writing a check

[Alpo]

We shall pretend that people still write checks.

 

Way back when I was learning to write a check they told me that on the little line that had a $ you wrote the number of the amount. One hundred fifty dollar check and you wrote 150.00

 

Then on the big line you wrote it out.

 

One hundred fifty & no/00

 

That's how I learned - no/00

 

In the movie I'm watching she gave him a check and it was obviously important because they did a screen close up, so I had to back it up to see again what it said. Then I had to pause it and walk up to this television because what she wrote on the big line was

 

One hundred and fifty thousand even

 

That word - even - at the end of it was what was giving me trouble. I've never seen one written like that.

 

So if you're a writing a check and there are no cents, do you do like I do - & no/00 - or do you do like they did in this flick and write the word even - five even, twenty even, one hundred fifty even?

[Cypress Sun]

00/100

 

Never heard of writing even in.

[John Kloehr]

00/100 with those in slightly smaller lettering, unless it is to the IRS, they want the decimal point and the penny part at full size.

 

Checks at this point are to a groundskeeper, an occasional contractor, and a roughly annual check to the gas company for $100. The gas bill is usually less than $10 a month, they do not have any way to autopay to charge a card or do bank drafts, so I just run a positive balance. Nuisance noise.

[Rye Miles #13621]

43 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

00/100

 

Never heard of writing even in.

This ^^^^^ 00/100

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

I just write “no cents”

[Blackwater 53393]

Why should we pretend that people still write checks?? We don’t have to pretend!!  I write company checks quite often! My bank furnishes an electronic copy for my records.  I can archive those for future reference and I have ready evidence to use in the case of any dispute!

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

no/100 but 'even' works, just odd, that's all.

[Rip Snorter]

Could have an upside, I use 00/00 and have for years. I had a Somali teller give me $2K for a $200 check.  I called attention to his error - I think he would have preferred I keep the excess.  So glad, by luck, I escaped MSP!

[watab kid]

i wright checks every month - im old school , yes n0/100s or 00/100s is normal ,nomenclature 'even' is a really odd and obscure thing that i find to be obtuse , but hey the things that once were normal are not anymore , do they even teach kids to wright checks anymore ? im finding more and more at work that use their phone as a credit card [except when it doesnt work] and thats the problem with all the gadgets today - sometimes they dont work , 

[Cactus Jack Calder]

I was taught write script not print on the big line. Write out the number for the change, no numerals. If there are No cents write that, “ No cents”, again in script. The first word tight up to the left end of the big line. Every word must touch the next one. Leave no room between words for someone to try and squeeze in an extra word. Also draw  a squiggly line from the last word to the end.  
i.e.
|OneHundredFiftydollarsandnocents~~~~~~~~~~~~|

I was taught it is “script” not “cursive”. I guess I’m old fashioned/out dated/ a curmudgeon!  
 

I taught my Children and Grandchildren to write checks that way. Once I’d taught my Children I was surprised that they had not taught my Grandchildren, so I did it and explained that it was a technique to deter forgery.  I also use a gel pen to write my checks. I have been told that gel ink does not ‘wash’ as ball point ink does.
 

CJ

Edited November 23, 2025 by Cactus Jack Calder
Added thoughts

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

I have printed everything since leaving high school don’t think I can write anything cursive/script if I tried.

[Trailrider #896]

If no cents, I write the dollar amount in cursive with the word "and" diagonally, followed by no/100 because the printing says, "dollars". I do use the decimal point on the small line numbers. Same for checks going to IRS. Never had one come back. They cash them just the same!

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

You’re worried about what they did in a movie??

😄

[Subdeacon Joe]

I was taught 00/100, no/100, or zero/100.

[Jack Spade]

I was taught to write checks by my grandparents.  Grandpa was bank president for 40 years and grandmother was head teller.  I was taught no/100.

[Ozark Huckleberry]

'and no/100' Never heard of 'even', but no reason it wouldn't work.

 

I've had to pay estimated taxes to the IRS in some years -- never had a problem with writing 'and no/100'. Hard to imagine the IRS not being willing to take money.

 

Just looked -- in 8 months I've written about the same number of checks. About half of them went to places that charge a fee for paying with a credit card.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I have some younger customers that struggle to write a check. It’s becoming a lost art!😂

[Eyesa Horg]

12 hours ago, Alpo said:

One hundred and fifty thousand even

Where did the "thousand" come from in a $150 check??

[Eyesa Horg]

I do my best to write it out in cursive. Since messing up my shoulder, it's difficult to properly sign my name!! I mostly print and Ellie writes most of the checks. It's a rarity for me, when I do, it's 00/100 at the end and the squiggly line.

Edited November 23, 2025 by Eyesa Horg

[Pat Riot]

 

Saw a check at a drug store lying next to the cash register like this ^^^^
 

9 hours ago, Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L said:

I have printed everything since leaving high school don’t think I can write anything cursive/script if I tried.

I do the same. Also, I write in all capital letters. The letters normally capitalized are larger than the letters non-capitalized. 

I started doing this in high school and it has stuck with me. 
In the Navy I was praised for my logbook entries because of the way I wrote. 
Also, I used this technique at work to weed out anal bureaucrat types. If my supervisor or manager picked my handwriting as a source of consternation and not the substance of my writing I knew how to deal with them to keep them away from me. 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

00/xx

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I have some younger customers that struggle to write a check. It’s becoming a lost art!😂

Turns out paying bills & other things online is pretty easy & convenient!

