# Can I write a Check on Anything I like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196 "2007-11-13T00:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/1 "2007-11-13T00:23:53Z")
There’s a bit of a debate going on between me and some of my mates; I always believed that you could write a check on any piece of paper, and it would still be valid; that a checkbook was just for your convienience. I seem to recall hearing that it’s legal as long as it has your account number, signature, and amount in numerals as well as written. My friends think I’m crazy, that you can only write a check from the special checkbooks you get from the bank, but I remember stories about a notorious prankster that would pay all his bills with checks written on extraordinary things, like bricks, hats and (I may have dreamt this) the side of a cow. I’m seldom wrong; am I right this time? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/2 "2007-11-13T00:32:31Z")
[Cecil replies](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_352b.html). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/3 "2007-11-13T00:42:01Z")
[The check written on a cow](http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/cowcheck.asp). Status: False. But I don’t know of any reason you couldn’t write out a check on an ordinary piece of paper. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/4 "2007-11-13T00:43:37Z")
So, can I cash a photocopy of a check? A few months ago one of our customers faxed us a check. They did it simply to let us know “Hey, you’re check is ready you should have it in the next few days.” Could I have just taken the faxed copy to the bank and called them up and said “Don’t worry, I already got it!” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/5 "2007-11-13T00:45:05Z")
Hmmmmmmm. Cecil and Snopes in conflict. This does not bode well for a good night’s sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/6 "2007-11-13T01:01:36Z")
The short answer is that one of the sources of rules about what kinds of checks you can write is the agreement you sign with the depositary bank. Most of them say something like this: > [@](#): > > 1. Only check blanks and other methods authorized by PFCU now and in the future may be used to withdraw funds from the account. If so authorized by PFCU, the use by me of a personal identifi cation number for such purpose shall constitute my signature. [https://www.penfed.org/pdf/accountsforms/151.pdf](https://www.penfed.org/pdf/accountsforms/151.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/7 "2007-11-13T01:04:56Z")
If you can get the bank to accept the faxed image of a check, you’re golden. More and more often, the actual piece of paper you hand over to the teller doesn’t get more than about 50 feet away from the teller window before it’s scanned, imaged and destroyed. (We call this “truncation” and it’s a key part of Check21 that lets us zing pictures of checks across the network rather than have to lug physical items from one bank to another.) Notice something? We’re working with pictures of checks and strings of numbers internally, so if you bring in a good photocopy that’s scannable, and you convince the teller that it’s legit, it should process right along with no problems. The datastream that says “Cecil Adams owes Joey P fifteen bucks” is all that matters. It hits Cecil’s bank. Cecil’s bank says “Yep, Cecil has the money. We’re taking it out of their account and sending it your way.” There are a handful of things that make a check a check. (as opposed to a coupon, a draft or a grocery list) Being a piece of paper, oddly enough, is not one of them. In daily practice, of course, any right-minded teller is going to send you packing if you bring in something that’s not an original, and on a piece of paper, regardless of how clearly “Pay to…” is marked on it. Likewise, the newer ATMs that scan and truncate checks internally (identifiable as the ones that don’t need envelopes for deposits) will also refuse anything that’s not on paper. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/8 "2007-11-13T01:09:04Z")
[QUOTE=PFCU] Only check blanks and other methods authorized by PFCU now and in the future may be used to withdraw funds from the account. [/quote] Now, that doesn’t expand on what PFCU has authorized currently, or what they may decide to authorize in the future. For all I can tell from that sentence, they may have authorized the use of salmon filets. Chances are pretty good that they mean paper, though. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/9 "2007-11-13T01:26:24Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] Now, that doesn’t expand on what PFCU has authorized currently, or what they may decide to authorize in the future. For all I can tell from that sentence, they may have authorized the use of salmon filets. Chances are pretty good that they mean paper, though. 🆒 [/QUOTE] Well, if they’ve approved salmon for their deluxe checking program, then you may write a check on a salmon, and they’ll be contractually obligated to accept it. U.C.C. § 3-408 places the dispute squarely between you and your bank.: > [@](#): > > DRAWEE NOT LIABLE ON UNACCEPTED DRAFT. > > A check or other draft does not of itself operate as an assignment of funds in the hands of the drawee available for its payment, and the drawee is not liable on the instrument until the drawee accepts it. > **[U.C.C. - ARTICLE 3 - NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS (2002)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/3)** That relationship, in this case, is governed by § 4-402: > [@](#): > > BANK’S LIABILITY TO CUSTOMER FOR WRONGFUL DISHONOR; TIME OF DETERMINING INSUFFICIENCY OF ACCOUNT. > > (a) Except as otherwise provided in this Article, a payor bank wrongfully dishonors an item if it dishonors an item that is properly payable, but a bank may dishonor an item that would create an overdraft unless it has agreed to pay the overdraft. > > (b) A payor bank is liable to its customer for damages proximately caused by the wrongful dishonor of an item. Liability is limited to actual damages proved and may include damages for an arrest or prosecution of the customer or other consequential damages. Whether any consequential damages are proximately caused by the wrongful dishonor is a question of fact to be determined in each case. > > (c) A payor bank’s determination of the customer’s account balance on which a decision to dishonor for insufficiency of available funds is based may be made at any time between the time the item is received by the payor bank and the time that the payor bank returns the item or gives notice in lieu of return, and no more than one determination need be made. If, at the election of the payor bank, a subsequent balance determination is made for the purpose of reevaluating the bank’s decision to dishonor the item, the account balance at that time is determinative of whether a dishonor for insufficiency of available funds is wrongful. > **[U.C.C. - ARTICLE 4 - BANK DEPOSITS AND COLLECTIONS (2002)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/4)** The PFCU example modifies this relationship a bit, too: > [@](#): > > 1. Should PFCU decline to pay any check, or if I instruct PFCU not to pay a check, PFCU shall not be liable, except for gross negligence, for any action it takes regarding payment or non-payment of a check. \*Id. \* And of course, this gives me an excuse to trot out a link to [Jennings, Marianne, "I Want to Know What Bearer Paper Is and I Want to Meet a Holder in Due Course: Reflections on Instruction in UCC Articles Three and Four, 1992 BYU L. REV. 385](http://lawreview.byu.edu/archives/1992/2/jen.pdf) The last page reviews some adventures with checks and their likely real world outcomes. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/10 "2007-11-13T01:38:24Z")
