Can you make your own checks?

[Wedesdo]

Can you make your own checks?

I'm getting sick of paying $20 for a box of 200 checks.

Is it legal for me to just open up photoshop and make a check of my own, provided that I keep all the account numbers and information the same?

thanks

 

[Electric Amish]

I think you have to buy legal CHECK BLANKS. Special paper and such to go in your printer.

I know you can write checks in software like Quicken.

amish

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Just look at the inserts that come with the Sunday paper, you can get checks so inexpensively now... checksinthemail, current, they are proably online too. First-time customers get the best break, so it pays to hop from one to the next.

As for making your own, you can, but need the magnetic ink to make them work properly.

Okay, I looked and checksinthemail is online, but I don't see any intro offers online, but try http://www.currentchecks.com, they do have a special listed.

 

[Wedesdo]

magnetic ink? ... i thought they just use OCR machines to read checks...

 

[Raspewtin]

i found my in the mail. i bought them online, i forgot where. the cool thing was i got it very personalized at a fraction of the cost of what the bank wanted. mine has Winnie The Pooh on it

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

<< magnetic ink? ... i thought they just use OCR machines to read checks... >>

I could be wrong, not positive on the ink info.

 

[RossMAN]

Just look at the inserts that come with the Sunday paper, you can get checks so inexpensively now... checksinthemail, current, they are proably online too. First-time customers get the best break, so it pays to hop from one to the next.

That's what I was just about to say, there are TONS of places which will print you like 200 checks for $4.95 plus s/h some even include free address stickers or something like that.

Of course I would never pay for checks since I work for the bank, I get everything free that the average peon customer would have to pay for

 

[Emulex]

you can print your own checks. Some printers require magnetic ink to do so, laser only. By the way, i've found the ibm laser printers at Kinko's have enough iron content in them to not need magnetic toner.

 

[NovaTerra]

A local radio station wrote a check on a man's t-shirt, and the guy went into the bank, pulled the t-shirt off his back (all the while on a cell phone calling in the details), and cashed the check. You do NOT need special paper or magnetic ink or anything else. All you need is a way to print them so they look ok. As long as the Route number and your checking account number are on them, the bank will accept them.

That does not mean the power company, water company or mortgage company will...you may have to fight them if you sent in a T-shirt...but a printed check should not be a problem anywhere.

I print my checks on regular paper off of my regular printer and pay my bills with them.

 

[Tripleshot]

NovaTerra

Finally! The right answer. Well done. Businesses do this all the time. If you want special watermark paper,go to staples,buy the paper,use your accounting program and print up all you want. You can even use your own watermarks in some of the programs.

Settled!

 

[snakesnfrogs]

You can go to Office Depot or Office Max and get a box of blank checks(I think there's 700 checks) and just print them on your printer at home. I think the paper is about 15.00 for a box of it, but you will get 700 checks out of it, so it's worth it. Another benefit, is that the checks have to be manually sorted---most machines won't be able to read the ink, so it ususally takes an extra day for the checks to clear your account.



edit: I checked OD and OMax, but couldn't find the paper on either site. But I know OD has it, that's where I got mine.

 

[Wedesdo]

does any1 know if the banks charge more if they have to &quot;hand process&quot; the checks?

 

[Emulex]

yes most banks will charge you a fee after they get annoyed enough with having to hand process and tape a new micr strip on the bottom of the check.

Its their perogative to charge or not.

 

[snakesnfrogs]

My bank has yet to charge me and I've been using these checks for about 6 months. But, I guess that's up to the individual bank to decide.

 

[d0ofy]

I thought that as long as the checks have the route and account numbers, anything can be a check. You can make a check out of TP and it should go through. Regular checks are standardized to make processing quicker, and to tighten security.

I did some research:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/chk/20010320a.asp

 

[Mapidus]

I think you might be able to. Might need to buy some template paper (maybe avery makes some). Also with respect to the magnetic ink comment, I think this is true. I think to print valid checks you need to use a laser printer with a toner cartridge that contains special MICR check printing toner. These catridges cost several times as much as standard toner cartridges, so you might not be saving much money unless you use a lot of checks.

 

[kaiotes]

what is the name of software to print these checks or get templates of them?

 

[kduncan5]

Cheaper and less of a pain for you and the bank just to order from Current. See Yo_Ma-Ma's post for the address.

Why chance it?

I think I paid something like $6.95 for 400 checks (as a first time customer). -kd5-