Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig

_Check._--A check is a written order on a bank, signed by a depositor, directing the bank to pay a certain person a certain sum of money. When the bank pays the order, it deducts the amount from the depositor's account. The one who signs the check is called the _drawer_ or maker; the person to whom or to whose order a check is made payable is called the _payee_; the bank on which a check is drawn is called the _drawee_. [Illustration: CHECK AND STUB] Of course, before you could write a check for one hundred dollars, you must have deposited at least one hundred dollars in the bank on which the check is drawn. The bank supplies you with a check book, consisting of blank checks, each attached to a stub. When you write a check, you put the same information on the stub to be kept for reference. Then you tear off the check through the perforated line, using it to pay for whatever you may have purchased. _Certified Check._--Suppose, however, that you are writing this check to pay a debt to a stranger who lives in another city. He may hesitate to accept it as money. That he may have no cause to doubt your ability to pay the check, you take it to your bank to have the cashier investigate your account. If he finds that you have sufficient funds, he writes or stamps _Accepted_ or _Certified_ on the check and signs his name. At the same time the amount of the check is deducted from your account. Such a check is accepted without question when the holder is properly identified. _Endorsement._--If A gives you his check for twenty-five dollars, you could not receive the money until you had endorsed the check; that is, put your name on the back, which is, in effect, giving a receipt for the money. You may do this in various ways. You may endorse: