(0827 Account Numbers)
970 WBLF. I’m Wes Richards with some thoughts on account numbers.
Not that most of us still write a lot of checks. But there are a few laggards out there who don’t have facilities to accept payment on the internet.
You know by now that if you don’t put your account number on the check, you can’t be sure the people on the receiving end will give you credit for the payment.
Oh, they might, if they’re in a good mood. The account number’s on the bill stub, after all. But you can never be sure.
You can conjure up images of billing clerks gleefully throwing out checks that don’t have account numbers written on them.
Or maybe papering the walls of their cubicles with them.
But account numbers are getting so long, these days, that there isn’t room on the “memo” line of the check to fit the whole thing.
Credit cards mostly have 16 digit account numbers. Unless you have a teeny tiny handwriting, that won’t fit on the line. So the first thing you do is start the first four numbers over the word “memo” instead of next to it.
If you make the numbers big enough to read, you spill into the signature part of the check and have to make your signature teeny tiny or abbreviated.
The credit card folks have been using those lovely 16 digit account numbers for years. Not to be outdone, the utilities and telephone companies are starting to use still LONGER numbers. Twenty one digits in the electric bill, for example.
Along, of course, with the usual admonition to “write your account number on your check or money order.”
The chances of correctly copying a 21 digit number onto a check and getting it right and then having it read correctly are pretty small.
Checks aren’t the only things that don’t give you enough room to write a number that’s required.
Ever try to squeeze the model and serial numbers on a rebate coupon or a warranty card? Or find them on the item you just bought?
I'm Wes Richards, my opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them. ®
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