General Question

dxs's avatar

When writing a check, why do you write the line at the end of spelling out the money amount?

Asked by dxs (15160points) February 23rd, 2018

I was told it was because someone can add an additional amount to the spelling, but that sounds like a ridiculous reason. I just do it because I was told to. Is there a better reason as to why we do it? I usually don’t take up the whole space anyway, so there’s no space left for a line.

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4 Answers

Mariah's avatar

I would agree that it’s so people can’t alter what you’ve written. Why does that seem ridiculous?

Patty_Melt's avatar

People have and do use that space. Checks for fourteen dollars have been altered to pay the recipient fourteen thousand.
It is a real thing.
Prevention is a good thing.

dxs's avatar

I don’t see how not putting a line after the 00/100 would enable someone to alter a check—don’t people recognize the 00/100 as the end of what the person’s writing on that line? If it’s more than meets the eye, I’m curious to see how.

I googled some alterings, and some occurred at the beginning.
$162 turned into $1,162, and even more slyly, $8 turned into $80. That last one looked way too easy.

Makes me feel extra cautious about my spacing, but I still don’t get the line.

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