How to Order New Checks Online

Ordering new personal checks used to require a trip to the bank and a 30-minute conversation with a teller. Today the same task takes about 10 minutes online and the checks arrive in the mail in 7 to 14 business days. Every major bank in the United States offers online check reordering through their website or mobile app, and several independent printers — Walmart Checks, Costco Checks, Checks Unlimited, and Bradford Exchange — sell the same checks at lower prices.

A box of 100 personal checks ordered through a bank usually costs $20 to $35. The same box from Walmart Checks or Costco Checks costs $7 to $15. The checks themselves are identical in security features — both options use the same MICR magnetic-ink line at the bottom, the same security backgrounds, and meet the same banking standards. The price difference comes from bank markup, not from quality.

A common worry is that ordering through a non-bank printer is risky because they need your routing and account numbers. The risk is small if you stick with the well-known printers listed above, all of which have been in business for decades and use encrypted ordering pages. The bigger risk is ordering from an unknown website found through a random internet search — those sites may be fake fronts that collect your account information and never send the checks. When in doubt, order through your bank's app or website, where the account information is already on file.

When the new checks arrive, the starting check number matters. By tradition, personal check numbers start at 101 and run upward. Many merchants are slightly more cautious about checks numbered below 200, on the theory that low-numbered checks come from new accounts that scammers may have recently opened. Most printers let you start the new box at the next number after your current checks (for example, if your last check was 1248, the new box starts at 1249).

This guide walks you through ordering a new box of checks from your bank's website. The same steps work for the major independent printers, with small differences in where the order button lives.