Well, once my wife sets them up in “Billpay”!!😉

I still don’t have a clue how to!

[Rye Miles #13621]

22 minutes ago, Tell Sackett SASS 18436 said:

Turns out paying bills & other things online is pretty easy & convenient!

Well, once my wife sets them up in “Billpay”!!😉

I still don’t have a clue how to!

I pay all my bills online, auto pay for utilities but credit cards I decide when to pay. The only checks I send out are for property tax twice a year and donations and 3 day cowboy shoots.

Edited November 23, 2025 by Rye Miles #13621

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

29 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I pay all my bills online, auto pay for utilities but credit cards I decide when to pay. The only checks I send out are for property tax twice a year and donations and 3 day cowboy shoots.

The only autopay we have was set up by my wife. Without consulting me. For healthcare premiums, but I do NOT believe in anyone having automatic draws on our account!!!

Like you a lot of checks go to shoots! 
Not so many elsewhere these days.

[Stump Water]

I've written two checks this year.  Gotta be some kind of record.

 

NO/100 is what I was taught.

 

11 hours ago, Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L said:

I have printed everything since leaving high school

 

And in high school.  It started when I had to write my program out on coding sheets before making the punched cards.  And, yes, I still put the hash mark thru the 7 and the Z...  like this Ƶ

[Pat Riot]

I cannot tell you when I wrote my last check. It’s been years. If someone won’t take credit, debit or cash they are out of luck, except for online purchases in forums. For that I use a USPS money order. 

[Alpo]

3 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Where did the "thousand" come from in a $150 check??

In my example I used $150 because I figured for most people that would be a reasonable amount.

 

In the movie they used $150,000.

 

My example and the movie are two different things.

 

Try to keep up.

[Eyesa Horg]

7 minutes ago, Alpo said:

In my example I used $150 because I figured for most people that would be a reasonable amount.

 

In the movie they used $150,000.

 

My example and the movie are two different things.

 

Try to keep up.

It was early🤣

 

Actually it was late but my back hurts!

Edited November 23, 2025 by Eyesa Horg

[Cypress Sun]

I still write checks for most things payable by mail. I don't write checks in person at stores. No entity gets access to my bank accounts, no one. The only payable I have an autopay on is my cell phone via credit card...and that's only because I get a discount on the monthly bill.

 

Thanks, but no thanks for autopay.

 

[Rip Snorter]

Checkbook rides in right rear jeans pocket behind the 1911.  No online financial access to any of my accounts.  A lot of years, never needed it.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

A bit of FYI trivia... in some circles, the "little line" is known as the "Courtesy Field":  

 

The "courtesy field" on a check is the small box where the amount of the check is writtin in numerals. It is called this because it exists as a convenience, or courtesy, for automated check processing systems. The legal amount is the value written out in words on the line below the courtesy field, and it is the official amount of the check in case of a dispute. 

 

In other words, if you wrote $150.00 on the "little line" and accidently wrote "Two Hundred Fifty and 00/100" on the "big line," you could be in for a bit of a surprise when you check your account balance. 

 

(In a former life, ol' Hardpan was a career banker.  'Til he came to his senses! )

 

 

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

16 hours ago, Tell Sackett SASS 18436 said:

You’re worried about what they did in a movie??

😄

HEY!! IT’S ALPO!!!

[Blackwater 53393]

1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

A bit of FYI trivia... in some circles, the "little line" is known as the "Courtesy Field":  

 

The "courtesy field" on a check is the small box where the amount of the check is writtin in numerals. It is called this because it exists as a convenience, or courtesy, for automated check processing systems. The legal amount is the value written out in words on the line below the courtesy field, and it is the official amount of the check in case of a dispute. 

 

In other words, if you wrote $150.00 on the "little line" and accidently wrote "Two Hundred Fifty and 00/100" on the "big line," you could be in for a bit of a surprise when you check your account balance. 

 

(In a former life, ol' Hardpan was a career banker.  'Til he came to his senses! )

 

 

 

 

My bank always called when this happened and informed me that the check was  “DISAGREED”.  I always had to come down and initial a change or, if it was out of town, write a new check!

[John Kloehr]

1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

A bit of FYI trivia... in some circles, the "little line" is known as the "Courtesy Field":  

 

The "courtesy field" on a check is the small box where the amount of the check is writtin in numerals. It is called this because it exists as a convenience, or courtesy, for automated check processing systems. The legal amount is the value written out in words on the line below the courtesy field, and it is the official amount of the check in case of a dispute. 

 

In other words, if you wrote $150.00 on the "little line" and accidently wrote "Two Hundred Fifty and 00/100" on the "big line," you could be in for a bit of a surprise when you check your account balance. 

 

(In a former life, ol' Hardpan was a career banker.  'Til he came to his senses! )

 

 

 

 

Then maybe you can confirm for me. If I write a check, and put some time next month as the date, my understanding is the check is still good and payable today. That the date on it has not yet come does not matter, the signed check is a contract to pay now.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I had a customer a few months ago write me a check for $120.00. He wrote ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS AND 00/100 but filled in the block as $120.00, the bank refused the check. I talked to the customer and he wrote me another one correctly and the bank destroyed the first one. I should have caught that when he handed it to me. Oh well, it took a couple weeks but I got my $$$$ He said his wife usually writes the checks. 🙄

Edited November 23, 2025 by Rye Miles #13621