Employers, payroll services, governments and suppliers ask for a void cheque because it shows, in one place, the three numbers needed to send money to your account. Here is what it is and how to read it.
What a void cheque is
A void cheque is a blank cheque from your account with VOID written across the front to stop anyone filling it in and cashing it. It is used only for the banking information printed on it. It must come from the account you want the money paid into.
How to read the numbers along the bottom
The line of numbers at the bottom of a Canadian cheque holds four sets of digits, in this order:
- Cheque number. Identifies that one cheque. Direct deposit forms do not need it.
- Transit number, five digits. Identifies the branch where the account is held.
- Institution number, three digits. Identifies the bank or credit union: 003 is Royal Bank of Canada, 004 is TD, 815 is Desjardins.
- Account number. Your account at that branch. Its length varies from one institution to another.
Take a cheque whose bottom line reads 123 04120-003 1234567. The cheque number is 123, the transit number is 04120, the institution number is 003 (Royal Bank of Canada) and the account number is 1234567. A form that asks for "transit, institution, account" gets 04120, 003 and 1234567.
Is the branch number the same as the transit number?
Yes. The five-digit number is called the transit number, the branch number or the branch transit number, depending on who is asking. The Government of Canada's direct deposit form calls it the branch number, and the National Student Loans Service Centre calls it the "transit or branch number". It is the same five digits.
When a form asks for a routing number
Electronic payments in Canada use a nine-digit routing number built from the same two numbers in a different order: a leading 0, the three-digit institution number, then the five-digit transit number, with no dash. The branch above becomes 000304120. Payments Canada's branch directory lists every bank branch both ways, the cheque format (04120-003) and the electronic one. More on this in bank routing numbers in Canada, and every bank branch is listed in bank transit numbers by bank.
Getting a void cheque without a chequebook
- Online banking: you can get an electronic void cheque from your online banking. The account page often shows the transit number next to the account name, too.
- Statements: your monthly statement or profile page may show the account details.
- The form itself: the federal direct deposit form lets you either attach a void cheque or write the branch, institution and account numbers yourself.
- Your financial institution: if you cannot get a void cheque, contact or visit it and it can give you the account information.
Step by step, bank by bank
Where each bank puts its void cheque or pre-filled direct deposit form in online banking and its app: TD, RBC, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, National Bank, Desjardins, Tangerine, Simplii and EQ Bank.
For businesses collecting supplier banking details
A void cheque emailed by a supplier is a common target for payment fraud: an altered PDF or a lookalike email is enough to send a payment to the wrong account. In Smartbills vendor management, suppliers enter their own banking details on their record, which removes the step where someone retypes them from an email, and a new supplier that shares banking details or a tax number with an existing one is flagged as a likely duplicate. Accounts payable then pays from that record.