MICR Toner Basics
Magnetic ink character recognition toner – MICR toner, for short – is a type of printer toner that is primarily used in the banking and financial industries. Magnetic ink character recognition itself is used by banks in the processing of checks and produces the routing (also known as ABA) and account numbers found at the bottom of a check. MICR technology is used to encode these two very important numbers on the face of the check.
Banking and financial institutions use MICR toner to print checks. This type of technology enables computers and check-sorting machines to “read” the routing and account numbers off of the checks to facilitate more efficient processing of the financial instruments, without any noticeable difference to the human eye. MICR toner ink usually contains iron oxide, which allows the instrument reading the numbers to magnetize the characters on the paper. This technology allows banks to verify the check before accepting it as a proven payment instrument.
The use of MICR toner on checks allows the routing and account numbers to be read with a high degree of reliability, even if the numbers are defaced or obscured by some means, such as stamps or signatures placed over the numbers. The error rate for machines reading numbers processed with MICR toner is extremely low, particularly when the MICR characters are well-produced.
Typically, MICR settings are arranged so that the routing number appears on the lower left-hand corner of the check, followed by the account number. Some MICR settings differ slightly; for example, many MICR settings include the check number along with the routing and account numbers. Depending upon the MICR settings, the check number may be found either before or after the account number. Today, MICR technologically is used almost universally in the processing of checks. Visit ehow.com for more information.