PrintE-Z.com

History of Printing Personal Checks

Checks are the oldest form of non-cash payment that you can think of. They have been known to be used by Romans as far back as the first century B.C. the Persian Empire also used letters of credits that were called Chaks. In the 9th century, Muslims were known to use something similar too.

Checks were first introduced in Europe when travelers to the Holy Land could deposit money in one bank and withdraw it from another in another location by presenting the claim paper. This helped travelers move from one place to another without too much cash in hand. Checks started being used widely by large numbers of people in Holland in 1500 from where it spread to the rest of Europe.

The first printed check was issued in England in the 1700’s. It was an innovation that was created mainly to discourage any kind of fraud dealings. It was only in 1811 when the Commercial Bank of Scotland created personal checks with the name of the account holder printed on them. Booklets of these checks started as a norm in 1830 when the Bank of England decided to print them in batches of 50, 100 and more.

The use of checks reached its peak in the 1960’s. Changes in personal checks to make them more secure continued. MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Readers) technology was adapted to these checks in 1959 in the United States. At this stage the volumes of check clearances became so high that the concept of the Automated Clearing House was introduced. This was the time when automatic payroll payments came in to vogue.

Seeing the account holder’s name on the personal check became passé. Today there is a large segment of people that prefer to have customized personal checks printing. These checks are not only safe and secure; they also represent the personality of the account holder.