When you take money from someone it can be a little frightening to accept a check with only their name on it. Too many instances of fraud have made themselves known, and when many businesses don’t accept checks, why should you? But there is a way you can accept a personal check with assurance: through a certified check.
A personal check comes from the book a person carries around—or used to, until banks started giving out debit cards. You have no way of knowing if money is going to be in that person’s checking account when you go to cash a personal check.
A certified check comes with the security of a money order. A money order involves one party handing over cash to a bank or monetary institution and receiving a piece of paper that looks like a check, but guarantees the receiver that the company will ensure payment rather than the payee. The signature is guaranteed; necessary funds are set aside so when you cash it the money is definitely going to be there, and the person who gave it to you definitely had the right to give it.
