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Curriculum › Grades 6-8 › Life Skills & Career Paths

Endorsing a Check and Reading a Bank Statement

  • Grades 6-8
  • Life Skills & Career Paths
  • JS:SS-5
  • Money & Banking
  • Free lesson

Aligned to JS:SS-5 — Jump$tart National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education & Advance CTE Career Clusters.

What this lesson teaches

Endorsing means signing the back of a check made out to you so it can be deposited. A bank statement is the month's record of every deposit, withdrawal and fee. Comparing the statement against your own record is how errors and fraud get caught — usually by the account holder, not the bank.

Worked examples

Example 1

Write 'For deposit only' and your account number above your signature on the back. That way a lost check cannot be cashed by whoever finds it.

Example 2

A statement shows a $9.99 charge you do not recognize. Small recurring charges are what fraud usually looks like — big ones get noticed too fast.

Example 3

Your balance and the statement can honestly disagree for a few days, because a check you wrote has not been cashed yet. That is why you keep your own register.

Practice questions

  1. Describe how to endorse a check for deposit only, and why.
  2. Find three kinds of entries that appear on a bank statement.
  3. Why might your own balance differ from the bank's on the same day?

Watch the lesson

Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.

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En español

Endosar un cheque y leer un estado de cuenta

Endosar significa firmar el reverso de un cheque hecho a tu nombre para poder depositarlo. Un estado de cuenta es el registro del mes de cada depósito, retiro y comisión. Comparar el estado con tu propio registro es como se detectan errores y fraudes — normalmente lo detecta el titular, no el banco.

Ejemplo 1: Escribe 'Solo para depósito' y tu número de cuenta arriba de tu firma en el reverso. Así, un cheque perdido no lo puede cobrar quien lo encuentre.

Ejemplo 2: Un estado muestra un cargo de $9.99 que no reconoces. Los cargos pequeños y repetidos son la forma habitual del fraude — los grandes se notan demasiado rápido.

Ejemplo 3: Tu saldo y el estado pueden no coincidir por unos días, porque un cheque que escribiste todavía no lo cobran. Por eso llevas tu propio registro.

More Money & Banking lessons

Building a Monthly Budget That WorksJS:FD-7Checking Accounts and Debit CardsJS:SS-3How to Write a CheckJS:SS-4Emergency Funds and Compound InterestJS:SS-6

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