From Bankers Online: > [@](#): > > Is a Check Written on a Paper Napkin Negotiable? > Question: A customer wrote a check using a paper napkin and we don’t know > whether to pay it or not - what’s required to make a check legal? > > Answer by John Burnett: > > Many banks now have provisions in their deposit contracts allowing the bank to > set standards on the form of documents used for the account (this generally > refers to deposit tickets and checks). But if the bank has no such provision, or > hasn’t set the standard for customers, all that is required is that the check be > payable to order or bearer, on demand, in an amount that can be determined > from the face of the check, that it be signed by the drawer and that the check > identify the account from which it is to be paid. In theory, it could be scrawled on > the side of a watermelon. > That works if the check is presented directly to the paying bank for payment. The > paper napkin or watermelon would not be acceptable for clearing between banks. [http://www.bankersonline.com/operations/guru2006/gc\_check010206.pdf](http://www.bankersonline.com/operations/guru2006/gc_check010206.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/11 "2007-11-13T02:27:42Z")
Back to the basics, most checks don’t come from the banks themselves. They come from printing companies that don’t have any more legal standing than you or I do. In fact, software to print your own checks on your computer is common and perfectly acceptable. You can create one in MS Word if you want to. I don’t know what the practical limit is but you can create your own checks on a computer for sure and use fancy fonts and background pictures. Try getting stranger and stranger from there and see what the practical limit is. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/12 "2007-11-13T02:31:54Z")
I thought ‘officially-accepted’ cheques had to have those machine-readable MICR numbers at the bottom? ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/13 "2007-11-13T02:32:00Z")
No one has mentioned magnetic ink… Wasn’t/Isn’t a large part of modern checks the magnetic ink that is used which greatly aide and speed up check processing? Or am I thinking of something else entirely? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/14 "2007-11-13T02:35:14Z")
[QUOTE=BrandonR] No one has mentioned magnetic ink… Wasn’t/Isn’t a large part of modern checks the magnetic ink that is used which greatly aide and speed up check processing? Or am I thinking of something else entirely? [/QUOTE] That helps the banks but it isn’t required. As I mentioned, millions of people print their own checks on their plain PC printers. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/15 "2007-11-13T02:50:39Z")
Checking law is an obscure but well developed field of law. Linked below is a classic story of a man that decided on a whim to deposit a junk mail promotional check into an ATM. It was for about $100,000 and he expected the bank to get a chuckle out of it. Instead, everything about the check was legal. The money was deposited into his account and he sent both the bank and the promotional company into a panic. Because they were so hostile and he was legally free and clear, he strung them along for a while and consulted experts on checking law. It appeared that the money was his but he eventually returned it like he always intended to. This story is long but is still really good and an early web classic: > **[Welcome goodthink.com - BlueHost.com](http://www.goodthink.com/writing/view_stories.cfm?id=11&page_id=2)** > > Bluehost - Top rated web hosting provider - Free 1 click installs For blogs, shopping carts, and more. Get a free domain name, real NON-outsourced 24/7 support, and superior speed. web hosting provider php hosting cheap web hosting, Web hosting,... ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/16 "2007-11-13T03:09:17Z")
I should add that the story I linked above is many pages long but is also an excellent laymans tutorial on checking law and its oddities. I think you will understand it better if you read the whole story. Look for the links to the next pages because it is web old-school and goes for about ten pages. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/17 "2007-11-13T03:30:42Z")
If there’s no MICR (or it’s unreadable) the check is put into a cellophane envelope with the account info printed in MICR at the bottom. OR, they just print the MICR onto a strip of paper and glue that onto the bottom. (Why yes, I balance the check book for a small business) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/18 "2007-11-13T08:58:11Z")
[QUOTE=BrandonR] No one has mentioned magnetic ink… Wasn’t/Isn’t a large part of modern checks the magnetic ink that is used which greatly aide and speed up check processing? [/QUOTE] The relevant word is “was”. Magnetic Ink was used way back when, because it was more reliable than regular OCR-type scanners. But not anymore. Nowadays you can buy a scanner for your home PC for under a hundred dollars, including OCR software, that can reliably read any well-printed page. So nearly all banks have converted to optical scanners rather than MICR readers. (The exceptions would be banks in tiny towns, that haven’t upgraded their equipment in the last 25 years. And even those have procedures to manually handle checks that the MICR reader can’t read.) The MICR font is an easy one to read (especially as it only has 14 characters) for either MICR readers or optical scanners. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/19 "2007-11-13T13:17:25Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] [The check written on a cow](http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/cowcheck.asp). [/QUOTE] During the legal proceedings of _The Board of Inland Revenue v. Haddock_, I’m pretty sure the judge asked counsel if the cow was crossed. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196/20 "2007-11-13T17:07:21Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] You can create one in MS Word if you want to. I don’t know what the practical limit is but you can create your own checks on a computer for sure and use fancy fonts and background pictures. [/QUOTE] I can think of several uses for goatse checks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-write-a-check-on-anything-i-like/426196.md?page=2)