Talk:ABA routing transit number

SWIFT and SORT/BSB codes?
I understand that, in addition to ABA numbers, there are SWIFT and SORT/BSB codes, although I haven't ever seen them. It would be nice to know how the three are related. Eric Walker 17:11, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Picture
Do you think we can use this under fair use?--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus Talk 17:39, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
 * It is a fake check anyway; it should not be too difficult to make one from scratch to illustrate the article (and copy-paste the individual numbers if the machine-readable font is not available). If there is any copyright associated with the check (it may not be the case, since there is not much original there), it belongs to the issuing bank; I am not sure if fair use can apply here. Schutz 08:51, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

The picture of a check does not seem to show agreement in the 2 routing numbers that the article explains. The fractional form does not agree with the MICR form. If this image was made for illustration, maybe an error was made? 71.207.162.156 (talk) 12:35, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

I see a check as a contract. Contracts cannot be copywritten, they are public domain. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.58.127.174 (talk) 16:03, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

Fractional ABA numbers
Checks bear a "fractional ABA number", usually in the upper right area, that is derived from the ABA number printed in MICR font along the bottom edge. If the ABA number is in the form XXXXYYYYC, the fractional ABA number appears in the form nn-YYYY/XXXX. If the leading digit(s) in either the XXXX or YYYY groups are zeros (0), those digits are dropped in the fractional representation, e.g. 0XXX0YYYC becomes nn-YYY/XXX. Now, the big question is, how is the nn portion of the fractional representation derived? That would be an interesting addition to this Wikipedia article. &mdash;QuicksilverT @ 08:58, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
 * see here (Section III at bottom of document) or here for an explanation. I agree that a description of this system needs to be added to this article, but I nominate someone with a better knowledge of banking --Jms2000 20:53, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, the article is in worse shape than just that. The routing number at the bottom of the check is not the ABA number; the ABA number has the form 16-66/1220.  The prefix of the ABA number numerator is the city or state in which the bank is located.  The smaller numbers in the series is cities, assigned in order of population in 1910.  E.g., NYC is 1, Chicago is 2, etc.  Los Angeles is 16, Minneapolis is 17.  The larger numbers in the prefixes are states.  These were assigned to banks outside the numbered cities.  The number after the hyphen is the bank number, which was assigned in order of the bank's size in 1910.  The denominator of the ABA number is the Federal REserve bank and branch, and seems to be explained well in the article.  Thus 17-1/910 was assigned to the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis, 17-2/910 was the First National Bank of Minneapolis, etc.  A small town bank in Minnesota might have been 75-262/912.  When the denominator ended in 0, that meant the bank was in a major city and received faster credit than a bank in the hinterland, whose denominator ended in something other than 0.  I know that a table of the prefix codes would make an interesting addition to the article.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.154.236.113 (talk) 06:35, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Inconsistent use of the words "routing" and "transit"
The word "routing" appears by itself several times in the article. The word "transit" also appears by itself several times. However, the relationship between the two words is not explained. The phrase "Federal Reserve Routing Symbol" adds to the confusion. In one place, "routing transit" appears, and in another "routing and transit."

So far, I think I have figured out the following:


 * A nine digit number appears in one block (usually the first) at the bottom of checks.
 * The first four digits is the Federal Reserve Routing Symbol.
 * The next four digits is only part of the ABA ID.
 * The last digit is a check digit.
 * The full ABA ID is made of two parts, separated by a dash, and appears as the numerator in the upper right.

I would like help bringing this article up to encyclopedic standards. I am not an expert on this subject. I would like suggestions from other editors. Elacy (talk) 17:08, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Check digit algorithm
In a March 2016 edit the Check digit section was modified to remove some content, including an example Python script. The edit comment claims the removed info was incorrect, but my initial test suggested that it worked fine. Does anyone know a number for which the removed content fails? 2601:281:C502:5180:5BC:607E:9B3A:779F (talk) 17:11, 17 August 2017 (UTC)