My TD Canada Trust cheque looks like:
*NNN* *TTTTT*YYY* BBBB*AAAAAAA*
NNN = Cheque #
TTTTT = Transit #
YYY = Instituition
BBBB AAAAAAA = is the account #
What can be a little confusing about these numbers is that BBBB in the account # is probably the branch, but sometimes the transit # is referred to the branch. The BBBB may be the same as the first four numbers in the TTTTT transit number, but not necessarily. Some forms will call the TTTTT transit number the branch.
This information and understanding it is essential if you are sending or receiving wires.
It was much too hard for me to Google for this information and many of the top sites in the search results were pretty tacky — maybe even spammy. The most interesting parts I found on Wikipedia: cheque and the routing transit number, but I still had to connect some dots.
After this post, I found at the front of the cheque book a figure showing each part of the check. Go figure!
Update: For TD online banking (EasyWeb) it is the Transit # and the 2nd part of the Account #.
Financial Geeks can also enjoy the many fruits of the Specifications for MICR-Encoded Payment Items, which includes the ever-so-fascinating Specification for MICR-Encoding, which covers the above in toe-tingling detail.
chris, that sizzles!
*NNN* *TTTTT*YYY* BBBB*AAAAAAA*
N= cheque number
Y= bank (which in your case I imagine is 003 for TD, BMO = 001, etc)
T= Branch (5 digits with alberta ending in 9, Sask in 8, BC =?)
Deductive reasoning is that the B’s and A’s are your account number
I direct deposit off cheques many times a month. I am 100% sure on that one
Trent, thanks for the confirmation!
004 is TD
BC=0
003 is Royal Bank and Ontario ends in 2 if the logic holds that far east…
Since so many people have the same questions of finding their account information, why don’t they print on the cheque, underneath the numbers what they mean? (This is just a retorical question…) Everyone can try their own guess…