Writing checks: Do you use "& 00/100s" on your checks?
Berkeley Brett
people I know, I have always entered a line like this on my checks:
"Seven-hundred fifty & 00/100s" [dollars]
This follows the numeric amount on a subsequent line ("$750.00").
I'm just curious as to how many people follow this practice. And just
what exactly is it supposed to accomplish?
I see at least one explanation at this website, which also encourages
drawing a line through the empty space after the "xx/100s" line:
=== begin quoted text ===
After you wrote out the amount of your payment (using words instead of
numbers), you drew a line through any excess space. You can use the
same technique after you write your payment amount in numeric form.
This picture shows how a creative person can turn your decimal point
into a comma and add an extra zero to your payment amount. Drawing a
line through any excess space helps prevent this, as does writing the
amount out in letters.
=== end quoted text ===
Seems as good an explanation as any, and I always supposed the reason
was vaguely like this. But I think I took up the practice just
because everyone else does it (not a very good reason by itself, but
understandable in a young person just getting started in life (though
that was quite a few years ago)).
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share....
--
Brett (in Berkeley, California, USA)
http://www.electoralmaps.org/
Pictorial election results for every U.S. Presidential Election from
George Washington to Barack Obama.
Reinhold {Rey} Aman
>
> I don't recall the first time I ever wrote a check, but like most
> people I know, I have always entered a line like this on my checks:
>
> "Seven-hundred fifty & 00/100s" [dollars]
>
> This follows the numeric amount on a subsequent line ("$750.00").
>
> I'm just curious as to how many people follow this practice. And
> just what exactly is it supposed to accomplish?
>
This topic was discussed at great length several years ago.
--
~~~ Reinhold {Rey} Aman ~~~
*Instep* = TOP of foot
http://aman.members.sonic.net/
alan
"Berkeley Brett" <roya...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:95740a98-951d-49bf...@s12g2000prs.googlegroups.com...
>I don't recall the first time I ever wrote a check, but like most
> people I know, I have always entered a line like this on my checks:
>
> "Seven-hundred fifty & 00/100s" [dollars]
>
> This follows the numeric amount on a subsequent line ("$750.00").
>
> I'm just curious as to how many people follow this practice. And just
> what exactly is it supposed to accomplish?
>
> I see at least one explanation at this website, which also encourages
> drawing a line through the empty space after the "xx/100s" line:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2gx4lzo
If you've got a whole dollar amount, why not just fill up that extra space
with a line after the words? What's the point of writing "and 00/100"?
Roland Hutchinson
> "Berkeley Brett" <roya...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:95740a98-951d-49bf-
acac-3ee...@s12g2000prs.googlegroups.com...
Extra protection against someone writing in additional words at that
point, I would have thought. Harder to remove or incorporate into a
forgery than a simple line, or even a squiggly line.
--
Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba,"
... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy.
--Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
R H Draney
>
>On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:18:13 -0700, alan wrote:
>
>> If you've got a whole dollar amount, why not just fill up that extra
>> space with a line after the words? What's the point of writing "and
>> 00/100"?
>
>Extra protection against someone writing in additional words at that
>point, I would have thought. Harder to remove or incorporate into a
>forgery than a simple line, or even a squiggly line.
In particular, imagine writing a check for "seven hundred fifty", ending it
there, and having someone sick the word "thousand" into the empty space....
Variant forms are also observed: "AND 00/100", "& NO/100", and "EXACTLY"....
The greatest risk comes from leaving out the spelled-out version of the amount
altogether...the law provides that if the numeric and verbal amounts disagree,
the verbal form applies....r
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.
Jared
> I don't recall the first time I ever wrote a check, but like most
> people I know, I have always entered a line like this on my checks:
>
> "Seven-hundred fifty & 00/100s" [dollars]
>
> This follows the numeric amount on a subsequent line ("$750.00").
>
> I'm just curious as to how many people follow this practice. And just
> what exactly is it supposed to accomplish?
I always write "and no/100 ----------". It's just the way I learned to
do it.
alan
"R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:ib2ll...@drn.newsguy.com...
