Do banks still give out check registers?

Some do. The FDIC says you may receive a small booklet called a check register, and Nebraska Extension says registers are usually free when you order new checks or available at your local bank. Ask your bank. Or print a blank sheet from this page.

Is there an app that works like a check register?

This page works like one: it keeps the running balance and saves your lines in this browser. Your bank's app isn't a register, because it only shows what has reached the bank.

Can I keep a check register in Excel or Google Sheets?

Yes. Download CSV above gives you a file either one opens. The balances come over as plain numbers, not formulas, so new lines won't add themselves up. Keep adding lines here and download again.

Free tool

Check register

Updated October 13, 2026

A check register is your running record of every check, card purchase, deposit and fee, with the balance after each one. This one adds it up as you type and tells you, to the cent, whether it matches your bank statement. Rather write it by hand? Print a blank sheet below. Why keep one at all? Your bank's app only knows what has reached the bank, so the check you mailed Tuesday isn't in it. A register has it.

Register balance: $1,718.47
Cleared balance: $2,163.47
Not cleared yet: −$445.00

Large print

This is an example month. It's already checked against its statement in the box below. Change any line, or clear the example and start your own.

Starting balance

Use the ending balance from your last statement, then add a line for anything you wrote or deposited after it closed.

$592.16

$528.47

$2,178.47

$2,033.47

$1,733.47

$1,718.47

Starting balance

Date

Amount

Use the ending balance from your last statement, then add a line for anything you wrote or deposited after it closed.

Saved in this browser only. Nothing you type is sent to Granite.

Check it against your statement

Go down your statement and tick each line here that's on it. Anything on the statement that isn't here yet (a fee, interest, a card purchase, an automatic payment) goes in as a new line, ticked. Then type the ending balance.

Statement ending balance

Statement closing date (optional)

We use it to flag checks more than six months old. Leave it blank and we use today's date.

Balanced to the cent

Your cleared balance and the statement both say $2,163.47. Your register says $1,718.47 because the 2 lines below aren't on the statement yet.

Not on the statement yet

09/20/26 · 1042 · Dr. Patel, dental cleaning−$145.00
09/28/26 · 1043 · Lakeside Electric−$300.00

Check register

Date	No. / Code	Description	Payment (−)	✓	Deposit (+)	Balance
09/01/26		Starting balance				$1,842.16
09/01/26	1041	Riverside Property Mgmt, September rent	1,250.00	✓		$592.16
09/03/26	DC	Corner Market	63.69	✓		$528.47
09/15/26	DEP	Northwind Bakery, paycheck		✓	1,650.00	$2,178.47
09/20/26	1042	Dr. Patel, dental cleaning	145.00			$2,033.47
09/28/26	1043	Lakeside Electric	300.00			$1,733.47
09/30/26	FEE	Monthly service fee, from the statement	15.00	✓		$1,718.47

Statement ending balance $2,163.47 (closing 09/30/26). Cleared balance $2,163.47. Balanced to the cent.

Codes used on this sheet

DC Debit card purchase · DEP Deposit · FEE Bank fee · A number is a check number.

Made with the free check register at granite.co

Filling it in

How to fill in a check register

Start from a statement. Write the ending balance from your last bank statement on the starting balance line. Then add, as lines, anything you wrote or deposited after that statement closed. Don't start from the balance in your bank's app. It can leave out purchases and payments you've already made.
One line for everything. Every check, deposit, ATM withdrawal, debit card purchase, automatic payment and bank fee gets a line. Write the date you wrote the check or made the purchase, not the date it clears.
Number or code. A check gets its check number, the one in the top right corner (more on the numbers on a check). That number is how the check shows up on your statement. Everything else gets a short code, like DC for a debit card.
Payment or deposit, then the new balance. Money out goes in the payment column and money in under deposit, never both on one line. Subtract or add it to get the new balance.
Tick it when it clears. When the line shows up on your statement, put a check mark in the ✓ column.

There's no standard list of codes. Every bank and every printed register has its own list, and they don't match: one uses D for a deposit, another DEP. So write down what yours mean. The sheet this page prints has a legend for its codes. Writing the check itself? The check writing tool shows what goes on each line.

