You might need to buy a special toner cartridge just for printing company cheques. This special cartridge is called a MICR toner cartridge. MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. MICR toner cartridges have a special type of magnetic toner that is required by banking institutions to print cheques.
If you have the choice between buying a regular toner cartridge, or a MICR cartridge, consider your needs carefully, because MICR cartridges tend to be more expensive.
MICR toner cartridges are more expensive because there are more quality control steps to meet strict banking standards. Because of these extra quality control steps, cheques printed with MICR cartridges are more secure. The MICR toner has magnetic particles in it, and banks use specialized MICR readers to detect the magnetic particles. This makes them more secure and more resistant to fraud.
You will need a MICR cartridge if you are printing the banking information and cheque number on the cheque. Banks require the special magnetic MICR toner in order for a computer to read the banking details on the cheque. If your business has pre-printed cheques and you are just filling in the payee and the amount, you will not need to use a MICR cartridge.
There are some printers that are only MICR printers. Troy is a popular brand for this. For some printers, you can just purchase a MICR toner cartridge and use it in your regular printer for when you are printing cheques. HP, Okidata, Lexmark and Dell all have printers that can print using a regular toner cartridge or using a MICR cartridge.
If you do need a MICR cartridge, let us know! We carry many toner cartridges in MICR format.
As always, Your ETB Account Manager is happy to answer any questions you have about your printer consumables! 😊