when was the first bank checks made?

Answer 1

Starbuckjunkee may be correct about the first PRINTED checks, but the writing out of something directing a bank (or cashier) to transfer a sum of money from one person's account to another certainly predates the 18th century!!

One tricky part to your question is to determine exactly how we should understand various "banking" systems through the centuries. So the answer might vary. Here are the leading contenders:

1) First century A.D. - Banks in Persia (Sassanid Empire) issue issued letters of credit known as Sakks. They are considered the basis for the modern cheque.

The cheque had its origins in the ancient banking system, in which bankers would issue orders at the request of their customers, to pay money to identified payees. Such an order was referred to as a bill of exchange. The use of bills of exchange facilitated trade by eliminating the need for merchants to carry large quantities of currency (e.g. gold) to purchase goods and services. A draft is a bill of exchange which is payable on demand of the payee.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheque

2) The Romans seem to have issued checks in AD 352, but it did not catch on
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0001522.html

3) Earliest DISCOVERED fragments of paper that might be called checks (or British "cheques") -- from the 12th century found in the Cairo Geniza
They list a sum to be paid and then the order "May so and so pay the bearer such and such an amount" and appear to include the date and name of the one issuing the check.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheque

One problem with ALL of these answers so far is that they appear to be rare occurrences. A full blown SYSTEM of banking and checking is not evident.

Getting closer to modern day checking

4) Medieval Italy and Catalonia. A more primitive system. At first the depositor had to appear in person before a banker either to withdraw funds or to transfer them to an account of another customer.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2001/20011205/default.htm

5) First WIDESPREAD use of checks:
"According to most history texts, it probably wasn’t until the early 1500s, in Holland, that the first check got widespread usage. Amsterdam in the sixteenth century was a major international shipping and trading center. People who had accumulated cash began depositing it with Dutch "cashiers", for a fee, as a safer alternative to keeping the money at home. Eventually the cashiers agreed to pay their depositors’ debts out of the money in each account, based on the depositor’s written order or "note" to do so (the beginning of account-based bill payment). "
http://www.echeck.org/library/history.html

Answer 2

This is what I've found so far:

The first printed checks are traced to 1762 and
British banker Lawrence Childs. The word “check” also may have originated in England in the 1700s when serial numbers were placed on these pieces of paper as a way to keep track of, or “check” on, them.

You can read the rest of this article here:


http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001522.html

Hope that helps!
Happy Banking,
sbj
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Answer 3

About 5,000 years ago. The Babylonians had a system oof cheques based around trusted traders, who were effectively bankers.