How to Write a Check: Step by Step (With Example)

To write a check you complete six fields: the date, the payee, the amount in numbers, the amount in words, an optional memo, and your signature. About six more are already printed on it.

Filling it out takes under a minute once you know what belongs where, and the two places people go wrong are the written amount line and the signature. Below is each field in order, with a worked example, plus the small habits that keep a check from being altered after it leaves your hands.

The six fields you fill in

Using an example payment of $130.45 to a landlord named Maria Chen, written on May 14, 2026.

Field	Where it is	Example
Date	Top right	5/14/2026
Pay to the order of	Below the date, left	Maria Chen
Amount in numbers	Box on the right, after the dollar sign	130.45
Amount in words	Line below the payee	One hundred thirty and 45/100
Memo	Bottom left	May rent
Signature	Bottom right	Your usual signature

Step 1: Write the date

Use the line at the top right corner. Either format works: 5/14/2026 or May 14, 2026.

Write the actual date you are writing the check. You can put a future date on it, but do not rely on that as a delay mechanism. Banks generally do not have to wait for the date on a postdated check and many process them as soon as they are presented, although in some states giving your bank appropriate advance notice can change that. Rules vary, so if the money needs to stay in your account until a specific day, the reliable approach is to keep the check rather than hand it over.

Step 2: Write the payee name

On the line beginning Pay to the order of, write the full legal name of the person or business being paid.

Use the name they actually bank under. A business trading under one name may deposit under another, so ask if you are unsure rather than guessing. Write clearly, and avoid abbreviations that a teller would have to interpret.

Avoid writing a check to Cash. A check made out that way can be cashed by anyone holding it, which makes losing it equivalent to losing the money.

Step 3: Write the amount in numbers

In the small box to the right of the payee line, after the printed dollar sign, write the amount numerically: 130.45.

Two habits matter here. Always include the cents, even for a round amount, so write 130.00 rather than 130. And start hard against the left edge of the box and fill the space, so there is no room in front of your figure for someone to add a digit. A gap before the number is how $130.45 becomes $1,130.45.

Step 4: Write the amount in words

On the long line below the payee name, write the same amount out in words. This is the field people find awkward and it is also the field that legally decides the payment.

Write the dollars in words and the cents as a fraction over 100:

One hundred thirty and 45/100

For a round amount, still write the fraction: One hundred thirty and 00/100. Some people write "and no/100" instead, which is equally acceptable.

Start at the far left of the line, and when you finish, draw a horizontal line through the remaining space to the end of the field. That prevents anything being added after your words.

The words win. If the written amount and the numeric amount disagree, banks are trained to pay the written amount. That is why this line is worth the extra care, and why a mismatch is worth catching before you hand the check over.

Step 5: Fill in the memo line

The short line at the bottom left, sometimes labeled For rather than Memo.

This is usually optional and does not ordinarily control the amount the bank pays. It exists for record-keeping, and it is genuinely useful: "May rent" or an invoice number tells you what the check was for when you look at the image in your banking app months later.

One caution. Wording on a check can carry legal weight in a dispute. Writing something like "payment in full" on a check for a contested debt can, under commercial law in many states, affect whether accepting it settles the whole claim. Do not use settlement language casually, and if a debt is genuinely in dispute, get advice before writing anything of that kind on the check.

Some payees do require something specific here. Landlords, utilities, and contractors often ask for an account or invoice number so they can apply the payment correctly. If you were asked for one, put it here.

Step 6: Sign the check

The line at the bottom right, sometimes labeled Signature or Authorized signature, sometimes unlabeled.

An unsigned check will normally be rejected. Use the signature your bank has on file from when you opened the account, because a signature that does not match is another common reason a check is returned.

Sign last, and only when you are ready to hand it over. A signed check with blank fields can be completed by whoever finds it, for any amount. This is the single most important habit in this article.

What is already printed on the check

Six things you do not fill in, and it is worth knowing what they are.

