Anyone can order personal checks and save themselves a bundle of money with the convenience online. Personal checks arose from an interesting development historically. Throughout history there has been a needfor the transfer of value. Safer and reliable methods of transfer starte thousands of years ago.

A check is a negotiable instrument. It instructs a financial company to pay someone a specific amount of money from a specified account held at an institution. It may be for a person or a company that the maker or depositor originates from.

The history of the written check dates back to early Roman times. As early as 1 BC, checks have been used to solidify trades between parties. It eliminated the need to carry around large quantities of money. Convenience, safety and efficient trade spurred the popularity for these negotiable instruments called checks.

Carrying money around to do business could be very risky for an ancient merchant. Any draft or bill of exchange which could later be redeemed and payment guaranteed at a later time was a safer way to do business.

The important parts of a check are: 1. signature identification of the drawer 2. currency amount 3. payee 4. date of issue 5. place of issue 6. check number ID and 7. routing number.

The routing number is a 9 digit number. The first 4 numbers indicate the Federal Reserve bank processing center.

This is followed by digits 5 through 8, identifying the specific bank served by that check -processing center. Digit 9 is a identification verification digit, computed using a complex algorithm of the previous 8 digits. The account number is assigned independently by the various banks.

Routing numbers, also known as transit numbers, consist of denominators and hyphenated numerators. They are in part an ABA indicator number that points to a city code for identification.

Today, when you need to order personal checks, most purchase them from banking institutions as well as online. Online checks can be purchased direct from the check printer thereby saving about 50%. The reduced cost is the result of cutting out the bank middleman.