What purposes does crossing a cheque and writing ‘A/C payee’ on it serve? In which cases is it essential?Crossing your cheque is the best way to ensure that it’s ultimately paid to the right party. The objective of crossing a cheque is to ensure that the drawee bank (that is, your bank) does not cash it, but pays it to a banker presenting it for payment (which should be the bank of the payee, the party you are paying). The benefit of this is that it enables you to trace the path of the cheque through the banking system and to identify the person who finally presented it for payment.
On the other hand, A/C payee means that the amount mentioned in the cheque can only be credited in an account of the concerned person/institution. In such cases the cheque cannot be encashed across the counter. Ideally, whenever you make cheque payments, you should cross it and make it an A/C payee. Apart from these things, you should not leave any unnecessary gaps in the cheque while writing words and figures. Don’t forget to strike out any blank spaces after you have written the name of the person to whom you are making the payment and the amount that has to be paid. Also, strike out the ‘or bearer’ option.
