How to Void a Check So It Is Not a Payment

People ask for a voided check when they need the account details printed on a check but do not want that piece of paper to be completed and deposited as a payment. Writing VOID across an unused check is the usual way to do that. It is a marking you make while the check is still in your possession. It is not a bank order, and it does not close or change the account.

This is general information, not advice for your bank's forms and not a substitute for the deposit agreement. If a payer or your bank gives you its own instructions, use those.

What the check already shows

A paper check is written against a checking account. The OCC's HelpWithMyBank glossary describes a checking account as a demand deposit account subject to withdrawal of funds by check. The Federal Reserve's Check 21 FAQ explains the line of numbers at the bottom, called the MICR line because the characters are printed in magnetic ink so automated equipment can read them. That line contains the routing number of the bank on which the check is drawn, the account number, and the check serial number.

Only that MICR line generally has to be in magnetic ink. The date, payee name, and amount can be printed in ordinary ink. If your checks have a preprinted MICR line, the other information you add does not need magnetic ink.

A voided check is useful to a payroll office or another payer because those identifying numbers, plus the name printed on the check, can be read without someone filling in a payment amount. The word VOID is a warning to people handling the paper. It is not itself one of the MICR characters the sorting equipment is built to read. Do not treat a later handwritten VOID as if it automatically reaches the paying bank in place of a stop-payment request.

A careful way to mark an unused check

  1. Start with a blank check for the account you mean to identify. Leave the payee, amount, and signature lines blank. A signature on an otherwise incomplete check is still a signature.
  2. Write VOID in ink across the front, large enough that the check is obviously not meant to be completed. Leave the MICR line readable if the recipient needs the routing number, account number, and check serial number.
  3. Record that check serial number in your register as unused or void, with no dollar amount, so you do not reuse the number by mistake.
  4. Copy the marked check before you hand it over, and keep a note of the recipient and date.
  5. Give it only to a recipient you intended to deal with and whose request you can confirm through a contact you looked up yourself.

If you do not have paper checks, ask the recipient whether it accepts a bank letter or a direct-deposit form generated by the bank. Those are substitutes only if the recipient agrees. Do not invent a check image by editing a screenshot. The recipient is relying on the printed MICR information, and an altered image defeats that purpose.

What voiding does not do

Voiding does not stop payment on a check you already delivered. The original, not your spare copy, is the item that can be deposited. If that original is outstanding and you do not want it paid, contact the bank, identify the check serial number and amount, and ask whether it offers a stop-payment order, what it costs, and when the order expires. Also tell the payee so the unpaid item is not a surprise.

Voiding does not hide the account. The routing number, account number, and name remain visible because that is the information the recipient asked to see. Share it only with a payer that has a reason to credit or debit that account. An unsolicited message asking you to email a voided check is a reason to stop and contact the supposed requester through a known phone number or website.

Voiding is also different from a substitute check. Under Check 21, banks may create a special paper reproduction of a check that includes images of the front and back and a MICR line. A home-printed VOID across a spare check is not that document, and writing on a copy does not create a legally equivalent substitute check. Our separate note on what a substitute check is covers that federal definition.

After you send it

Check the account after the first direct deposit or draft. Match the amount to the statement or pay stub. If a debit appears that you do not recognize, contact the bank promptly and ask how it handles unauthorized debits. This page cannot tell you whether a particular debit is reversible.

Keep the voided check's serial number unused. If a later order of checks repeats numbers or skips them, ask the bank before you write on those checks. The Federal Reserve FAQ notes that automated processing depends on the MICR line, including the serial number. Reusing a number can make a later payment harder to trace.

Bottom line

Use an unsigned blank check, mark VOID in ink while leaving the MICR line readable, record the serial number, and deliver it only to a confirmed recipient. The marking is a way to share the routing number, account number, and check serial number without creating a payable check. It is not a stop payment on an item you already gave to someone else.

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