Tuesday, February 9, 2010

About MICRo Trends

MICR printer

Till 50th years of last century, bank checks were a convenience that could be afforded by only a very small percentage of bank customers. Almost all people used banks for savings and paid for services and goods only cash money. Increased business activity over time has forced big business to offer universal rates and increase productivity. This circumstance has made businesses realize that they can save money and time by printing checks.

Businessmen prefer MICR

Businessmen's prefer to use bank checks due to their increased volume of transactions. Bank checks are the most convenient and universal method of payment. Most bank checks are printed using special laser printers.

New and better software and printers allow an entire bank check to be printed that includes the logo, signatures, and Magnetic Ink Character Recognition or MICR, the unique characters at the bottom of the check. These unique characters encode the account number, check numbers and bank transit.

If prepared properly, bank checks with Magnetic Ink Character Recognition encoding can be processed automatically by the bank’s equipment at a really small cost to the bank.

Bank check

Very many companies use computers to generate as well as track bank checks. Laser printer bank check printing systems overcome most of the problems related with auditing and record keeping.

MICR — Absolute Universality!

Non-impact printing technologies and electronic publishing are available in the specialized area of MICR printing. Being completely automated through a computer, practically most of the setup costs associated with conventional MICR printers is completely eliminated and no stock is wasted when changing jobs and interior conditions. Special Magnetic Ink Character Recognition check software is compatible to work with most popular computer systems.

The American standard of business

MICR Check Printer

When you look at a check or other financial documents, you’ll possibly notice strange signs in certain positions. On a standard financial check, these characters appear along the bottom, and usually contain information such as: the account number, the routing number, and the individual check number. It is the MICR line (MICR font dates back to the 50’s).

During the 1950’s, and increasing demand for business checking accounts led major American financial institutions to scramble for a efficient and accurate way of processing the exploding volume of checks.

MICR — the universal financial standard

Many countries use the same MICR font, known as E-13B. E-13B characters are the official MICR font is the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, India and Japan. In these countries, the E13-B information needed by banks and clearing houses is printed in a magnetic ink near the bottom of the document.

After the financial checks or financial documents are printed, they then are mechanically processed and electronically sorted through a special machine.

This machine magnetically reads out required information about the check including account number, the amount of the check, institution upon which the check was issued and other transaction codes.

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition in the USA

While it is not necessary for the usual person to understand all the process that allows financial institutions and banks to process their checks, the technology used in the Magnetic Ink Character Recognition process has allowed financial system the USA to grow to the size that is today.

Trend Nge Blog