Parker's Quink Ink for checks

[itsame]

As I've said on another post, I'm trying to find new places where I can use my fountain pen. However, I am apprehensive on using them on checks as I'm unsure whether my favorite ink, Quink blue is indelible. So the fear is someone taking my check and washing out the name or amount. Is there a list of "safe" inks?

 

Thanks guys.

 

Edit: The review I am referring to can be found here (2 reviews by same guy)

http://www.amazon.com/Parker-Super-Permane...3141&sr=8-5

and

http://www.amazon.com/Parker-Super-Permane...3141&sr=8-1

Edited June 19, 2009 by itsame

[Michael W]

I use Quink to write my checks and they seem to get cashed just fine!

Edited June 19, 2009 by Michael W

[itsame]

Is there any way to check whether or not a certain ink is washable?

[Ink Stained Wretch]

As I've said on another post, I'm trying to find new places where I can use my fountain pen. However, I am apprehensive on using them on checks as I'm unsure whether my favorite ink, Quink blue is indelible. So the fear is someone taking my check and washing out the name or amount. Is there a list of "safe" inks?

I wouldn't use Quink to write my checks. It is not indelible, in fact it is quite delible. It can be pretty easily removed from a check by the criminals known as "check washers."

 

Noodler's makes what are called "bulletproof" inks. I use Noodler's black ink on all of my checks. In fact Nathan Tardif of Noodler's Inks has a reward of a couple of thousand dollars for anyone who can successfully wash his Noodler's Black ink off a safety check without making it obvious that it's been tampered with.

 

There are also some other colors, blues, that Nathan Tardif makes that are bulletproof. Off hand I know of Gulf Stream Blue, a Swisher Pens exclusive, Legal Blue, an Art Brown exclusive, and Legal Lapis, a Pendemonium exclusive. There may be more by now, but those are all bulletproof blues that should be good choices for writing checks that won't change the amounts you originally wrote them out for.

 

I use Quink to write my checks and they seem to get cashed just fine!

Yeah, but by whom :roflmho: ?!

 

Check washers always cash "their" checks. And they probably have plenty of Quink on hand to fill in some extra zeroes and new names too.

[Ondina]

Hi. The forum has a list of waterproof and water resistant inks here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=40806

[Michael W]

Oh I now understand the concern! It never occured to me DUH! :embarrassed_smile: Sorry. I rarely send checks in the post, and usually only use them for small businesses that I know well

and deal with in person. Cheers Mike

Edited June 19, 2009 by Michael W

[itsame]

Thanks for the info fellas, sigh I'll have to steer my fountain pens clear of checks.

 

But because I am such a caring individual, I invite all of you who have used quink ink on your checks (to and amount fields should preferably be blank) to send them to me and I'll be sure to test them.

[PAKMAN]

I love Quink blue black but I dare not go outside with it on a piece of paper if it is misty. It runs so fast you'll be amazed. It also fades fairly quickly under sun light of florescent.

[hardyb]

Consider having your checks printed on safety paper.

 

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...mp;aq=f&oq=

[ZeissIkon]

Consider having your checks printed on safety paper.

 

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...mp;aq=f&oq=

 

All modern personal checks ordered through your bank (there's only one or two major companies printing checks for banks in the USA any more -- Harland Clark, one component of which gobbled up Interchex some years ago, is the only name I'm sure of) are already printed on security paper with one or more security features. When I worked for a bank (left there ten years ago) all checks ordered through the bank had some combination of washout printing, microprinted signature lines, endorsement security features, and textured underprint that would spell out "VOID" if scanned and reprinted -- and that was ten years ago. Economy check printers who advertise in Sunday Supplements and the backs of magazines may not have such features (these printers were the ones we used to warn about because they also skimped on the MICR toner and their checks would often fail to read in the equipment).

 

Business checks had the same features then and almost certainly still do -- it's possible for a private individual to write as few as one or two checks a year these days (I'm under a half dozen and working down to two), but businesses still have to write more paper. Business checks, often laser printed and only the signature done with a pen, open up the possibility of alteration by methods that won't disturb the actual ink, but I'm sure by now there are security features designed to react to alteration of the laser toner as well as ink washing methods.

 

Edit: minor point left out

Edited June 19, 2009 by ZeissIkon

[lowks]

I don't know if Quink is washable or not but I will just share with you what a MB technician told me. He warned me against Parker and Shaeffer inks saying that those inks are very hard to wash out of a pen. What did he recommend?! MB of course! :-) You might want to take this one with a pinch of table salt.

[wlwesq1]

Very, very few inks will make a check washer weep. Even the "safety checks" most check printers use these days have fairly minimal levels of protection.

 

At the other extreme you can see the checks that former check-kiter-turned-FBI-consultant Frank Abagnale (he was the fugitive in the film/book Catch Me If You Can) has designed, along with a bunch of other fascinating stuff at http://www.abagnale.com/. His books are a pretty good read. There are a lot of clever crooks out there.

 

I write very few checks these days, but when I do, I always use a Uniball Signo 207 gel pen--the ink is specially designed to bore itself into the paper fibers on the check so it can't be washed out by people with less-than-honorable motives. There are probably inks I could use that would be just as effective, but for the number of checks I write, the cheap Signo 207 works just fine.

 

[edit: stupid typo fixed]

Edited June 19, 2009 by wlwesq1

[ZeissIkon]

Very, very few inks will make a check washer weep. Even the "safety checks" most check printers use these days have fairly minimal levels of protection.

