

Manufacturers of standard laser printers cannot guarantee that the MICR line will be readable or usable, whereas MICR laser printer manufacturers can make that guarantee. To be sure that you are meeting ANSI standards, it’s best to use MICR toner in a MICR printer when printing checks. But we do not recommend that you do that. Just like it is possible to print checks with non-MICR toner, it is also possible to print checks using a standard laser printer with a MICR toner cartridge. Why is it important to use a MICR printer? In either case, the processing time will be increased and additional processing fees may be charged. If that bank only uses magnetic technology, a non-MICR toner check may need to be processed manually or even returned as unreadable. But there is no guarantee that a check printed using non-MICR toner will be handled by a bank that uses optical technology. Why is MICR toner best?įinancial institutions read checks optically and/or magnetically, using MICR. While it is possible to physically print checks with non-MICR toner, there are several important issues to consider first. This allows for electronic processing and ensures compliance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) specifications for readability. MICR toner is similar to standard laser printer toner, but it includes an iron oxide additive.
