Bank address when ordering 3rd party checks?

January 3, 2016 4:39 PM

I want to order checks from a third party where it's not stupid expensive. There are blanks for "Bank Name" and "Bank Address" on the form. My bank is Wells Fargo (previously Wachovia, previously... etc.). Wells Fargo has many addresses--which one do I put here? (I do not have, and have never had, any Wells Fargo checks to compare to--my most recent checkbook was still Wachovia.)
posted by anaelith to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Have you ordered checks for that account before? If so, use the same address as on your previous checks or deposit slips. If it's the first time or if you don't have a copy of your old checks, use the address of the local branch where your account is located.
posted by summerstorm at 4:55 PM on January 3, 2016

Best answer: You could bypass the address and using the bank's website. The company I usually order from never asks for an address and last time I ordered, they put the credit union's website there. My checks were accepted everywhere without any issues for 6+ years. I kept it when I recently ordered from another company who did ask for an address.
posted by bluesapphires at 5:17 PM on January 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I have Wells Fargo checks. The first line of the bank's address is my state. The second line is wellsfargo.com. Just make sure you get your routing number and account number correct, and you'll be fine.
posted by hydra77 at 5:35 PM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The design and layout of a check is more artwork than anything else, except for the important fields, such as the routing, account, and fractional number. The routing and fractional numbers are actually variants on the transit number (ABA RTN). Of those, you could screw up the fractional number and no one would ever notice, since virtually everything these days is processed based on the MICR routing and account numbers located at the bottom of the check. Those are the big things Not To Get Wrong.

The bank name could be used to pull a standard graphic logo for the bank for your check, or it could just be printed directly on the check. The address should probably be that of a local branch. Some banks - including, IIRC, Wells Fargo - do have different routing numbers based on the state the account is located in. In such a case, it is possible that someone who was suspicious about the validity of a check might actually look up the routing number to see if it appeared to be valid for the listed bank. That is fairly rare.

If Wells Fargo has not notified you of any change in routing or account numbers, and your former Wachovia bank address is still valid (now as a Wells Fargo branch), the easiest solution is to put down that address.
posted by jgreco at 5:55 PM on January 3, 2016

Response by poster: Glad to know it doesn't really matter. Pretty sure anyone who was curious would have noticed by now that I've been using checks with a) the wrong personal address for me (old address), b) the name and address of a no-longer-existent bank, and c) the number "19" scratched out in the year-space for the date. Hopefully the world gets it together and personal checks will be completely obsolete before I have to order more (I'm ordering 12$ worth, which is the smallest quantity you can order from CostCo, and estimate that this batch will last 50 years at my current check-writing rate).
posted by anaelith at 6:00 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have no bank address on the checks I ordered for my Wells Fargo account (also formerly Wachovia, and First Union before that) and it has never caused any problem AFAIK.
posted by exogenous at 8:14 AM on January 4, 2016