Your name and address, top left. The check number, top right and repeated at the bottom, which identifies this specific check in your records. Your bank's name. The routing number, the nine digits at the bottom left, which identifies your bank. Your account number, the digits after it. A fractional code, near the top right, which is a legacy identifier you can ignore.

The routing and account numbers at the bottom are what someone needs to set up a payment against your account, which is the reason a check should not be photographed casually or posted anywhere.

How to void a check

If you make a mistake, do not scribble it out. Void the check and write a new one.

Write VOID in large letters across the front, big enough to cover the fields but taking care not to obscure the routing and account numbers at the bottom. A check marked this way is not usable as a payment, which is the point.

Keep it or record the check number in your register so you know why that number is missing. You will also be asked for a voided check when setting up direct deposit or automatic payments, precisely because it shows your account details while being unusable as a payment.

Four mistakes worth avoiding

Leaving the numeric box short of the left edge. The most common way a check gets altered.

Writing the two amounts differently. The words are paid, so a mismatch means paying the wrong figure or having the check returned.

Signing before filling in the rest. Never carry a signed blank check.

Not recording it. Write the check number, date, payee, and amount in the register at the back of the checkbook, or in your banking app. A check can sit uncashed for months, and an unrecorded one is how an account gets overdrawn by a payment you forgot about.

When a form asks for more than a check

Checks are one small part of the paperwork that comes with moving house, starting a job, or setting up a payment, and most of the rest is worse: forms with fields whose labels assume knowledge you may not have. Guidy reads the form on your screen and explains what a field is actually asking for before you answer it, which is a different job from filling it in for you. Our AI form filler page covers where that helps most.

Key takeaways

• Six fields: date, payee, amount in numbers, amount in words, memo, signature. Only the memo is optional.
• Write cents as a fraction over 100, so $130.45 becomes One hundred thirty and 45/100, and include 00/100 on round amounts.
• If the words and the numbers disagree, the bank pays the written words. Check they match before signing.
•  Sign last and never carry a signed blank check. Start the numeric amount hard against the left edge of the box. Get those two habits right and you know how to write a check safely, whatever the amount.
• To void, write VOID across the front without covering the routing and account numbers at the bottom, which makes it unusable as a payment while still showing your account details.

FAQs

Can I write a check to myself?

Yes. Write your own name on the Pay to the order of line and fill in the rest as normal. This is a common way to move money between your own accounts or to withdraw cash at a branch, and you endorse it on the back like any other check when you deposit it.

What happens if I make a mistake on a check?

Void it and write a new one. Crossing out and initialing a correction is sometimes accepted but often is not, and a check with alterations on the amount is likely to be rejected. Recording the voided check number in your register keeps your numbering intact.

Does the memo line matter?

Not to the routine processing of the payment, and the bank does not act on it in the ordinary case. It matters to you, because the check image in your banking app is otherwise a payment with no context, and it matters to payees who ask for an account or invoice number. It can matter legally in one situation: wording that says a check is offered in full settlement of a disputed debt can affect that dispute, so keep the memo line factual.

How do I endorse a check I have received?

Endorsing is the other side of this: what you do when someone writes a check to you. Turn it over and find the endorsement area at the top of the back, usually about an inch and a half deep and marked with a line telling you not to write below it. Sign inside that box, in pen, with the name exactly as it appears on the front.

Signing and nothing else is a blank endorsement, and it is the least secure option, because anyone holding the check could then try to cash it. If you are not standing at a teller window, add a restrictive endorsement instead: write For deposit only above your signature, optionally with your account number.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes this as restricting the check to deposit into your account rather than being cashed. For a mobile deposit, many banks want For mobile deposit only written as well, and requirements vary, so follow what your own bank's app tells you. Do not endorse until you are ready to deposit.

How long is a check good for?

Personal checks are commonly treated as valid for six months from the date written, after which a bank may decline to honor one, though practice varies and some are still processed. If a check you wrote has not been cashed after a few months, contact the payee rather than assuming it expired, and keep the funds available until it is resolved.