MICR Community

About HP:

Hewlett-Packard monochrome printers have been the PC Magazine’s Readers’ Choice award for service and reliability 15 years in a row.  Standing “alone at the top” with reliability rankings “significantly better than average”.  Shipping 59% of the monochrome laser printers which were sent into the market in 2005, HP is the choice solution by users.   TROY provides HP based MICR solutions.

Ask a Community Expert:

Question: How can I protect my checks from fraudulent alteration?

Answer: There are several ways to protect your checks from fraudulent alteration because there are several kinds of alteration that can occur. 

Mechanical alteration is the removal of a printed character by scraping the ink or toner with a knife. To help prevent this from occurring you need to verify that the MICR toner and paper you use to print official checks work in unison and provide superior adhesion. The highest level of protection against mechanical alteration is the use of “indelible” printing, a process where the printed characters permeate through the document preventing removal of the entire character without destroying the check.

Chemical alteration is the removal of a printed character with an ink or toner solvent. To help prevent this from occurring, look for chemical reactivity in your toner and paper stock.  Chemical reactivity in toner provides the highest level of protection because it reveals tampering with a highly-visible stain, even on check forms with tinted backgrounds.

Question: I currently have a laser printer and would like to start printing checks with it, what can I do to upgrade my printer?

Answer:  By purchasing MICR fonts on a memory device that is compatible with your printer, you can easily add check printing capabilities to your existing laser printer.  However, verification that your teller application software is capable of printing to this upgraded MICR printer is imperative.  Middleware check printing software is available to facilitate this interface. However, most banks prefer a direct interface in order to avoid unnecessary IT expense and overhead. It is advisable to seek out a MICR printing solutions vendor that provides MICR printing options and integration services that facilitate a direct interface. 

Question: Our Loss Prevention group would like to enhance the security of our laser MICR check printers at our branch banks.  What are the risks and what can be done about them?

Answer:  Depending on the location of your check printer there are different risks and methods that can help reduce these risks. Since most check printers at financial institutions need to be accessible to the teller staff, the special check stock can be easily pilfered. By utilizing a printer with locking trays branch managers are able to control the risk of official check stock pilferage more effectively. 

Lack of operational control in check printing provides opportunities for internal check fraud.  A MICR printer with accessibility control provides branch managers with the tools needed to reduce this risk.  For example, printer passwords or key-controlled accessibility provide administrators with the ability to turn the MICR capabilities off when they are not needed. 

If you have a question about MICR please feel free to send your questions to: info@troygroup.com and a MICR specialist will get back to you.

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Download White Paper:

Knowing how to print MICR is only the first step in the check printing process it is also important that you know how to protect your documents from alteration and other forms of fraud.  The White Paper below discusses new innovations, which will protect a company from chemical alteration.

Indelible Security

In October of 2004 an act went into place which authorized the creation of a new negotiable instrument known as a substitute check also known as an image replacement document (IRD).  The advantage to the banks and businesses includes faster clearing time and the elimination of physically transporting checks from one location to another.  For more information and specifications about how banks print substitute checks review the following white paper. 

Printing and Protecting Your Substitute Checks