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Cheapcheckstore.com strives to provide our clientele with the finest checks and other related goods, delivered promptly and safely. Our prices are guaranteed to be some of the lowest offered online, without compromising quality or service with our Nationwide Lowest Price Guarantee. As we begin to better understand your needs as a customer, we will bring in new products to make your shopping easier, if you'd like to provide input by emailing us at sales@CheapCheckStore.com with recommendations and product requests, we highly value your input. Help us help you, and we'll gladly return the favor by becoming an even better source for your financial document needs.
Cheap Checks: Two Myths Your Bank Doesn't Want Debunked
Over 50 percent of checking account holders (both business and personal) purchase their checks through their financial institutions. They will do so even if going with an outside supplier allows them to purchase cheap checks.
Some banks even discourage customers from purchasing cheap checks from a supplier. They usually cite security as the reason. However, they are not necessarily less secure.
Customers who purchased theirs from a printer in past decades (before the Internet) usually did so in person. Competition wasn't strong, so prices weren't competitive with the bank's prices. Customers typically chose this option only for the greater design flexibility, not for better prices.
The Internet changed this market considerably. The banking public now had instant access to suppliers/printers online. Competition drove prices down, and customers began looking to the Web for cheap options.
Despite this, the idea still prevails with many consumers that checks must be purchased at a financial institution. Conventional "wisdom" states that cheap checks can't be good ones.
Two major myths exist that seem to back up this "wisdom":
1) They are illegal. It's a common misconception that any that are purchased outside of the bank cannot be legally accepted.
However, the legal definition of "check" states that one is simply a written order by an account holder. The order must contain certain legal language, including the phrase "pay to the order of." It must also contain pertinent banking information, including the holder's account number and the bank's name and branch number.
Technically speaking, any piece of paper can be used as legal tender. It needs only to contain all of the required legal information and wording.
Financial institutions introduced printed forms as a means of standardizing and streamlining the pay order process. Standardized versions are simply easier for banks to verify and process. Standardized forms are also harder to forge than a hand-written order.
However, financial institutions then cornered the market on the selling of the product. This was largely done by perpetuating the myth that purchasing them anywhere else was risky.
2) They are less secure. It's true that a hand-written order to take money out of one's account is subject to risk. Such a note can easily be forged and is difficult for a financial institution to authenticate.
Standardized, printed versions, though, must be legally accepted everywhere. They cannot be rejected by the receiver or by a financial institution solely on the basis of their origin.
They must, however, contain the information dictated in the legal definition of a check. They must also contain a MICR code (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition).
This code is found on the bottom of every slip, usually on the left side. It looks a little bit like a retail bar code, but also contains a series of numbers.
The characters and numbers contain information about the bank, branch and account holder. It is able to be scanned and read by a financial institution's computer system.
This code helps banks identify the account holder and authenticate the pay order. Even so-called "cheap checks" are printed with a MICR code and are, therefore, legal tender.
Purchasing them online requires you to obtain a MICR Specification Sheet from your financial institution. Banks are obligated to provide this, and doing so usually takes just a few minutes. Simply supply this sheet to your supplier, and they will be able to print your documents with the appropriate codes.
Cheap checks can now be purchased online. Web competition has made this an economical purchasing alternative. It is also one that is legal, safe and secure.
Learn how to save money with cheap checks and business checks here.
Some banks even discourage customers from purchasing cheap checks from a supplier. They usually cite security as the reason. However, they are not necessarily less secure.
Customers who purchased theirs from a printer in past decades (before the Internet) usually did so in person. Competition wasn't strong, so prices weren't competitive with the bank's prices. Customers typically chose this option only for the greater design flexibility, not for better prices.
The Internet changed this market considerably. The banking public now had instant access to suppliers/printers online. Competition drove prices down, and customers began looking to the Web for cheap options.
Despite this, the idea still prevails with many consumers that checks must be purchased at a financial institution. Conventional "wisdom" states that cheap checks can't be good ones.
Two major myths exist that seem to back up this "wisdom":
1) They are illegal. It's a common misconception that any that are purchased outside of the bank cannot be legally accepted.
However, the legal definition of "check" states that one is simply a written order by an account holder. The order must contain certain legal language, including the phrase "pay to the order of." It must also contain pertinent banking information, including the holder's account number and the bank's name and branch number.
Technically speaking, any piece of paper can be used as legal tender. It needs only to contain all of the required legal information and wording.
Financial institutions introduced printed forms as a means of standardizing and streamlining the pay order process. Standardized versions are simply easier for banks to verify and process. Standardized forms are also harder to forge than a hand-written order.
However, financial institutions then cornered the market on the selling of the product. This was largely done by perpetuating the myth that purchasing them anywhere else was risky.
2) They are less secure. It's true that a hand-written order to take money out of one's account is subject to risk. Such a note can easily be forged and is difficult for a financial institution to authenticate.
Standardized, printed versions, though, must be legally accepted everywhere. They cannot be rejected by the receiver or by a financial institution solely on the basis of their origin.
They must, however, contain the information dictated in the legal definition of a check. They must also contain a MICR code (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition).
This code is found on the bottom of every slip, usually on the left side. It looks a little bit like a retail bar code, but also contains a series of numbers.
The characters and numbers contain information about the bank, branch and account holder. It is able to be scanned and read by a financial institution's computer system.
This code helps banks identify the account holder and authenticate the pay order. Even so-called "cheap checks" are printed with a MICR code and are, therefore, legal tender.
