There are a lot of things that take place when you first open a checking account. Some things take a little bit of time to take effect before your account is active. One of the things you will be issued are starter checks. These checks serve a temporary need until everything is finalized.
Identification
To open a new checking account you will need a driver’s license, military identification, passport or state identification. Most checking accounts require you to make a deposit between $25 and $100.
Considerations
As part of the verification process the bank will confirm that you are not on Chex Systems which is a data base of consumers who owe a financial institution money because they did not pay non sufficient funds fees, return check fees or they abused their account in some way.
Time Frame
If everything checks out the checking account is opened and the customer is assigned a checking account number. Checks are ordered for the customer which take 7 to 10 days to arrive.
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Features
While the customer is waiting for their checks to arrive in the mail the bank will issue some temporary bank starter checks. Unlike the customers own checks these starter checks will not have the customers name and address but they will have the bank routing number and the customers checking account number.
Function
The bank starter checks will start with the number 001 through 005. Most banks issue customers 5 starter checks but it can vary from bank to bank. These checks can be used until the regular checks are received.
Warning
Customers need to write their name and address at the top of the starter check prior to mailing one out. Once a check is mailed to pay a debt the customer should log the information into their check register just as they would their normal checks.
Benefits
Starter checks are not returned to the customer after they are cashed but a truncated copy will be included with the monthly statement.