Printing Your Own Checks, What You Need To Know
If you own or operate a business that is responsible for printing checks or if you work at a location that is responsible for printing checks, it will be to your benefit to understand what is necessary in order to do so properly. It might come as a surprise to you is that it not only has to do with the specific paper that is used in order to print the checks in many cases, it has to do with the type of ink that is used in order to print those checks as well. Here is a little bit about check printing, as well as some of the specifics on what is necessary in order to do so securely.
The first thing that should be understood is MICR printing. The term MICR stands for magnetic ink character recognition and this is a specific type of font that is used for the numbers and symbols that appear at the bottom of checks. When you look at the bottom of the check, you are going to see that they are typically grouped into specific groups that stand for the routing number of the bank as well as the account number. When you really take a close look at it, you will see that it is broken down even further and that it is separated into four different fields. Why are they separated in such a way?
When a check is cashed, it is cleared through the financial institution automatically using machinery. There are specific standards in place that allow the machinery to read the MICR line and make sure that any funds are distributed appropriately. Something that you need to consider when you think about this is the ink that is used in order to print those numbers and symbols. There is a specific type of toner, regardless of whether it is used in an HP printer or other type of printer that needs to be used in order for it to be recognized. That is because it uses an iron oxidized additive which allows it to be read by that machine.
The reason why MICR is used instead of standard ink is because it allows for a much higher security, for obvious reasons. Additionally, since it is a standard at any financial institution, there is no need for each institution to have their own standard and then for additional machinery to be necessary to read any checks that may be coming in from those institutions.
Now that you understand a little bit about the printing, what are some of the things that you should consider when choosing a printer? For the most part, aside from the reliability of the printer itself you should consider the security options that are available. Some of these will be available in the hardware, such as locking trays to disallow anyone from getting the paper either before or after it is printed. There are also additional security measures available in the networking to keep anyone without the proper permissions from printing checks. Of course, there are many other things that need to be considered but the security always needs to be in place properly.
Dominique Wilkins is the author of this article about check printing. He covers everything from the paper you need to the HP toner that is required.
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