Paying-in Slip

A paying-in slip is a short form that accompanies cash or cheques being paid into a bank account. It tells the bank which account to credit and lists what is being paid in, so that the cashier or processing centre can check the amount and post the deposit correctly. "Paying-in slip" is the usual British term; in the United States and many other countries the same document is called a deposit slip, and some banks call it a credit slip.

Paying-in slips are handed over at a bank branch counter, placed in an envelope at a deposit machine, or used at post offices and agent outlets that take deposits on a bank's behalf. They may be loose forms at the branch, pre-printed with the customer's details in a paying-in book, or bound into the back of a chequebook. They are slowly being replaced by electronic deposits, machine receipts and app-based cheque imaging.

A paying-in slip is the label you stick on a parcel of money. Without it, the bank would have a pile of cash and cheques and no idea whose account to put them in. The slip says "this is for account number such-and-such, and here is what is inside: so much in notes, so much in coins, these cheques."

The cashier counts what you hand over and checks it against the slip. If it matches, they stamp the slip or its tear-off counterfoil and give that part back to you. That stamped stub is your receipt and proof that you paid the money in, in case anything goes wrong later.

• The account. The account holder's name and the account number, plus the sort code in the UK or the bank's routing details elsewhere.
• The date and the name of the person paying in, who may not be the account holder.
• Cash, broken down by denomination: the total in each value of banknotes and coins.
• Cheques, listed one by one with the drawer's name or cheque number and the amount, on the back of the slip if there are several.
• The total being credited, and the payer's signature.

Pre-printed slips carry a coded line similar to the one on a cheque, so that machines can read the account details. Banks in some countries also use special deposit slips for paying third parties, such as utility bills, taxes and school fees, where the bank collects money on behalf of a payee.

At the counter, the customer hands over the slip with the cash and cheques. The cashier counts the cash, checks the cheques are payable to the account holder, and checks that the totals agree. Any difference is corrected with the customer present. The money then appears in the account: cash usually at once or the same day, cheques once they clear. In the UK, cheques now clear through the Image Clearing System, normally within two working days.

Businesses often pay in takings from a till or cash box through a deposit envelope or a night safe, with the slip inside; the bank counts it later and credits the account, adjusting for any difference. In the UK, personal and business customers of most banks can also pay in at a Post Office counter using a paying-in slip or card. Wherever the deposit is made, the customer should keep the receipt until the credit appears on their bank account statement.

Mistakes on a slip, such as a wrong digit in the account number, can send money to the wrong account, and reversing them is not always simple. Customers should copy account details carefully and check the stamped receipt. Large cash deposits are also checked under anti-money-laundering rules, and repeated deposits just under a reporting limit can be treated as structuring. In the US, a single cash deposit or set of deposits above $10,000 in a business day leads to a Currency Transaction Report.

Fraudsters have also used slips in scams, for example by persuading a victim to pay cash into an account controlled by a criminal, sometimes a mule account. A cashier who sees an unusual deposit of this kind may ask questions before accepting it.

As fewer people use cash and cheques, the paying-in slip is fading. Deposit-taking cash machines count notes and print a receipt with no slip needed, cheques can be paid in by photograph through remote deposit capture, and most money now arrives by electronic transfer. In countries where cash remains common, including Pakistan, deposit slips are still part of everyday banking, alongside the cheques customers write to themselves to make a withdrawal over the counter.

• Pay.UK: Image Clearing System