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differs from a cheque drawn to "Bearer." The paying teller expects to see yourself, or some one well known to him as your representative, when you write "Cash." If you write "Pay to the order of (your own name)" you will be required to indorse your cheque before you can get it cashed.
If your note is due at your own bank and you wish to draw a cheque in payment, write "Pay to the order of Bills Payable." If you wish to write a cheque to draw money for wages, write "Pay to the order of Pay-roll." If you wish to write a cheque to pay for a draft which you are buying, write "Pay to the order of N. Y. Draft and Exchange," or whatever the circumstances may call for.
[Illustration: A cheque made to obtain money for immediate use.]
If you wish to stop the payment of a cheque which you have issued you should notify the bank at once, giving full particulars.
Banks have a custom, after paying and charging cheques, of cancelling them by punching or making some cut through their face. These cancelled cheques are returned to the makers at the end of each month.
If you have deposited a cheque and it is returned through your bank marked "No Funds," it signifies that the cheque is worthless and that the person upon whose account it was drawn has no funds to meet it. Your bank will charge the amount to your account. The best thing to do in such a case is to hold the cheque as evidence of the debt, and write the person who sent it to you, giving particulars and asking for an explanation.
If you wish to use your cheque to pay a note due at some other bank, or in buying real estate, or stocks, or bonds, you may find it necessary to get the cheque certified. This is done by an officer of the bank, who writes or stamps across the face of the cheque the words "Certified" or "Good When Properly Indorsed," and signs his name. (See illustration.) The amount will immediately be deducted from your account, and the bank, by guaranteeing your cheque, becomes responsible for its payment. Banks will usually certify any cheque drawn upon them if the depositor has the amount called for to his credit, no matter who presents the cheque, and this certifying makes it feasible for a man to carry in his pocket any amount of actual cash. If you should get a cheque certified and then not use it, deposit it in your bank, otherwise your account will be short the amount for which the cheque is drawn. In Canada all cheques are presented to the "ledger-keeper" for certification before being presented to the paying teller.
[Illustration: A certified cheque.]
THE USEFULNESS OF BANKS
Banks are absolutely necessary to the success of modern commercial enterprises. They provide a place for the safe-keeping of money and securities, and they make the payment of bills much more convenient than if currency instead of cheques were the more largely used. But the great advantage of a banking institution to a business man is the opportunity it affords him of borrowing money, of securing cash for the carrying on of his business while his own capital is locked up in merchandise or in the hands of his debtors. Another important advantage is to be found in the facilities afforded by banks for the collection of cheques, notes, and drafts.
VI. BANK DRAFTS
A draft is a formal demand for the payment of money. Your bank cheque is your sight draft on your bank. It is not so stated, but it is so understood. A cheque differs from an ordinary commercial draft, both in its wording and in its purpose. The bank is obliged to pay your cheque if it holds funds of yours sufficient to meet it, while the person upon whom your draft is drawn may or may not honour it at his pleasure. A cheque is used for paying money to a creditor, while a draft is used as a means of collecting money from a debtor.
Nearly all large banks keep money on deposit with one or more of the banks located in the great commercial centres. They call these centrally located banks their correspondents. The larger banks have correspondents in New York, Chicago, Boston, and other large cities. As business men keep money on deposit with banks to meet their cheques, so banks keep money on deposit with other banks to meet their drafts.
A BANK DRAFT is simply the bank's cheque, drawn upon its deposit with some other bank. Banks sell these cheques to their customers, and merchants make large use of them in paying bills in distant cities. These drafts, or CASHIERS' CHEQUES, as they are sometimes called, pass as