It is always important to write the name of the person or company for whom the cheque is issued. To ensure that the cheque you are writing for an individual should go to the same person’s bank account, always put a double cross line on the left-top corner and mention “A/C Payee”.

Difference Between Crossed Cheques and Bearer Cheques: The bearer cheque does not contain the name of the payee and is payable to the person who presents it at the bank. In case of crossed cheque the amount is directly credited to the bank account of the payee.

If you receive an account payee cheque, remember you can’t cash it through the counter. You have to deposit it in your bank account with the cheque deposit slip. That is the way of Account Payee Cheque encashment. Note, you should also write the bank account number and mobile number at the back of cheque leaf.

The legislation means that a cheque which bears the ‘A/C Payee Only’ crossing can only be paid into an account in the name of the person who has received the cheque (i.e. the payee) exactly as it appears on the cheque.

A crossed check is any check that is crossed with two parallel lines, either across the whole check or through the top left-hand corner of the check. This double-line notation signifies that the check may only be deposited directly into a bank account.

You simply had to write the name of the person on the back of the cheque and that was it – job done. So, this makes it a risk on the bank’s behalf to accept a crossed cheque into the bank account of someone other than the name printed on the front and as a general rule of thumb, they just do not accept them.

You just cannot cross off the payee’s name and replace it with your own name (a visible alteration) without some kind of endorsement by the check writer (which makes the alteration a defacement as well).

Some banks allow cheques to be cashed by someone other than the person named on the front of the cheque if it is counter-signed. You can then endorse the back of the cheque and deposit it into your account. This is called counter-signing a cheque.