 

At the other extreme you can see the checks that former check-kiter-turned-FBI-consultant Frank Abagnale (he was the fugitive in the film/book Catch Me If You Can) has designed, along with a bunch of other fascinating stuff at http://www.abagnale.com/. His books are a pretty good read. There are a lot of clever crooks out there.

 

I write very few checks these days, but when I do, I always use a Uniball Signo 207 gel pen--the ink is specially designed to bore itself into the paper fibers on the check so it can't be washed out by people with less-than-honorable motives. There are probably inks I could use that would be just as effective, but for the number of checks I write, the cheap Signo 207 works just fine.

 

[edit: stupid typo fixed]

 

Abnagale obviously put some effort into that design -- that's at least four new safety features beyond what were available on the best business checks ten years ago, and a couple of them specifically aimed at the most modern methods of check alteration and duplication. OTOH, any Noodler's Bulletproof ink ought to make a check washer weep -- Nathan's prize ($2000 last I heard) for removing Bulletproof Black from a check without leaving obvious evidence of tampering is still uncollected. If I wrote a lot of checks (but fewer than a business that might need to mail thousands), I'd choose to hand write all fill-in spaces with Bulletproof inks. A thief might be able to destroy the check, but they won't successfully alter it.

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Whether you write your checks with a Crayola, a Sharpie, or a check protector,

 

MONITOR YOUR CHECK AND DEBIT CARD CLEARINGS!

[ZeissIkon]

Whether you write your checks with a Crayola, a Sharpie, or a check protector,

 

MONITOR YOUR CHECK AND DEBIT CARD CLEARINGS!

 

Absolutely -- at the barest minimum, you should reconcile your records with the bank's at least once a month (what's commonly called "balancing the checkbook"). Whether you use the form printed on the backs of paper statements for most of the last half of the 20th century, or software of one sort or another, or have few enough transactions you can just look at the balance online and know it's right, there's no substitute for knowing what's supposed to be happening to your money.

[pmsalty]

I use Legal Lapis for all of my check writing.

PMS

[encephalartos]

Usually, the check has to be stolen first...

 

One of the major risks of check washing comes from putting mail containing checks in

unsecured places to be picked up. Nowadays mailboxes on the street, leaving out for

your postman to pick up, etc. are all unsafe. Mail containing checks needs to be put

in the slot inside the post office or in some other place with some level of security.

Also, mail containing checks is stolen from inside residential mailboxes. That is how the

checkwashers GET the checks in the first place.

 

In the Greg Clark ink sampler book was an article on checkwashing vs. fountain pen ink.

Most of the solvents used in his experiment are meant to dissolve grease-based ballpoint

ink. The WORST ink to use is blue ballpoint pen, so NEVER write a check with the blue ballpoint

provided at a store. At least use black ballpoint, which does not lift as well. Since fountain pen

ink is water soluble, the solvents are likely to lift it less neatly. Checkwashers ruin at least as

many checks as they can try to cash. Washing check paper with water isn't very practical.

Checks don't seem to be made out of 100% cotton and linen paper like cash. If the paper

gets wet with water it gets destroyed.

 

I know of some one who wrote a check for a computer seminar. For some reason it never

got processed or cashed, but he could PROVE that he attempted to pay and was still able to

attend. During the inquiries, it was revealed that all the checks for the seminar were sent away

somewhere offshore to be processed. He writes all of his checks with black Uniball gel pen, but

NOT the special anti-checkwashing one. The speculation was that his check was diverted to be

washed, would not wash or was too messy to forge.

 

 

[ismellarat]

Consider having your checks printed on safety paper.

 

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...mp;aq=f&oq=

 

All modern personal checks ordered through your bank (there's only one or two major companies printing checks for banks in the USA any more -- Harland Clarke...

There is one other major company, and before Harland and Clarke American merged it would have been 3 major companies. My mom is one of the 2 Directors of Distribution and Logistics, and was the only one before the merger (which has only been bad for us, Clarke American had much better benefits, a better 401(k) structure, and MUCH better vacation time).

 

I am too young to write checks, but I believe that the ability to do so would be valid excuse for a bottle of Bulletproof Black

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Usually, the check has to be stolen first...

 

One of the major risks of check washing comes from putting mail containing checks in unsecured places to be picked up. Nowadays mailboxes on the street, leaving out for your postman to pick up, etc. are all unsafe. Mail containing checks needs to be put in the slot inside the post office or in some other place with some level of security. Also, mail containing checks is stolen from inside residential mailboxes. That is how the checkwashers GET the checks in the first place.

Yes, one of the most important parts of keeping the checks you write secure is doing your best to expose them to the least risk of being stolen. I've always put my mail right into the slot at the Post Office for the past 30+ years or so.

 

There's still the possibility of checks being purloined even then. Someone along the chain of custody in the Post Office could grab some envelopes with checks in them. People who work at companies that get the checks could steal some. In my area we once had the relay box, where the mail carriers store mail on their route so they don't have to carry all of it at once, hit by thieves. If a relay box is hit when your check is in it en route to its destination the thieves have it.

 

I figure that I'm doing the most I can to protect myself from something like this by writing all checks in Noodler's Black ink and putting the checks in the slot at the Post Office.

 

IMO Parker Quink is just not good enough for this sort of job.

[LapsangS]

Here our banking system stopped using personal cheques 20 years ago. They are so antiquated way of paying things. All bills are paid electronically and at B&M stores, people mostly use credit/debit cards. Problem solved.