We are struggling with this subject yet again. We process in excess of 7 million checks a month, and frequently encounter checks where the legal line and courtesy box is different.
Our dilema is, that when processing these checks, we can often see from the source document what the customer intended, but there are cases when we still screw it up. either from the customers point of view, or the paying bank.
Currently we are taking the checks strictly for what is written on the legal line (UCC.3.114). While we don't get any returns from Paying banks anymore, we still get customer complaints.
It is really amazing to me how many people out there just don't know how to write a check.
How do you handle these at your bank?