What is MICR Toner?

MICR, an acronym that stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, is the special set of characters and symbols that appear at the bottom of checks and other financial documents. MICR technology was developed in the mid-1950s to more efficiently process checks which were increasing in volume and quickly overwhelming the manual processing system.

Today, many types of financial documents utilize MICR technology, not only traditional bank deposit slips and loan payment stubs, but also gift certificates and stock certificates have adopted this standard. However, checks still account for the largest volume of MICR documents.

MICR characters are either printed in special inks using offset printing presses or printed with MICR toners using a laser printer. The MICR font characters are magnetized and read electronically by special reader/sorter equipment by financial institutions. The MICR line contains critical account information and instructions on how the payment is to be automatically routed and processed. Processing is done initally at the bank of deposit and progresses through the Federal reserve system in the U.S and/ or other banking systems throughout the world. 

The E-13 MICR font is used in the USA and many other countries, while some nations use a CMC-7 MICR standard. These fonts must meet atringent specifications (i.e., ABA and ANSI in the U.S., PIRA and APACS in the U.K., CBA in Canada) for sucessful readability by bank reader/sorter processing equipment. Only expert formulations and precision manufacturing processes are able to produce the high quality MICR toners and fonts necessary to achieve regulatory approvals.

MICR can not be used in InkJet Printers. Due to the nature of MICR particales inkJets CAN NOT be used to print MICR checks.

Offest Printing with manual processing: Some individuals and businesses continue to use traditional hand-written ledgers and checkbooks. These checks are usually purchased in quantities of a few hundred or more because they are printed on an offset printing press. processing checks by hand can be a time consuming and an error-prone task, even whent here are a low nuber of checks written.

Pre-printed check forms: pre-printed check forms (excluding the payee name, payment amount and authorized signature) are commonly utilized with impact and laser printers. Pre-printed forms are prone to misalignment errors and can cost $1.00 each when purchased in small quantites. Users must keep accurate inventories of pre-printed checks, and the check forms must be secured at all times. any changes to the pre-printed information results in the expense of discarding obsolete checks and printing a new supply.

on-demand check printing: Innovations and advances in MICR printing solutions eliminate the need for pre-printed check stock. A typical standalone MICR printing system uses special software, a laser printer, MICR toner, and blank check stock to print everything required on a check-- all in one pass.

today's intelligent printing systems are capable of printing the MICR line as well as:

Enhanced security measures-- Fraud-deterrent pattens based on variable data, security fonts, special messages and micro character designs.

company information -- divisions, addresses, phone numbers, logos and other custom information.

variable data -- payee, amount, date

special designs -- form overlay, lines, boxes, shading

bank specific information -- account number, check or draft number and invoice or claim number

signatures -- custom digital images of authorized signatures, applied according to rules established in the setup tools.

overflow pages -- using pre-specified criteria to print on non-check stock paper in different paper trays, or a different printer.

The benefits of on-demand MICR check printing are many. They apply equally well to a vast number of industries, as well as to individual needs, networked workgroups and production printing environments. volume is not the only consideration in the decision to use on-demand MICR printing. a company producing only 20 checks per month may benefit from a MICR system primarily for security and control. Additional benefits of implementing on-demand MICR check printing are flexability, convenience, time and cost savings.

Complete MICR solutions provide the ability to print quality checks with a high degree of security. Throughout the entire check printing process, securit measures should be present. End-to-end secure solutions provide fraud deterrent security while the data is being processed and set up for the print job, during check printing and when the check leaves control of the producer. Operational controls and security start with the host application, and includes network security, as well as efficient check production to ensure MICR toner is present and proper settings are in place. companies of all sizes have switched to an-demand MICR printing solution because it allows them to print quality checks with a high degree of fraud-deterrent security and operational control.

check fraud is a problem that costs u.s. businesses and banks $16 billion per year. for example, one single los angeles case involved the arrest of nine people in a check fraud scheme of over $40 million. most of the stolen checks, ranging from about $10,000 to over $2,000,000, were altered by changing the payees name and the dollar amounts and deposited into accounts under false personal and business names. The stolen funds were then dispersed through normal withdrawals. dozens of companies did not discover the missing money until reviewing their checking records months after the thefts.

Fraud deterrent security features are available in both the check printing software and hardware and can include password protection, encryption, audit history, keyed access to MICR features and security fonts. In addition, innovation printing intelligence can print special patterns which deter alteration of the check content after it has been dispersed- discouraging check fraud that occurred in the case described above.

operational safeguards should provide tools to ensure that no errors adversely affect MICR quality. For instance, intelligence in the printer only alows printing of checks when MICR toner is detected, automatically makes adjustments to print density and blocks printing when toner is low.

overall, MICR quality is defined by the effectiveness of the combinations of the printers, fonts, toner and paper. if the shape and/or magnetics of the MICR characters do not meet specified standards, the reader/sorter will reject the document. You may have seen rejected checks without realizing it. they are the ones returned in your banking statement with a white strip attached at the bottom. the rejected checks required manual handling, delaying the automated process.