Technically, a check can be scribbled on a napkin in crayon, as long as it contains the sender’s account and routing numbers, and the payee, and the amount. It’s just an instruction note to a bank saying pay this person from this account.
I was told that a long time ago. But it turns out if your routing and account numbers aren't MICR'd, and you in fact hand wrote the entire instrument, it will not work.
(We tried it a couple times at two different banks. With n=2, our p value was < 0.05 :)
Is there some sort of standards document somewhere that outlines the minimum viable check? Because handwritten in crayon on a napkin... I don't think that even "technically" counts. At least not anymore.
But on the other hand, I suppose a payee could accept your Crayola-napkin-check and just punch the numbers into their electronic check submission system?
Interesting. I admit I haven't done it for a while, but I do recall several years ago writing a check out to someone in handwriting (not crayon) and it worked. Might be that recent rules/technology have turned something that used to be true into an urban legend!
Accept now bank will accept this "technically a check". If they can't send it through their reader for scanning, then it will not be accepted. As someone else posted in another comment, the fonts and placement of the information on a check is standardized for ease of automatic reading.
