Cheques should be numbered, so that each can be accounted for. The numbers are for your convenience and not for the convenience of the bank. It is important that your cheque-book be correctly kept, so that you can tell at any time how much money you have in the bank. At the end of each month your small bank-book should be left at the bank, so that the bookkeeper may balance it. It may happen that your bank-book will show a larger balance than your cheque-book. You will understand by this, if both have been correctly kept, that there are cheques outstanding which have not yet been presented at your bank for payment. You can find out which these are by checking over the paid cheques that have been returned to you with your bank-book. The unpaid cheques may be presented at any time, so that your actual balance is that shown by your cheque-book. Cheques should be presented for payment as soon after date as possible.
CERTIFIED CHEQUES
If you wish to use your cheque to pay a note due at some other bank than your own, or in buying real estate or stocks or bonds you may find it necessary to get your cheque certified. This is done by an officer of the bank, who writes or stamps across the face of the cheque the words "Certified" or "Good when properly indorsed" and signs his name. (See [ illustration], p. 244.) The amount will immediately be deducted from your account, and the bank by guaranteeing your cheque becomes responsible for its payment. If you should get a cheque certified and then not use it deposit it in your bank, otherwise your account will be short the amount for which it is drawn.
BANK DRAFTS
Nearly all banks keep money on deposit in other banks in large commercial centres—for instance, in New York or Chicago. They call these banks their New York or Chicago correspondents. A bank draft is simply the bank's cheque drawing upon its deposit with some other bank. (See [ illustration], p. 245.) Banks sell these cheques to their customers, and merchants make large use of them in making remittances from one part of the country to another. These drafts or cashiers' cheques, as they are sometimes called, pass as cash anywhere within a reasonable distance of the money centre upon which they are drawn.
BILLS OF EXCHANGE
A draft on a foreign bank is commonly called a bill of exchange. Bills of exchange are usually drawn in duplicate and sometimes in triplicate. (See [ illustration], p. 246.) Only one bill is collected, the others simply serving in the meantime as receipts. These bills are used to pay accounts in foreign countries, just as drafts on New York or Chicago are used to pay indebtedness at home.