On 6/8/2012 7:37 AM, Janet wrote:
> In >,
> says...
>>
>> On Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:19:04 -0400, Brooklyn1<Gravesend1> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> I don't know what you mean by "the account is in credit"... here in
>>> the US a checking account is required to maintain a minimum balance or
>>> the account will be closed, but still folks have to buy their check
>>> books and pay the bank a fee per check used. Because of the fees
>>> fewer and fewer people have checking accounts anymore, they've
>>> switched to plastic and the occasional money order. The only
>>> exception I know of to have free checking is if one maintains a rather
>>> large minimum bank balance.
>>
>>
>>
>> My bank has no charge if you have direct deposit. You can buy checks
>> from a half dozen places though, cheaper than the bank.
>
> If you buy checks elsewhere, not from your bank, what info do they have
> printed on? Are they personalised?
All bank checks here need the bank routing info and your account number
encoded using MICR (blocky special characters originally printed only
with magnetic ink) and the usual pay to field and amount spelled out and
written as numbers, date and signature line. After that there are
zillions of patterns and pictures available such as this:
http://www.checksunlimited.com/Category.aspx?catid=73
>
> In the UK cheques come as tear-off pages in a wee book, all cheque books
> are printed by the banks for that specific client and their account. They
> have the bank logo, the client name and a/c number, the bank branch
> number, and the ID number for that cheque.Bank statements show the cheque
> number as well as the amount of money).
>
> No option for a picture of my dog, sadly :-)
>
> Janet