Look at the queque image in this thread: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=777819 Cheques aren't very common in Germany anymore (except for crossed cheques, but even those are rare today), but from what I know, the biggest deal is always to make a cheque safe against faking the ammount of money written on it. That's the reason why the ammount is not only written with numbers but also with words. And here in Germany ONLY words are needed, because the amount written in numbers is just for making handling easier. Now if you look at the above mentioned cheque, you see that the amount in words is printed white on black background. Shouldn't this be usually normally black directly on the background pattern? Why should the issuer of the check allow easy faking of the amount by overwritting the security pattern with a black bar? Is this usual in the USA?