by Edwin Ivanauskas | Tags: Personal Finance, Banking

Ten years ago checks were used everywhere; to pay bills, when shopping, and to get gas but now that credit and debit cards are available, checks are becoming more and more scarce.

How to fill out a check

Filling out a check is very basic, there is a line for everything needed. You will need to write out the check to whomever it is for, for example if you are at a grocery store called "Stop and Shop" then on the line titled "pay to the order of" you will write Stop and Shop. Once that is done you will write in the amount of your purchase in the box with the dollar sign ($) next to it. Next you will need to write out the amount of your purchase in words not numbers on the line under pay to the order of. For example if your purchase is $85.62 you will write out eighty five dollars and 62/100 to signify the amount in change. You will then sign your name at the bottom and don't forget to write the date in the upper right hand corner on the line titled "date".

That's it, you're done! On the bottom left hand corner of the check there is a line titled "for" this is optional. For people that like to keep track of what they spend their money on this can be a useful tool. You simply write down what you used the check for. For example you could write groceries, dinner, gas, clothes, etc.

Cashier's checks

A cashier's check is a check that the bank issues on its own account after you give them the money for the same amount as you want the check to be. These types of checks are used to transfer large amounts of money between private parties that do not want to carry cash around and do not want to risk having the check returned for non-sufficient funds.

Certified checks

These types of checks are certified by the bank and therefore guaranteed not to bounce. You can get a certified check at the bank which they will withdraw from your account at the time that the check is issued. The bank will charge you a fee of about five dollars for this type of check.

Money Orders

A money order looks almost the same as a regular check, but you buy these at the post office, bank, grocery store, or money order companies. You do not need a bank account in order to buy a money order. You will pay for the money order when you get it and the receiver doesn't have to worry about the check bouncing, and it never expires. You will have to pay the institution at which you bought the money order from a small fee that can be anywhere from twenty five cents to a dollar.

These days checks are not accepted everywhere for fear of it coming back as a non-sufficient funds check. It takes longer to write a check than it does to just swipe your debit or credit card but you can still use a check if you want to. In fact many people still use checks to pay bills with but we may see an end to that as well since online payments have become available.

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