** tl;dr: go here if you need to print a check quickly: https://re.filmar.us/checkwriter** - it’s completely free, as in beer.
Did you know that it is completely legal to print your own checks?
If you didn’t, well now you know. This piece of trivia came so useful a few times when I was in a bind and needed to make out a check, but had no checkbook with me.
With this piece of knowledge, I whipped up a small web page that you can use to fill out your own printed check. Visit https://re.filmar.us/checkwriter to print your own, completely for free. Just print the “regular” text fields below the check up top, and verify that the values have been transferred from there.
I do not collect your private information, at all. The page executes on your computer, and I never get to see anything you fill out. Nor would I want to.
In the past, I used a paid service, https://www.checkwriter.com to print my checks. It’s a nice piece of software that in the end produces a printable PDF with a check for you. It’s convenient when you don’t have your checkbook with you. The best use of it was when I wrote an appraisal check from my car, and mailed it to my agent so that they would bring it to the appraiser. The check arrived in 30 minutes. Compare that to a multi-day turnaround to mail a check.
But it costs $10/month for a subscription to do… what? prepare a PDF? While I acknowledge that there is some value to it, this is nothing you can’t do on your own.
A valid check does need some distinguishing features (adapted from the source):
- A date
- A numerical amount
- A matching written-out amount as a verification of (2)
- The phrase “pay to the order of”
- The issuer’s name
- The recipient’s name, following (4)
- A valid account number for the check to be drawn from
- The issuer’s signature
Today, checks usually have the check information printed in a MICR font. While this used to be magnetic ink (and I suppose it is today still if you have your checks printed for you), lots of banks use OCR to recognize the check features, so a regular printed paper with the above will work just fine.
As you might imagine, this check writer comes without any warranties. It is up to you to ensure that what you type into the form makes sense for you. You can then send your check out to your printer and get a printout. Do not forget to sign the check in the signature field.
Once done, you can give the resulting piece of paper to your recipient to cash. They will need to sign the back side of the check to show endorsement, and the check says as much on its face side. Of course, unless you arrange for your printer to be able to print security features, or print on pre-prepared check stock, you will not have any regular check safety features. However, if you don’t really disseminate your checks, this might be of limited concern for you.
Whatever you decide to do here, note that this is provided without warranty of any kind, and any issues you might have that arise from the use of this page is your responsibility.
The other thing to know is that a page printed on a printer will typically cost you anywhere between $0.10 and say $0.50 a piece, which means that if you are in for the economy of it, it is probably still better to pay for a regular (paper) check printing service. But, if you are on the go, or just never know where your checkbook is, this might be something for you.