Don't overpay for checks.
Buying personal checks traditionally was a no-brainer: When you opened a checking account at a bank, you were given a set of starter checks to use until the "real" checks arrived in the mail. You either paid for these checks or had the funds deducted from your account. And when you got toward the bottom of your stack of checks, you would find a form to reorder new checks for another charge. Most people did not realize that there were lower-priced options available to obtain checks. Now that the Internet is ubiquitous, astute consumers are finding ways to buy checks for far less than banks traditionally have charged.
Instructions
1. Go through your finances for the last year and see how many checks you write annually. Now that online banking is commonplace and most merchants offer debit card purchases in situations that formerly required a check, chances are that every year you write fewer checks than you did previously. The goal is to get the lowest price, and since many vendors use shipping and handling charges as a profit center, order enough checks that you won't have to place an order more than once a year.
2. Look ahead to see if there are reasons why you should not order a large number of checks at once. An impending name or address change or the possibility of switching banks might cause you to rethink your order. If any of these apply to you, try to time your order to avoid having a large number of checks left over when you have to change to new checks.
3. Surf the Web for bargains. Though there are a few well-known sites (checksinthemail.com, 4checks.com), new Web-based players offering inexpensive checks often suddenly appear, so plan on investing a few minutes to search for these newcomers. Plus, there are always other opportunities to find vendors of low-priced checks, including coupon mailers, newspaper inserts and even offers inside your electric bill or mortgage statement.
4. Choose a design and style that is the least expensive. Standard wallet-sized checks with the "security" blue or green background are usually available at the lowest price point. If you're totally concerned with price, avoid buying stubs, printer checks, ledger-sized checks, checks that give you a duplicate receipt, or checks that feature a trademarked design or character.
5. Feel free to shop around for cheaper checks when it's time to reorder. Though it's easy to simply send in the reorder form that is included with your order, a simple scan of the same sites you looked at in Step 3 (along with checking out any new sites that have sprung up in the meantime) is well worth a few minutes of your time.
Tags: checks that, your order, large number, large number checks, lowest price