Once a month

How to reconcile it with your bank statement

Reconciling means proving that your register and the bank's record agree. Most statements carry a worksheet for it, usually on the back. The order matters, and most templates skip it:

Add what the statement has and you don't. Go down the statement and tick every line that's also in your register. Anything left on the statement (a monthly fee, interest, a card purchase you forgot, an automatic payment) goes into your register now, ticked. A line you don't recognize is different: don't copy it in, ask your bank about it.
Then compare. If your starting balance came from a statement, your cleared balance (the start plus every ticked line) should equal the statement's ending balance. The lines you haven't ticked, like checks not cashed yet and deposits made after the closing date, explain the gap between the statement and your register.

The tool's example month is September. It starts at $1,842.16, from August's statement. The September statement showed a $15.00 monthly fee that wasn't in the register, so it went in first, ticked. After that, the cleared balance is $2,163.47, the same as the statement's ending balance.

The statement says $2,163.47. No deposits are waiting to post. Checks 1042 ($145.00) and 1043 ($300.00) haven't been cashed, so the register is $445.00 lower, at $1,718.47.

When it doesn't match, look in this order. First, something on the statement still missing from your register. Then a mistyped amount, in either place: compare each ticked amount with the statement, and look for a line you ticked that the statement doesn't show. If the difference divides evenly by 9, look for two swapped digits. $54.00 written as $45.00 is off by exactly $9.00.

The statement side of this, section by section, is in our guide to reconciling a bank statement.

Why monthly

Why reconcile every month

A balance that doesn't match is how you catch a bad line in time. On a personal account, federal rules give you 60 days after your bank sends the statement to report a wrong debit card purchase, ATM withdrawal or automatic payment. That's about two monthly statements, so reconciling each one when it arrives keeps you well inside it. For a paper check with a forged signature or an alteration, state law generally expects you to review your statement promptly. A year after the statement was available, you generally can't make the bank cover it at all. Your account agreement can change the check rules, so read yours.

What counts as an error, and what happens after you report one, is in the section on disputing a charge.

Method

How the tool works

The math runs in whole cents, so no balance drifts by a penny. Each balance follows the line above it, in the order you enter the lines. A line counts as cleared when you tick it. The cleared balance is the starting balance plus every ticked deposit, minus every ticked payment.

A line whose number is all digits counts as a check. If it isn't ticked and is dated more than six months before the statement closing date (or before today, if you leave that date blank), the tool flags it. A bank doesn't have to pay a check that old, though it may. Ask the payee whether they still have it. If it's lost, your bank can stop payment on it.

Your lines are saved only in this browser on this device. None of it is sent to Granite. Clear register erases them. Once a month is reconciled, the retention timeline shows how long to keep the statement. Rules checked October 13, 2026.

Questions

Check registers, answered

Do banks still give out check registers?: Some do. The FDIC says you may receive a small booklet called a check register, and Nebraska Extension says registers are usually free when you order new checks or available at your local bank. Ask your bank. Or print a blank sheet from this page.
Is there an app that works like a check register?: This page works like one: it keeps the running balance and saves your lines in this browser. Your bank's app isn't a register, because it only shows what has reached the bank.
Can I keep a check register in Excel or Google Sheets?: Yes. Download CSV above gives you a file either one opens. The balances come over as plain numbers, not formulas, so new lines won't add themselves up. Keep adding lines here and download again.

Sources

FDIC, Manage your checking account: what goes in a register, and why the balance in your app can be off. FDIC Money Smart, keeping your checking balance: why the statement and register differ, and the worksheet on the back.
Virginia Credit Union balancing form and Apple Bank's checking guide: the reconcile steps, what to check when it doesn't match, and which date to write.
Nebraska Extension, the lost art of the check register, and WalletHub's printable register: free registers with a check order, and two code lists that don't match.
OCC, HelpWithMyBank glossary: outstanding, reconciliation and stale-dated checks.
12 CFR 1005.11 (Regulation E): the 60 days to report an electronic transfer error.
Uniform Commercial Code section 4-406 (reviewing your statement, the one-year limit), section 4-404 (checks more than six months old) and section 4-103 (agreements that change these terms).

Keep exploring

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Keep the statements you reconcile against

Drop in each month's bank statement, even the password-locked PDFs, and photos of the checks you write. Granite reads them, names each check by number and payee, and makes all of it searchable, so when you need to know what check 1042 was for, the photo is one search away. Free for your first 25 documents.

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