How to Write a Cheque in Malaysia (Step by Step, with Examples)

The six steps

Step 1: Date (top right). Day, month, year. The cheque is payable from this date and valid six months from it. A future date makes it a post-dated cheque. PDC guide

Step 2: Payee. Write the full name exactly as the recipient's bank account holds it ("Syarikat Maju Sdn Bhd", not "Maju"). Rule a line through the space left over so nothing can be added. Strike out the printed "or bearer" if present and the payment should be secure.

Step 3: Amount in words (the "Ringgit Malaysia" line). Start at the extreme left, end with "Only", strike through the rest of the line. With sen, the convention is "...And Sen Fifty Only".

Step 4: Amount in figures (the RM box). Write tight against RM, include sen as decimals, and many writers close with a dash to block additions: RM1,500.00 or RM1,500/-.

Step 5: Crossing (top left). Two parallel lines with "A/C Payee Only" between them: the money can only be credited to the named payee's account, never cash over the counter. Most personal cheque leaves come pre-crossed; business leaves often do not, so add it deliberately.

Step 6: Signature (bottom right). Match your specimen signature registered with the bank. Company cheques follow the registered mandate: correct signatories in the correct combination, with the company stamp if the mandate requires it. Sign last, after every field is complete.

Worked examples

Conventions: no "Ringgit" repeated in your handwriting (the line pre-prints "Ringgit Malaysia"), "Only" closes the line, and the strike-through fills the leftover space.

The no-alteration rule

Malaysia clears cheques by image (eSPICK): the paying bank sees a scan, and a scan cannot authenticate a correction. Visibly altered cheques are returned, full stop, and even a countersigned correction is routinely refused. So the operating rule is: one mistake anywhere, cancel the leaf (write CANCELLED across it, do not sign), record the number, take the next leaf. Cheque book guide

The errors that get Malaysian cheques returned

1. Words and figures differ
2. Signature differs from the specimen (or a mandate signatory missing on company cheques)
3. Any visible alteration
4. Stale cheque: presented more than six months after its date
5. Post-dated cheque presented early
6. Payee name not matching the account title on a crossed cheque
7. Unsigned cheque
8. Illegible or faint writing failing image-quality checks
9. Insufficient funds, the classic dishonour with charges on both sides and a credit footprint

Every one of these is mechanical, which is the argument for printing: software generates the words from the figures (mismatch impossible), prints stored payee names identically every time, and produces image-perfect text. Cheque writer guide