A cancelled cheque is an ordinary cheque leaf struck through with two parallel lines and the word CANCELLED written across the face. It is not signed and no amount is filled in.
It is a document, not a payment. Nobody can bank it.
Why organisations ask for one
Because a cheque leaf carries your account details in the bank's own printing: account number, account holder name, bank, branch and IFSC. Supplying one proves the account exists and belongs to you, without needing a letter from the bank.
Common requests come from employers setting up salary payments, insurers arranging claim settlement, mutual funds and brokers, utilities setting up direct debits, and subsidy or refund schemes.
How to prepare one safely
- Take an unused leaf from your cheque book.
- Draw two parallel lines diagonally across the face.
- Write CANCELLED in capitals between them.
- Do not sign it. Do not fill in an amount, a payee or a date.
The signature is the point. An unsigned cheque is not a payment instruction, so even if the leaf is misused it cannot draw funds. A signed "cancelled" cheque is a considerably worse idea, because the cancellation marking is ink and the signature is what a bank acts on.
Sending one
It still carries your full account details, so treat it as sensitive. Send it to organisations you have a genuine relationship with, and be wary of unsolicited requests for one — it is a familiar approach for gathering account details.
Account for the missing leaf
You have used a numbered leaf from a sequence. Record it as Cancelled so the number is accounted for — an unexplained gap in a cheque sequence is exactly what an audit picks up. Cancelled is one of ChequeMaster's cheque statuses for this reason.
Not the same as stopping a cheque
Cancelling a blank leaf to prove your details is unrelated to stopping payment on a cheque you have already issued. The words are similar; the situations are not.
