A void cheque is a blank cheque from your account with VOID written across the front, handed to a payor so it can check the banking details you gave it; Payments Canada says payors ask for one to verify that information. With no chequebook, many online banking services offer a form to download instead. This page covers why it is asked for, how to void a paper cheque, what can replace one, where each bank keeps its version, what the numbers on it are and whether handing it over is safe.
What is a void cheque, and why do payors ask for one?
Payments Canada says where your banking information sits: The line of numbers printed across the bottom of your cheques. To protect against fraud, Payments Canada says to write VOID across the front in ink and leave the cheque unsigned.
The request comes from a payor setting up direct deposit, such as an employer or a government agency, which needs your banking information to send money to your account. One bank’s help page adds setting up automatic payments. Payments Canada gives the reason: the payor wants to verify the accuracy of the details you provided.
What the payor does with the details is covered in direct deposit, and automatic withdrawals in pre-authorized debits.
How do you void a paper cheque?
- Take a blank cheque from the account the money should go into or come out of.
- Write VOID across the front of the cheque in ink and do not sign it, as Payments Canada puts it.
- Leave the line of numbers along the bottom readable, since that line carries your banking information. One credit union’s guide puts it the same way, warning against writing over the routing and account numbers, which are there for verification.
The voided cheque then goes to the payor that asked for it.
What can you use instead of a void cheque?
Many online banking services provide a direct deposit form you can download and use in place of a void cheque. The names differ: one bank’s online banking calls it a void cheque, another’s a pre-filled direct deposit form. Each bank’s own steps are in the list below.
A voided paper cheque stays unsigned, but one bank’s instructions for its online form say to print or save it, sign it and send it to the company that asked.
With no cheques and no form, Payments Canada’s advice is to contact your financial institution and say you are signing up for direct deposit; it will give you the information you need.
When your account changes, each payor needs the new details; Payments Canada’s advice, put plainly: Tell each payor straight away when your banking information changes. Changing accounts covers the rest.
Where is the void cheque in your bank’s online banking?
Each bank’s page gives its own steps and screen names:
How do you read a void cheque?
The line along the bottom holds three numbers: the transit (branch) number, the institution number and your account number. The routing part, in Payments Canada’s description: A 3-digit institution number and a 5-digit branch transit number. One credit union’s guide calls the account number the longest of the three and notes that its number of digits changes from one institution to another.
The order of the groups and the cheque number beside them are on reading a cheque, the account number on account numbers, and the two ways a routing number is written on routing number formats.
Is it safe to give someone a void cheque?
For direct deposit, Payments Canada says it is safe to give your payor a blank cheque for this purpose, voided and unsigned as in the steps above. Enrolling does not let the payor take money out: the details “can only be used to deposit money into your account”.
A pre-authorized debit is different. You give your banking information as part of an agreement with a company, which then withdraws funds from your account. How those agreements work and what happens with a debit you did not approve are on the pre-authorized debit page.
If a cheque or your account details are used by someone else, see bank fraud and scams.
Related pages
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on October 17, 2026. How we check facts.
- payments.ca: Wire payment
- payments.ca: Direct deposit