how customer access to canceled checks works
traditionally canceled checks were returned to checking account holders with their monthly statements that is now rare and most check writers receive scanned copies of their canceled checks while the banks create digital copies for safekeeping 2in most cases customers who utilize the best online banks can also access copies of their canceled checks via the web while many banks charge for paper copies of canceled checks customers can typically print copies from the bank s website for free example of a canceled checklet s say lee writes a check to david david takes the check to his bank and deposits it the bank may credit david s account in the amount of the check automatically or may delay clearing the deposit david s bank may make a portion of the funds available to david until the check clears through lee s bank david s bank sends the check electronically to lee s bank lee s bank debits lee s account for the amount of the check sends the funds to david s bank and stamps the check as canceled a canceled check means the clearing process is finished and the check cannot be reused as a result canceled checks can be used as proof of payment canceled checks vs returned checkswhile a canceled check is honored by the bank a returned check is a check that did not clear the payor s bank and as a result the funds would not be made available to the payee or the depositor there are a few reasons a check can be marked as returned for which the most common is insufficient funds in the payor s account however the check can be returned for other reasons including if someone writes a check and there is not enough money in the account to cover it the bank may return the check to the payee typically a fee is charged to the payee by the payee s bank and the payor s bank charges a fee to the payor s account for writing a check that ultimately bounced due to non sufficient funds 