Blank check stock: what to buy

If you are going to print your own checks, blank check stock is the one physical thing you have to buy. It is security paper sold in packs and boxes. The security background and a short printed notice of the paper's features are already on the sheet; what is missing is everything specific to you: no bank name, no account details, no check number. Your software adds that when you print.

The choices are not complicated, but none are obvious the first time. Here is what the paper is, the two formats to choose between, what is worth paying for, and the one question worth asking your bank.

What check stock is, and how it differs from ordinary paper

Ordinary copier paper does nothing to protect a check. Anyone with a scanner can copy it, and the parts you write by hand, the payee and the amount, can often be washed off with household solvents and rewritten. Check stock has defenses built into the sheet.

None of this makes a check impossible to forge. It makes forgery slower and more obvious. Whether a bank or a payee will accept a check printed on plain paper varies, so security stock is the safer habit.

• Microprinting: a line that looks solid but is made of tiny letters. A copier cannot hold that detail, so a copy shows a broken or blurred line.
• A hidden screen in the printed background that makes a word such as VOID show up on a photocopy.
• A faint simulated watermark that shows only when you tilt the sheet to the light, which a copier cannot reproduce.
• Chemical sensitivity: the paper stains or blotches if someone tries to dissolve or erase printed ink.
• Colored fibers in the sheet, sometimes ones that show only under ultraviolet light.
• A surface that grips toner, so printed characters cannot be scraped away cleanly.
• A warning band: a short printed notice listing the features, so a teller or payee knows what to look for.

The two common formats

Stock comes in several arrangements. Two of them cover most needs.

Business voucher stock gives you one check per sheet and two detachable stubs, for records: one goes to the person you paid, showing what the payment covers, and one stays in your file. Most accounting and payroll software expects this, and one sheet is one check.

Personal check stock gives you several checks per sheet, the familiar kind you tear apart and carry. It suits households and anyone who writes the occasional check for rent, a contractor or a gift.

Businesses generally want voucher; households are usually fine with personal stock. Either way, check what your software supports before ordering a large box. Print A Checks handles both formats; not every program does.

It arrives unnumbered, with no bank details

Blank check stock carries no bank information and no check numbers. Your name, the bank's name, the account details and the check number are all added when the check is printed.

That has a real payoff: one stack of paper covers every account you print for. Change banks or add a second business, and the paper in the drawer is still good. Your software keeps the numbering, so the sequence is yours to manage. Keep it in order and your bank statement will line up with your own records.

What to look for, and what it costs

Most packs on the market will do the job. A few things are worth checking before you commit to a box.

Price moves mostly with quantity. Bought by the box, check stock tends to land at a few cents a sheet. Small retail packs cost more per sheet, and how much more varies by seller. Heavier paper and more security features push it up. Either way it is a small cost per check. Buy a small pack first, print one check, look at it, then order the box.

• Security features, spelled out. A good pack lists what is in the paper. If it lists nothing, assume it is ordinary paper cut to size.
• A format your software supports. This is the easiest thing to get wrong. Match the pack to your software's list, not the other way round.
• Weight. Check stock should feel heavier and stiffer than copy paper. Thin stock curls, jams, and feels wrong in the hand.
• Printer type. Packs are marked for laser, inkjet, or both.
• A background you can read through. A pale, uncluttered design photographs more cleanly than a dark, busy one, which matters if the person you pay deposits it with a phone.

Magnetic ink, and whether you need it

The line of numbers along the bottom of a check is specified to be printed in magnetic ink, and that expectation has not gone away. Magnetic toner cartridges are sold for some laser printers, and they cost noticeably more than ordinary ones.

Checks now move between banks as images, and the numbers can also be read optically. That is how a deposit by phone works, and in practice many checks printed with ordinary laser toner are accepted. Equipment at the receiving bank may still read the line magnetically, though.

No one can settle this for you in advance. Whether a check printed without magnetic ink is accepted, handled by hand, or returned varies by bank and by processor, and account agreements differ too. Before committing to ordinary supplies for a run of checks, ask your own bank what it expects.

Printing it, and keeping it somewhere safe

Laser is the easier choice. Toner is fused to the paper with heat, so it does not run if the check gets damp and does not smear under a thumb. Stock sold for laser printers holds it tightly.

Inkjet works too, with two cautions: buy stock marked for inkjet, and let a printed check dry before stacking or folding it. Inkjet ink sits on the surface, so it is more vulnerable to water and to tampering.The printing itself is How to print your own checks at home">covered in How to print your own checks at home.

Then store it properly. Blank stock is the raw material of a forged check, so a stolen stack is worth stealing. Keep it locked away rather than in the printer tray overnight. If more than one person can reach it, know roughly how many sheets you have. Shred misprints rather than dropping them in the bin.

One small thing that can save a sheet: if someone has asked you for a voided check to set up direct deposit, the free tool at free voided check page makes one in your browser. What counts as acceptable varies. Some employers and payroll providers take a printed one; others want a check from your own stock or a letter from your bank, so ask before you send it.

Last updated 2026-09-16. General information about how checks and US bank payments usually work — not legal, tax or financial advice.