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Cheque books
Cheque books.
When you first open your account, and providing that you are over a certain age, you may be given a cheque book.
A cheque will let you make a payment without having to hand over cash. In order to write a cheque, you must have enough money in your account to cover the value of the item you are buying. It is illegal to write a cheque when there are insufficient funds in your account.
When you write a cheque out, you are giving your bank written consent to withdraw money from your current account, and paying it into the account of the person who you wrote the cheque out for (the payee).
You should always make sure that you have written your cheque out using a pen, not a pencil. This will make it harder for someone to alter the cheque amount or payee. You should also make sure that there are no gaps between, or after the words that you have written. Again this will prevent someone from altering your cheque.
If, for any reason, you make a mistake while writing a cheque, you can either rip it up and throw it away, or you can cross through your mistake, correct it and put your initials alongside.
It is extremely important that when you write a cheque out, that you also complete the cheque stub. Banks sometimes make mistakes, and the stubs in your cheque book can then be checked against your statements to ensure that any mistakes don’t go un-noticed.
The money may not be taken out of your account for several days after the cheque has been paid into the payees account.
Once you have issued a cheque, you can request your bank to put a ‘stop’ on it. This means that the bank will then tell the person you gave the cheque to, that you have instructed them not to pay it. Normally there is a charge for stopping a cheque.
You may not be able to have a cheque book until you are 18 years old, so check with your bank.
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