> Roland Hutchinson filted:
>>
>>On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:18:13 -0700, alan wrote:
>>
>>> If you've got a whole dollar amount, why not just fill up that extra
>>> space with a line after the words? What's the point of writing "and
>>> 00/100"?
>>
>>Extra protection against someone writing in additional words at that
>>point, I would have thought. Harder to remove or incorporate into a
>>forgery than a simple line, or even a squiggly line.
>
> In particular, imagine writing a check for "seven hundred fifty", ending
> it
> there, and having someone sick the word "thousand" into the empty
> space....
That's the point of the line (quiggly or otherwise), isn't it? It fills up
that "empty space"...
Fred
"Jared" <jare...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:86600b1a-7b6e-489c...@30g2000yql.googlegroups.com...
Whereabouts do they still have checks? (Or cheques?) I thought they had died
out long ago.
the Omrud
> I don't recall the first time I ever wrote a check, but like most
> people I know, I have always entered a line like this on my checks:
>
>
> This follows the numeric amount on a subsequent line ("$750.00").
>
> I'm just curious as to how many people follow this practice. And just
> what exactly is it supposed to accomplish?
>
> I see at least one explanation at this website, which also encourages
> drawing a line through the empty space after the "xx/100s" line:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2gx4lzo
>
> === begin quoted text ===
>
> After you wrote out the amount of your payment (using words instead of
> numbers), you drew a line through any excess space. You can use the
> same technique after you write your payment amount in numeric form.
>
> This picture shows how a creative person can turn your decimal point
> into a comma and add an extra zero to your payment amount. Drawing a
> line through any excess space helps prevent this, as does writing the
> amount out in letters.
>
> === end quoted text ===
>
> Seems as good an explanation as any, and I always supposed the reason
> was vaguely like this. But I think I took up the practice just
> because everyone else does it (not a very good reason by itself, but
> understandable in a young person just getting started in life (though
> that was quite a few years ago)).
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share....
I was taught to write "only" after a whole number of pounds on a cheque.
I still do it.
--
David
LFS
Indeed. Weren't we all?
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
Leslie Danks
> the Omrud wrote
[...]
>>
>> I was taught to write "only" after a whole number of pounds on a
>> cheque. I still do it.
>>
>
> Indeed. Weren't we all?
>
I was. (Do we have a quorum?)
--
Les (BrE)
tsuidf
>
> - Show quoted text -
And I always used all three, back in the days when I wrote cheques:
'00/100 only <squiggle>'.
These days I write about two checks (they're American, hence the
spelling) a year: one to the IRS and one to pay my US-based
accountant for taking care of the paperwork that goes with the first
check. As the rest of my life is based in places where they don't
have checks any more, that does it. Last year I had a sudden blank
moment when I began to write annual check number 1, only to realise I
couldn't remember how to fill it out!
cheers,
Stephanie
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
wrote:
Me too.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
James Silverton
I can't say that I worry since I no longer write many checks but I've
been using, say, "Thirty five 00/xx" ever since I first wrote a check in
the US. It's just a variant of what I would do if there was a need for
some cents, as perhaps "Five hundred twenty one 33/xx". I believe I
followed the method of my supervisor in my college research position and
have never bothered to question it. For whole dollar amounts, I suppose
I could write the word "only", business style, but my first example
would read "Thirty five only dollars" and seems clumsy.
--
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not
Roland Hutchinson
Yes it is, and also the point of starting all the way over toward the
left and/or with the word "Exactly". But written-out words are harder to
alter than a line.
Roland Hutchinson
> On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:00:22 -0700, alan wrote:
>
>> "R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
>> news:ib2ll...@drn.newsguy.com...
>>> Roland Hutchinson filted:
>>>>
>>>>On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:18:13 -0700, alan wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> If you've got a whole dollar amount, why not just fill up that extra
>>>>> space with a line after the words? What's the point of writing "and
>>>>> 00/100"?
