Check writer

How to write a check, line by line

Checks feel old-fashioned until you need one — for rent, a contractor, a deposit, a gift. Six lines, and only one of them trips people up.

1. Date — today’s date, top right.
2. Pay to the order of — the exact name of the person or business. No nicknames.
3. The amount in numbers — in the box with the $, e.g. 1,250.00.
4. The amount in words — the long line. Write the dollars in words, then the cents as a fraction over 100, like One thousand two hundred fifty and 00/100. This is the “legal amount,” and it wins if the two disagree — so it has to match. We write it for you above.
5. Memo — optional, but useful: an invoice number, “August rent,” your account number with a biller.
6. Signature — sign it, bottom right. An unsigned check is just paper.

Reading the numbers at the bottom

That band of stylized digits is the MICR line, printed in a magnetic font (E-13B) banks scan automatically: your bank’s routing number, your account number, and the check number. To print a check that actually clears, you need real check stock and magnetic MICR toner — a regular home printout is fine for your records or to fill in by hand, but won’t reliably scan. And only ever print checks drawn on your own account.