How to Endorse a Check to Someone Else

Personal checks are becoming an endangered species in the world of personal finance, now commonly replaced by debit cards (or check cards), PayPal, credit cards, and even money orders. This is because people today cannot wait for their financial transactions to go through snail mail, which can take days. But personal checks still may not meet their extinction for years.

Cousin to the payroll check, the personal check is still out there, just seen in fewer numbers. Both of these checks are important, however. To many, a payday is the most important day of the week, and a payroll check is like a bag of oxygen.

There are many ways to cash a check that is addressed to you. If you have at least one checking account, you can take the check to your bank, endorse it, and walk out with cash in your hand. Or, you can deposit it, wait for it to clear, and then withdraw the money. Some establishments, including grocery stores and liquor stores, will cash payroll checks for a small fee.

In case you are not sure, to "endorse" a check simply means to sign the back on the light lines provided. To endorse a check to someone else is to sign the check-and the money it represents-over to someone else. Endorsing a check to someone else is one of those things that everyone should know how to do, even if you do not think you will use the knowledge.

To endorse a check (personal, payroll, etc.) to someone else, sign your name on the top line on the back of the check, as you normally would to cash it. Usually there are three or four lines provided. (Never write below the bottom line!) On the line below your name, print the words "pay to the order of." (You do not need the period; if you'd like, use a semicolon.) Then, on the third line, print the name of the endorsee (person you are signing the check over to). If you can fit the entire thing ("pay to the order of John Doe") on one line, you may do so. Beneath their printed name, make sure the endorsee then signs their own name.