While writing out your bills this month you realize that you are down to your last book of checks. For most people, the thought is, “No problem I’ll just drop off that form the next time I go to the bank.” After all, your checking account is with your bank, so don’t you have to order your checks through your bank or financial institution?

The answer is no. Your bank cannot require you to order your checks from them. There are no penalties or issues you for choosing your own check-printing service, as long as your checks meet industry guidelines for size, ink type, legibility and other criteria. Banks can’t reject them if they meet these standards.  So you don’t need to order your checks from your bank, and there are plenty of reasons why it’s better not to, including that you don’t have to make a special trip to your bank if you don’t otherwise need to.

Save Money

Your bank is in the financial services business, not the printing business, so when you order checks through your bank, they are using a printing company to print and ship your checks. In other words, the bank is a middleman. The only thing a middleman brings to any business transaction is additional costs. By eliminating the middleman and going straight to a printing company, you will usually save yourself money. Depending on how much your bank charges you for your checks, you can usually save up to 70% off the price of traditional bank checks. Plus, in many cases, your checks are still be printed by the same company the bank uses.

Design Selection & Customization

For many people, having a design or a theme on their checks is a way to promote a certain cause, support a favorite team or just show off a little of your personality. However, when ordering personal checks through your financial institution, you will usually have a limited number of check designs to choose from.

Check printing companies like BradfordExchangeChecks.com offer hundreds of personal check designs for you to choose from. Sports fans can choose officially licensed checks from the NHL, MLB or NASCAR. Fans of Disney can order checks with famous characters, and animal lovers can choose from checks featuring both wild and domesticated animals. Or, select from dozens of artists that portray their artistic talents beautifully on personal checks including Thomas Kinkade, Challis & Roos, Connie Haley, Nene Thomas and many more. Depending on your check design, you can even add custom lettering, special messages, a monogram or a symbol that is special to you.

Convenience & Tracking

If you’re writing out your monthly bills and find yourself with just a few checks left in your checkbook, you’re much better off placing your order directly with a check printing company. Direct check companies offer the ease and convenience of ordering over the phone, online or even through the mail if you prefer. Since your bank needs to forward on your order information to the company they deal with, you never know when or even if that information has been forwarded on.

Placing your order with your bank doesn’t always mean that the order will reach the printers on the same day. Many financial institutions have certain days that they send orders to their printer. A miss of just one day will most certainly delay the printing process more than a couple of days. Placing your order directly with the checks printer will ensure this does not happen, and will start the process either the same day or the next business day.

For tracking purposes, third party check printing sites provide you an order number that can tracked until shipment, plus they offer you additional expedited shipping and printing services in case you need your checks fast. This gives you the ability to know when your order was completed, when it has left the printers’ location, and when you can expect to receive it. These types of options help enhance the security around your order, and make sure you get your checks when you need them.