subject: Ansi Standards Protect Customers Who Order Personal Checks Online [print this page] Sometimes consumers are reluctant to order personal checks online. The common fear is that personal checks which aren't bought through the bank are less secure.
Fortunately for consumers, this isn't the case. All printers adhere to the same standards whether you purchase them from a financial institution or order personal checks online. Uniform national standards for check-printing ensure safety and protection for all bank customers, regardless of the source.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the governing body responsible for developing uniform standards for a variety of industries. This United States-based group works with partners and members from many sectors. It also works closely with other industrialized countries and their industry-governing bodies.
The major mandate of ANSI is to develop and help administrate uniform national and international standards systems for products and services. It has helped create worldwide standards for thousands of products in hundreds of industries, including the financial industry.
With ANSI's partnership, banking systems in North America are relatively the same no matter where you go. It is for this reason that consumers can visit any bank machine in the U.S. or Canada and draw funds from their home accounts. It is also the reason why a check written in California can be cashed by a consumer in Maryland no matter where either party banks.
ANSI standards dictate, among other banking practices, how checks are to be formatted. No matter where a customer buys them, they all must contain the same information in the same format. This similarity ensures that a business or personal check can be written and cashed anywhere in North America.
According to those standards, all business and personal checks must contain these elements:
1) Account holder's personal information: This includes his legal first and last name and address. This may also include his phone number, though this is sometimes an option. The account holder's information always appears in the upper left hand corner of the document.
2) Date line: This is the line provided for the account holder to fill in the date of writing. It always appears in the upper right hand corner. This line is crucial because all checks have a "shelf-life", a time frame in which they can be legally be cashed by the payee. This time period is typically around six months from the date of writing.
3) "Pay" or "Pay to the order of" line: This is the line where the account holder writes the name of the person or company he is authorizing funds to be given to. This line appears under the account holder's personal info and date line.
4) Amount box: The account holder writes the numerical amount of the payment in this area. It appears next to the "Pay" line.
5) Amount line: This line appears under the "Pay" line. The account holder must write in words the amount of the personal check.
An example of this would be "One hundred dollars and eighty-two cents" for 100.82 dollars. This helps to protect the account holder against the possibility of someone fraudulently altering the numbers in the amount box.
6) Signature line: This line appears in the bottom right hand corner. The account holder must sign his name here as it appears in his personal information. This is the only way to make the payment valid.
7) Memo line: This line appears near the bottom left hand corner. This is a place for the account holder to record any notes to remind them why they wrote the personal check. This field is optional and doesn't legally have to be filled out.
8) MICR coding: The MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Code) appears at the bottom left hand corner of each document. It's a series of numbers, lines, dots and dashes. This code represents the branch number of the financial institution and the account number of the account holder.
The MICR code is a crucial part of a business or personal check. It allows a special machine to "read" and verify each document and process them quickly. It is this information that allows an account holder to write a personal check to anyone, anywhere.
All printers must legally include this information. Thanks to these standards, you can order personal checks online or at any financial institution. Either way, your account information is secure and protected.
by: Brian Greenberg
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