What Is a Voided Check? + Voided Check Examples

Jennifer Pacheco attended the University of Dartmouth, Massachusetts where she earned her degree in English Writing & Editorial Work. A checking account is a highly liquid transaction account held at a financial institution that allows deposits and withdrawals. You can easily void a paycheck or other payment through QuickBooks or other accounting software. Voiding a check means it can’t be used to make a payment or otherwise withdraw money from your checking account. If you don’t have a spare blank check and still need to figure out how to get a voided check, there are a couple of options as well. Nor do you have to worry about logging onto online bill payment services after you set up automatic electronic transfers, either. There may be several instances when someone could ask you to void a check.

Not all companies will take a counter check, so make sure you find out if it’s acceptable. You may also be able to use a deposit slip with your bank information on it. You can even directly https://www.bookstime.com/ link your Wise account to your US bank, brokerage, credit card provider, PayPal, and many other services — and automate your payments through direct debits, which are free.

Void Check Example

You don’t want that check to accidentally get processed for the wrong amount, so you void it out. In this instance, you can write the word ‘VOID’ on top of anything else you’ve written to prevent someone from using that check. Rather than figuring out the process as it comes up, learn everything you need to know about voiding a check now so that you’re fully prepared in the future.

He has an MBA from the University of Colorado, and has worked for credit unions and large financial firms, in addition to writing about personal finance for more than two decades. Voided checks are such a valuable and useful tool because they contain all of your necessary banking details for another party to use to make payments to you or accept payments from you. A voided check is a blank check that has been altered so as to prevent the check from being used for payment by the person receiving the check. The act of voiding a check simply means you are making a check unusable in that it can no longer be used as a form of payment. The actual steps to voiding a check is extremely simple and most of the time you need to do this when setting up a payment online or for automatic withdrawals.

How Voiding a Check Works

Simply use a blank check and write ‘VOID’ in large letters across the front. Then, use a pen with black ink and make the word large enough to be read. A voided check is a check which is no longer valid and has the word ‘void’ written on the front. Voided checks are often used for setting up direct deposits or automatic payments. Unlike other tools you have in your checking account, checks are one of the few that contain bank account information that can be used to both send money to you and to send money from you.

There are several scenarios in which you might need to void a check, some of which have already been mentioned. To recap, here are the most common scenarios in which you may need to know how to void a check. Make a copy of the voided check for your records and note the check number in your register what is a voided check if you keep one. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance degree from Bridgewater State University and has worked on print content for business owners, national brands, and major publications. Rebecca Lake is a journalist with 10+ years of experience reporting on personal finance.

What Can I Use Instead of a Voided Check?

When a company requires you to void a check to setup a payment, it that case you will need to void it. Now that you know how to get one, you void a check and send it to them. If you don’t have the money, you’ll also pay for overdraft fees later. We’re personal finance nerds who paid off over $60,000 in debt and reached CoastFI by 25! We’ll help you discover the freedom and flexibility you crave through the FIRE Movement. SimpleMoneyLyfe is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and may receive compensation for some links to products and services throughout this website.

• In some cases, you can set up automated transactions online.
• Often, a blank check with the word VOID across the front is used for direct deposit and bank confirmation reasons.
• Deposits from your employer – If you have a new job, you’ll need to provide your employer with a void check.
• At the very left-hand bottom of the front of your check is going to be your routing number, your account number, and the official check series number .
• To make sure that your account remains safe and protected, we don’t advise you to sign your voided check.
• If you have to provide a voided check, you don’t have to request one from your bank or credit union.

The chances are that you’ll need a voided check at some point. Understanding how to write a voided check is important to ensure you do it right so no one can use it. Voiding a check is a great way to give important people your banking information, like the people paying you or the people you’re paying . Do it right, when you void a check, you can save time and earn money. For example, if you just wrote check #125, the next one in line, check #126 would be your voided check to send to whoever needs the information to set you up on direct deposit or direct debit. The first set of numbers on the check is your routing number.

Direct Deposits

You can take a check from your checkbook and write “void” across it in large letters and provide the check to your employer. Grab a check out of your checkbook, and write “void” across the front. 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. You want to make it difficult for thieves to erase or cover your void mark. Direct deposit is a fully automated method of handling transactions. When receiving a direct deposit, the payer issues an electronic payment that is automatically transferred into the payee’s checking account.

• For instance, 55% of Americans say they prefer to pay bills online.
• Some businesses won’t accept a correction, and it’s not always safe to do so.
• Another use for a voided check is to set up direct deposit payments, usually for payroll payments from your employer into your checking account.
• Finally, you might wonder why you cannot simply offer a blank check to someone and instead of voiding it, put a stop payment on it.
• The thought of writing a check may seem a bit archaic, but there are still many that use personal checks at the point of sale to make purchases.

Next, write “VOID” in large letters across the front of the check, or write “VOID” in smaller letters on the date line, payee line, amount line, and signature line, as well as in the amount box. In order to void a check, write the word “void” on it as clearly as possible on both sides. Now that you know what a void check is, why would someone want to void a check? 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.

If you are like most people who rely on online banking, you might be familiar with depositing checks online. Technically, once you deposit a check using your banking app on your smartphone, you are supposed to void the check. But what if you write a check from your checking account and later discover that you’ve made an error? Maybe you misspelled the recipient’s name, entered the wrong amount, or used the incorrect date?