Checks can be quite useful when it comes to things like paying bills or paying loans back. They are still very popular, even though online payments have become part of the mainstream, too. Even though checks have been around for a long time, people still make mistakes when filling them out and possibly lose money as a result.
You can always order more checks online but you don’t want to lose money for these reasons.
You Don’t Have Sufficient Funds
You need to closely scrutinize your bank account before you send or give your check to anyone. You may see one amount in your account but you might not actually have enough to cover any upcoming checks. That will result in a bounced check and you having to pay more money that you already don’t have.
You Don’t Sign The Check Or Make Your Signature Legible
Banks do keep records of your signature and if it doesn’t match, then they can refuse to honor the check. So this is not the time to be trying out that new fancy signature. The last thing you want to do is to have an important check bounce because of that.
You Post-Date The Check
You want to be careful about this. It might seem straightforward: You write a check and put a later date and then tell the person not to deposit it before then. It should work, right? Your message might go in one ear and out the other and if they deposit the check before then, especially if you don’t have the funds, then you have a situation where you are going to get the check returned and lose money in the meantime.
You Fill Out The Check Incorrectly
There are a number of mistakes you can make here – you could write the wrong name, you could put the wrong number in the number field or you could write the number incorrectly in the written part. Making one or more of these mistakes will result in the check not being cashed – and your possibly getting a riled-up customer or friend in the process, too. Spend some time verifying everything.
These are just some of the things you need to do to make sure that you don’t do so that you can have a smooth experience with your check. It just takes a few minutes and will make everything worth it.
