# Is there a proper way of writing .00 on a check? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531 "2003-04-27T19:52:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/21 "2003-04-28T05:43:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Davebear \* > \*\*I agree. If it’s honored, it’s fine. Personally, I just write the dollar amount and draw a line through the excess space, when there are no cents, involved. Like this; “Thirty-five ---------- Dollars”. > I’ve been told it’s bad to leave the area between the last dollar word and the pre-printed word Dollars blank. I guess the idea is that someone could fill in the word “thousand”, and then cash it. The line prevents this. \*\* Not with _my_ account. Even if the written part was ‘One’ it’d still bounce with a bogus ‘Thousand’ tacked onto it. Hell, even a bogus ‘Hundred’ wouldn’t fly some of the time. I put the squiggly line anyway, though. DD ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/22 "2003-04-28T06:00:59Z")
I just wrote a (thankfully small) check to the IRS, and while they say nothing about how the amount should be written out in words, they are very particular as to how the amount should be written in numerals: > [@](#): > > To help us process your payment, enter the amount on the right side of the check like this: $XXX.XX. Do not use dashes or lines (for example, do not enter “$XXX–” or “$XXX XX/100” I’m not why i would _want_ to help them process my payment, but i followed their instructions anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/23 "2003-04-28T06:44:39Z")
I knew a guy once who would write “…and not a penny more!” I admired that. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/24 "2003-04-28T14:05:47Z")
> [@](#): > > “…and not a penny more!” I like that. I may switch. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/25 "2003-04-28T14:49:23Z")
I use xx/100. Mrs. RickJay writes “Thirty-Five Dollars Even.” Both seem to go through every time. It’s funny you asked this, though, because just a few weeks ago I was looking at a cheque Mrs. RickJay wrote and wondering if I’d been doing it wrong all this time. ---
**Author:** ![Sapphire\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sapphire\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapphire_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/26 "2003-04-28T23:22:56Z")
I write it with 00/100, but since I put slashes through my zeroes (to indicate zeroes rather than o’s), I generally don’t worry. ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/27 "2003-04-29T01:24:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gunslinger \* > \*\*I had seven of the same post once, in various stages of completeness; I have no idea how I managed to do it. > And to answer the question, I write “00/100” or “no/100”. \*\* Sorry about the hijack, folks, but I should, to be polite, respond to **Gunslinger** , and say, '" Wow!" Funny thing, as soon as I left this forum and surfed (is that word still in style?) over to another, I encountered a _quintuple_ post. Go figure. I still just write the nymber of dollars only. No problems. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531/28 "2003-04-29T01:58:22Z")
I think that I need to change my ways. I would write out “Three hundred-seventy dollars and eighty nine cents”. Now, my handwriting is small, but sometimes still not small enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-proper-way-of-writing-00-on-a-check/171531.md?page=1)