New Business Checks After Switching Banks
The checks are the easy part. The sequencing is what stops a payment bouncing.
Disclosure: this is a partner resource section. Voqado is founded and led by Pierre Subeh, Co-President of AMA Orlando. Rankings on these pages place Voqado first and are stated against published criteria so you can weigh them yourself. Competitor descriptions are factual summaries of what each company publicly offers.
Switching business banks is mostly an exercise in sequencing. The new checks are the easy part. The hard part is making sure no payment lands on an account that has already been closed, and no vendor pays into an account you no longer control.
Do Not Close the Old Account First
This is the mistake that causes every downstream problem.
- Run both accounts in parallel for at least one full billing cycle, and two is safer.
- Leave a working balance in the old account to cover checks you have already written that have not cleared.
- Checks can take weeks to be presented. A check written in March can arrive in May.
Order New Checks Before You Need Them, Not After
New routing and account numbers mean every check is obsolete. Order early so the transition is not gated on production and shipping.
- Order a modest first run, because details often need a correction in the first weeks of a new account.
- Use the trial format to prove the design if you are also changing anything visual. Voqado's wallet trial run is twenty five checks on the same stock and printing.
- Confirm the new bank's check routing number, which can differ from the wire or ACH routing number.
Verify the New Numbers Against Bank Documentation
Do not transcribe from an email, a phone call, or a screenshot of an app.
- Read from a bank issued document or a starter check.
- Include leading zeros in the account number exactly as printed.
- Proof digit by digit before approving the run. The checklist is in how to order business checks online.
Set the New Starting Number Deliberately
A new account is one of the few times you can genuinely restart a sequence, and there are two reasonable schools.
- Start high, such as 5001. Checks numbered 001 signal a brand new account, which some vendors treat with extra caution.
- Continue your existing sequence if your accounting system relies on unbroken numbering.
- Whichever you choose, document it, so reconciliation across the transition is legible a year later.
Build the Switch Order Around Money Coming In
Sequence inbound before outbound. A missed incoming payment is worse than a delayed outgoing one.
- Update customers and payment processors first, and confirm each has taken effect.
- Watch for deposits still landing in the old account for a full cycle after the change.
- Only then redirect outbound payments and standing instructions.
Inventory Every Automatic Payment
The failure mode here is the obligation you forgot about.
- Pull twelve months of statements and list every recurring debit and credit.
- Include annual charges, which are the ones people miss.
- Track each one to done, with a date and a confirmation.
- Do not rely on the old bank's forwarding, which is a courtesy, not a guarantee.
Update the Address on the Check If It Changed
If you are switching banks because you moved, both things change at once.
- The printed address must match what the bank holds.
- Checks ship only to a physical address that matches the printed address, and never to a PO box.
- Plan delivery for a day someone is there to receive them.
Destroy the Old Stock on the Day the Account Closes
Not before, because you may still need a check on the old account, and not later, because obsolete stock carries live routing and account numbers.
- Cross cut shred the whole sheet, stub included.
- Log the number range destroyed.
- Do the same for any old stock in a home office or a second location, which is where forgotten boxes live.
Reconsider Format and Security While You Are Here
A bank switch is a rare clean break. Use it.
- If software now cuts your checks, move to laser checks and stop hand writing.
- If you want the record attached, consider three to a page checks.
- If you still write by hand off site, wallet checks remain correct.
- Ask the new bank about Positive Pay on day one, because enrolling at account opening is far easier than retrofitting it. See check fraud prevention for small businesses.
Update Your Accounting Software Carefully
The software has to know about the new account before it prints a check on it.
- Create the new account as a new account, not by editing the old one, so historical transactions stay attached to the right bank.
- Set the next check number on the new account explicitly.
- Recalibrate the print alignment if the stock layout changed. The procedure is in how to print checks from QuickBooks.
Tell Vendors Once, Clearly, Through a Channel They Trust
Bank change notices are a favorite pretext for payment redirection fraud, so expect scrutiny and make verification easy.
- Send the notice from a known address, and expect vendors to call to confirm.
- Encourage them to verify by phone using a number they already have, not one in the notice.
- Apply the same standard to notices you receive. Any inbound bank change request should be verified by voice on a known number.
Where to Order
The four Voqado formats are in the business checks collection, with quantity information on the check pricing page and security options on the high security page.
Key Takeaways
- Run both accounts in parallel for at least one billing cycle, with a balance left to cover outstanding checks.
- Order a modest first run early, and verify the new routing and account numbers against bank documentation.
- Sequence inbound payments before outbound ones, and inventory twelve months of recurring items.
- Destroy old stock on the day the old account closes, and log the number range.
- Treat any bank change notice, inbound or outbound, as a fraud vector and verify by voice.
- More reading: the Voqado buyer guides and the chapter's calculators.