>>>>
>>>>Extra protection against someone writing in additional words at that
>>>>point, I would have thought. Harder to remove or incorporate into a
>>>>forgery than a simple line, or even a squiggly line.
>>>
>>> In particular, imagine writing a check for "seven hundred fifty",
>>> ending it
>>> there, and having someone sick the word "thousand" into the empty
>>> space....
>>
>> That's the point of the line (quiggly or otherwise), isn't it? It fills
>> up that "empty space"...
>
> Yes it is, and also the point of starting all the way over toward the
> left and/or with the word "Exactly". But written-out words are harder to
> alter than a line.
Also, writing the digits to the right of the decimal point in the
numerical amount raised and underlined rather than merely separated by
the decimal and the same size and height as the other digits serves to
make it harder to obscure the decimal point and add extra digits.
Roland Hutchinson
> On Sat, 06 Nov 2010 11:53:48 +0100, Leslie Danks <leslie...@aon.at>
> wrote:
>
>>On 06/11/10 11:37, LFS wrote:
>>> the Omrud wrote
>>
>>[...]
>>
>>
>>>> I was taught to write "only" after a whole number of pounds on a
>>>> cheque. I still do it.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Indeed. Weren't we all?
>>>
>>I was. (Do we have a quorum?)
>
> Me too.
Pondial. In the US "and 00/100" or "and no/100" is customary after round
dollar amounts.
the Omrud
And, not knowing the proper convention in French, I use "00c" after a
whole number of Euros on my French cheques.
--
David
Default User
> Whereabouts do they still have checks? (Or cheques?) I thought they
> had died out long ago.
Certainly alive and well in the United States. It's about the only way
to handily transfer money from one individual to another.
Brian
--
Day 640 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project
Current music playing: None.
James Silverton
>> Whereabouts do they still have checks? (Or cheques?) I
>> thought they had died out long ago.
> Certainly alive and well in the United States. It's about the
> only way to handily transfer money from one individual to
> another.
I sometimes use a check when the amount might include a tip since there
seems no way to get my bank to include instructions with the electronic
payment. My newspaper has a space on the bill to indicate a tip for the
carrier but, if I just include the amount without explanation, it will
be added to my account.
Mike Lyle
I prefer "exactly", as it seems less niggardly. But I suppose there are
many adverbs one could use without invalidating the transaction.
--
Mike.
Jared
[...]
>
> Whereabouts do they still have checks? (Or cheques?) I thought they had died
> out long ago.
I don't _want_ to use checks, but I still am stuck with them for
paying my rent.
Fred
I'm suprised. Mind you electronic payment hurts just as much.
Peter Moylan
case I would add a line that went all the way to the end of the
available space.
I suspect that the US habits in this regard were partially forced by the
fact that the word "dollars" is preprinted on US checks. On my
Australian cheques I always made a point of spelling out the cents in
words, in a form like
EIGHTEEN DOLLARS AND TWENTY FIVE CENTS------------------
but it's physically impossible to do that on a US check, unless you're
prepared to cross out the preprinted bit.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Reinhold {Rey} Aman
>
> On my Australian cheques I always made a point of spelling out
> the cents in words, in a form like
> EIGHTEEN DOLLARS AND TWENTY FIVE CENTS------------------
>
Mike Barnes
>I was taught to write "only" after a whole number of pounds on a
>cheque. I still do it.
I was taught to write "pounds only" after a whole number of pounds on a
cheque. (UK cheques don't have "pounds" pre-printed.) But nowadays I
simply write "pounds" with a line filling the remaining space. Also I
don't write '00' in the number section, just the number of pounds and a
line.
--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
Richard Bollard
<am...@sonic.net> wrote:
>Peter Moylan wrote:
>>
>> On my Australian cheques I always made a point of spelling out
>> the cents in words, in a form like
>> EIGHTEEN DOLLARS AND TWENTY FIVE CENTS------------------
>>
>ObAUE: TWENTY-FIVE.
Ah but Peter is writing an _Australian_ cheque; you know how we are
with hyphens. I'm sure he'd use one for an American check.
--
Richard Bollard
Canberra Australia
To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT.