique Checks Coupons

Note: Unique Checks has merged with Artistic Checks, you’ll automatically be taken to the new site by using the links on this page, and the coupons will still work on the new Artistic Checks site as well!

Enter Coupon Code: 8UW563 – You must use this Unique Checks Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Unique Checks customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Artistic Checks Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: AWF515 – You must use this Artistic Checks Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Artistic Checks customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Check Crafters Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: BWF168 – You must use this CheckCrafters Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout. CheckCrafters customers can enjoy draft checks at $29.95 and the second set for $10.00.

First time CheckCrafters customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Check Gallery Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: GWF525 – You must use this Check Gallery Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Check Gallery customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Classic Checks Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: CWF446 – You must use this Classic Checks Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Classic Checks customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Identity Checks Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: 9KW817 – You must use this Identity Checks Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Identity Checks customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Image Checks Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: MWF501 – You must use this Image Checks Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Image Checks customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

LifeChecks Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: 9MW821 – You must use this Life Checks Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Life Checks customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Message!Products Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: 8MW780 – You must use this Message!Products Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Message!Products customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Styles Checks Coupons

Enter Coupon Code: ZWF515 – You must use this Styles Checks Coupon link to enter the code, then proceed with your shopping and you’ll receive your discount at the checkout.

First time Styles Checks customers are also eligible for additional discounts by using that link.

Bradford Checks Coupons

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You just need to click the link Bradford Checks coupon to receive a discount on your order automatically, the code is provided only for added convenience.

The fact is there are so many check designs that it can be overwhelming to narrow down what is possible when you want to purchase exciting checks. I’ve created this overview to give you a look into the main category options and make the journey to a more fun and interesting checkbook a bit more direct.

At the top of my list when shopping for checks are the designs available for sports themes. All four major pro sports have checks available for each team. Yes, you can have checks to show your support for NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB printed and customized with your banking information.

If you are feeling patriotic you can easily express it in with designer checks. For some it is only natural to have an image of the United States flag, a popular American landmark or a picture a great president on their checks. They are on the money, so why not have them on a designer check as well?

Car lovers are also well taken care of when they go looking for check designs. Popular muscle cars, exotic foreign sports cars and even hot rods and dragsters can be found printed on designer checks. The check designers haven’t left out the motorcycle lovers. Popular images are racing bikes and of course the Harley Davidson brand is well represented.

It’s also worth mentioning, in case you’re thinking that having just one check design is a limitation, that they check printing companies offer boxes of checks that are groupings of favorite designs. So you can actually have a selection of styles in one checkbooks, so each check you write will have a different design.

If you’re looking for something stylish without having a specific image, there are many fashionable patterns, shapes and colored check designs that can be applied to personal checks. These would range from the most conservative style which would satisfy a traditional taste, to the check designs based on the latest trends from the fashion mavens of Europe.

The last type of designer checks worth mentioning are probably the most fun. These checks cast YOU in the role of the designer! Have a favorite photo from a vacation or your sports team or whatever. The only limit is your imagination.

That concludes this brief tour of the possibilities for customizing your financial transactions with designer checks. You no longer have a excuse for suffering the burden of those plain-Jane ugly blue checks that your bank over charges you for. Yes, it’s true that all the cool designer checks won’t even cost you any more than the ones you receive from your bank.

A new survey shows that people in the UK that they don’t write as many checks as they used to. However, the new figures, from Which?, also say that consumers are not ready to give checks up and begin paying by card just yet. Some retailers, on the other hand, have either already quit accepting cards or are looking at doing so.

What’s interesting about this story is that it goes on to say that not all of the decline is consumer driven. Some companies, including some Wal*Mart stores have actually banned checks as a payment method.

From  Check Usage Declines. And from the orginal articles about checks on Which?.

An Asda spokesman said: ‘Cheques do take time and we know queues are a bugbear. Paying by cheque is more time-consuming than by card or cash.’

The move follows car fuel giant Shell’s decision last September to stop accepting cheques at its 586 forecourts in the UK.

However not everyone accepts the decline:

But cheques are still a popular way of paying smaller businesses and traders, such as plumbers and builders.

A spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses said: ‘A large proportion of our members and small businesses in general still deal in cheques. They shouldn’t be penalised for that and should be able to carry on.

‘I think there will be a natural evolution away from cheques to other forms of payment and the cheque will probably die out. But for the moment we don’t think people who want to pay by cheque should be forced to do otherwise.’

Note: in the UK (and in Canada) where these articles were written “check” is spelled as “cheque.”

The results of the survey still show that 57% find checks very useful.

Cheques: Your opinions on the value of cheques
Your views	% agreement
Use cheques less than they did 5 years ago	72%
Find cheques really useful	57%
Have paid by cheque at least once in the past month	55%
Have received at least one cheque in the past month	40%
Find it annoying to get a cheque	23%
Have been refused when trying to pay by cheque in the past year	4%

Source for the check usage survey chart.

This can help consumers afford their purchase with the benefit of stalling the credit for a few days before the check clears if funds are not yet available.

Check clearing for the 21st Century Act changed how the game is played. The act allows a bank to send a virtual copy of your check to your bank rather than the actual check that you write. The virtual copy of the check travels from a bank’s machine to another in the speed of light. This is way faster than the traveltime you can get to your bank and make the deposit for your check.

On the other hand, banks didn’t shorten the hold on the checks you deposit. Clearing can still take longger than a day or up to a month depending on bank policies. Now whenever you write a check, you better make sure that your account can fund the clearing of the checks you issue immediately.

For details on just how a bank can process a check so quickly, and why you need to have the funds available or an overdraft in place, check out the follow brief video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You’ve got the Elvis purse the Elvis socks and of course the music…the only thing missing is the Elvis checkbook cover. Why not? Maybe you’re an Elvis impersonator? Well you can remember the King of Rock and Roll and the good times that you had listening to the charismatic crooner with memorabilia for your wallet.

There are a lot of different designer checkbook covers, many that have themes of popular music and popular culture in general. Did you know you could purchase a genuine leather check book wallet with a classic Coca-Cola bottle embossed onto the front?

But the best for you is the custom leather Elvis model, without a doubt, and you can save yourself a trip to Graceland’s gift shop and pick one up online. There are a lot of places to purchase checkbook covers online, including eBay, The Bradford Exchange, 4 Checks and Checks Unlimited.

By ordering a checkbook online you’ll receive all the same features and quality controls that you expect: long lasting durable leather or vinyl, holders for either top loading top-tear checks or side loading site-tear checks. In most cases there is a place for a pen and a register to help you record your purchases and keep your checking account balanced.

You can find our recommendations for online retailers and a preview of the many styles on our checkbook cover page.

Made from beautiful logo jacquard fabric and trimmed in matching genuine leather.

Size 6.5×3.5 inches.

Fossil Womens Leather Checkbook Cover – Cargo Deluxe Checkbook Cover – Color: Saddle – SL8390216

Fossil offers free shipping on orders over $40.00

See more checkbook covers including our recommendations.