Should Small Businesses Consider Using Personal Checks? (How Are They Different from Business Checks)

Checks were used in major business transactions fifteen years ago. Business owners used checks to pay clients and workers. Unfortunately, technological advances have affected the use of checks, as most people prefer doing their transactions online.

But some circumstances require small businesses to conduct transactions using checks. In this article, you’ll see some reasons why small business owners might prefer using personal checks.

Let’s get started:

Personal Checks Are Less Expensive

Most businesses are under sole proprietorship. It implies that, as a business owner, you are in charge of all rewards and responsibilities that come from your business. You’re responsible for initiating any check transactions.

As previously mentioned, most companies do the majority of their operations digitally. But it is common for a small business to use checks from time to time.

For this reason, many small business owners opt to use personal checks to conduct their business to avoid the cost of purchasing business checks.

Personal Checks Add Style

Using personal checks to conduct transactions adds style to your business. It is because personal checks can be purchased in a wide array of colors and designs. Business owners can easily find a check design that matches their business.

For instance, if your business involves selling flowers, you might want to order checks with floral design, while a person owning an ice cream shop might want to purchase checks with ice cream cones images.

No matter what kind of business you are operating, you can order checks that match your business online. When reordering checks online for business use, ask your printer to include a style that appeals much to you.

Personal Checks Are Compact

Compared to business checks personal checks are smaller in size. For this reason, some business owners might consider using them in their business transactions.

If it bothers you to carry binders or briefcase as you go to work, you might want to use personal checks in your business.

Personal Checks Are Customizable

You can order checks to display any contact information you want. Right before your name, you can include your business name, your company’s contact information, as well as the slogan of your business.

This allows you to have all of the conveniences of a personal check while still passing information usually displayed on a business check.

Can Help Widen Your Customer Base

The use of personal checks makes it possible to open your business up to new customer markets. By accepting checks, you give your customer another option of payment.

There are some instances where people would prefer to use checks to conduct business transactions as opposed to other methods of payment such as cash or credit cards. Since security is a significant concern for most people, you’re likely to attract more customers by accepting personal checks.

How Business Checks Differ from Personal Checks

Personal checks come in the size of US paper currency and can easily fit into your wallet. Personal checks are available in a wide variety of colors, styles, and images and can thus represent each person’s taste. Personal checks are, in most cases handwritten, but you can print them for personal use.

Business checks are larger than personal checks. This allows for easy printing and usage in a ledger, making the accounting process run smoothly. Business checks can be handwritten as well.

The difference in size between business checks and personal checks is meant to differentiate the two. There is no legal requirement for a business check to be larger than a personal check. Here are the main differences between Business and personal checks:

Enhanced security

Business checks have more security features than personal checks. It is crucial to protect your documents from fraud. Security features include watermarks, holograms, and heat-sensitive ink. These features protect your business from forged checks, copying of checks and check washing i.e. using chemicals to remove pay amount and “to the order of” lines.

Check Conversion Protection

It means that checks are ineligible for automatic conversion, providing extra safety and security. Checks presented for payment may be converted to an ACH debit for payment.

Most businesses do not like their accounts to be debited electronically. You’d surely want to keep a copy of the paid check which you can present for proof of payment.

There is no easy way to protect your check from being converted to an ACH debit without your knowledge. But for business checks, you can prevent the check conversion by presenting an Auxiliary on-us field.

Leave a Comment