Purchasing them online requires you to obtain a MICR Specification Sheet from your financial institution. Banks are obligated to provide this, and doing so usually takes just a few minutes. Simply supply this sheet to your supplier, and they will be able to print your documents with the appropriate codes.
Cheap checks can now be purchased online. Web competition has made this an economical purchasing alternative. It is also one that is legal, safe and secure.
Learn how to save money with cheap checks and business checks here.
Cheap Checks: The Top Three Myths about Buying Checks Online
Many bank customers are looking for innovative ways to save money on banking. After all, no business is better at nickel-and-diming its customers to death than the bank.
Closing one's account in favor of hiding money under the mattress is never a viable money-saving option. Instead, bank customers should look to other ways to save on those pesky fees. Buying cheap checks online is one effective way to beat the bank.
Personal checks tend to be significantly cheaper when purchased from an online retailer. Unlike the financial institution, which offers multiple services, cheap check retailers only sell checks. They are able to buy blanks in large quantities and stock them on site.
Banks don't have this capacity. Online retailers are able to pass some of their wholesale savings onto customers this way.
The banking public is sometimes wary, though, of purchasing cheap checks online. The notion has a certain stigma attached to it that is unwarranted. The biggest questions tend to lie around the security and acceptability of cheap checks purchased outside of one's local financial institution.
Three of the most common myths include:
1) Cheap Checks ordered from sources outside the bank won't be accepted as legal tender. This is the number one reason customers avoid purchasing from other sources. Banks like this myth because it drives more business their way. However, it's simply a myth.
Legally, any piece of paper can serve as legal tender as long as it contains the correct information. (It's unadvisable to try to use a home-made version, though.) As long as the document contains the right information, it's legal. The required information includes the account holder's name, branch and account number.
The information must be printed in a manner that can be scanned and read by banking computers. In order to do this, you must obtain a MICR Specification Sheet from your bank.
They are obligated to provide this to you upon request. It contains the information that allows your retailer to print the correct information which can be read by banking computers.
2) Ordering outside the bank means they will be less secure. This is another popular myth, and is related to the first one described above.
Remember, the bank is only a retailer. They don't actually print their own checks. They simply contract them out to a printer who must print them according to legal specifications.
Ordering cheap checks online merely cuts out the expensive middle man (the financial institution). The customer saves the fee that the financial institution would have charged by going directly to the source.
Those online sources print their checks to the same legal specifications as the printers that the banks use. They are, therefore, completely secure.
3) You can't order business checks online. This is another myth; one that keeps a financial institution's more lucrative business customers captive to its fees.
Actually, both the personal and business variety may be bought online. The process for ordering the business style is the same as for personal ones.
In fact, business owners can purchase a variety of business documents through an online retailer, including payroll, accounts payable and multi-purpose cheap checks.
Cheap checks are only cheap because they cost less. In reality, they are no less legal or acceptable than the ones available through the bank.
In most cases, customers have a much greater design selection to choose from. Additionally, they may be able to include more information (even a business logo) on checks purchased through an online retailer.
Learn how to save money with personal checks and business checks here.
Closing one's account in favor of hiding money under the mattress is never a viable money-saving option. Instead, bank customers should look to other ways to save on those pesky fees. Buying cheap checks online is one effective way to beat the bank.
Personal checks tend to be significantly cheaper when purchased from an online retailer. Unlike the financial institution, which offers multiple services, cheap check retailers only sell checks. They are able to buy blanks in large quantities and stock them on site.
Banks don't have this capacity. Online retailers are able to pass some of their wholesale savings onto customers this way.
The banking public is sometimes wary, though, of purchasing cheap checks online. The notion has a certain stigma attached to it that is unwarranted. The biggest questions tend to lie around the security and acceptability of cheap checks purchased outside of one's local financial institution.
Three of the most common myths include:
1) Cheap Checks ordered from sources outside the bank won't be accepted as legal tender. This is the number one reason customers avoid purchasing from other sources. Banks like this myth because it drives more business their way. However, it's simply a myth.
Legally, any piece of paper can serve as legal tender as long as it contains the correct information. (It's unadvisable to try to use a home-made version, though.) As long as the document contains the right information, it's legal. The required information includes the account holder's name, branch and account number.
The information must be printed in a manner that can be scanned and read by banking computers. In order to do this, you must obtain a MICR Specification Sheet from your bank.
They are obligated to provide this to you upon request. It contains the information that allows your retailer to print the correct information which can be read by banking computers.
2) Ordering outside the bank means they will be less secure. This is another popular myth, and is related to the first one described above.
Remember, the bank is only a retailer. They don't actually print their own checks. They simply contract them out to a printer who must print them according to legal specifications.
Ordering cheap checks online merely cuts out the expensive middle man (the financial institution). The customer saves the fee that the financial institution would have charged by going directly to the source.
Those online sources print their checks to the same legal specifications as the printers that the banks use. They are, therefore, completely secure.
3) You can't order business checks online. This is another myth; one that keeps a financial institution's more lucrative business customers captive to its fees.
Actually, both the personal and business variety may be bought online. The process for ordering the business style is the same as for personal ones.
In fact, business owners can purchase a variety of business documents through an online retailer, including payroll, accounts payable and multi-purpose cheap checks.
Cheap checks are only cheap because they cost less. In reality, they are no less legal or acceptable than the ones available through the bank.
In most cases, customers have a much greater design selection to choose from. Additionally, they may be able to include more information (even a business logo) on checks purchased through an online retailer.
Learn how to save money with personal checks and business checks here.
