What is a voided check: When and how to void a check

Of course it takes a whopping two seconds to do, but as a young impressionable teen at the time, being clueless about most financial things was quite common. Wise is an online account that lets you spend abroad with your Wise card. To protect your account, we follow a set of rules set by regulatory agencies in… Signing up is free and easy, and you can wave goodbye to those checks. The only way to give yourself peace of mind is to void the check and then throw it out or shred it. To void a check, you’d have to cancel it before the recipient had deposited it.

You will need to know who it was for, how much it was for, and the check number. If you aren’t sure of any of this information or get it wrong, the check could still be cashed, and the only way to avoid financial loss would be to freeze the account. You may also be able to set up deposit or withdrawal instructions using a deposit slip instead of a voided check. A pre-printed deposit slip might be required—not the blank ones you grab at the bank and fill out by hand. You may have several of these pre-printed slips in the back of your checkbook.

Be Careful With Voided Checks

As paper checks become less common in banking, organizations that normally require a voided check may be more receptive to another method. Try those first and you avoid the risk of your sensitive financial information falling into the wrong hands. Employers may not be the only entities you’ll have a direct deposit arrangement with. Direct deposit will be the preferred way for those institutions to make payments and for you to receive them quickly.

what is a voided check

You can always contact us and we’ll help you with whatever you need, as soon as possible. You can ask your financial institution to send a letter providing all the same information to the party requesting your voided check. One of the advantages is your bank or credit union may send the letter directly to the party requesting the voided check, avoiding the need to send it by email. voided check For example, if your company’s payroll department needs a check from you to set up direct deposit, you can provide a voided check. Then you know that no one would be able to alter the check and spend it, because it has been voided. Using a blue or black pen, write “VOID” in large letters across the entire front of the check, making sure not to cover the routing or account numbers.

What Is a Voided Check?

And in such cases, the mistake may not be noticed until the check is returned to your bank or rejected by the recipient’s bank, causing the check to bounce. Read on to learn exactly how to void a check, why you might need to void a check, and what to do if you don’t have any checks. When you need a voided check, all you need to do is write “VOID” across the front of the check.

  • Also, ensure it’s written across the entire check, but don’t write over the information at the bottom of the check since it includes important banking information.
  • There may be several instances when someone could ask you to void a check.
  • Let’s say you intended to write a $50 check, but mistakenly added an extra zero, making it $500.
  • Write with well-spaced letters that are tall and wide enough to cover the whole face of the check without obscuring the banking information at the bottom.
  • It should be written across the entire front in large, preferably upper case letters.

If you’re really running out of options, you can try printing out your account details on a piece of paper at home. You can then treat it as if it came from your checkbook and then void it right there. Instead of trying to correct the error you may have made on a check, it’s better and safer to cancel the check completely by voiding it. Whether scanning it on your computer or keeping a picture of the voided check on file. It should be written across the entire front in large, preferably upper case letters. Use either with a dark pen or fine marker so it will show clearly on the one hand, but still leave the important information intact on the check.

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