Editing Passbook

{{Short description|Type of paper book in banking}}
{{for|the application on Apple's iOS operating system formerly known as Passbook|Apple Wallet}}
{{for|the document that black African citizens were required to carry in apartheid-era South Africa|pass laws}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}
[[File:SampleBankbook.png|200px|right|thumb|Sample passbook (open), containing the same transactions as the [[bank statement]]]]
A '''passbook''' or '''bankbook''' is a paper book used to record bank or [[building society]] transactions on a [[deposit account]].

[[File:Inside a Post Office Savings Bank deposit book.jpg|thumb|right|200px|alt=A page with a pre-printed table.  It has handwritten entries showing amounts of deposits and withdrawals, and the balance.  Each entry has a post office date stamp.|The [[National Savings and Investments|Post Office Savings Bank]] introduced passbooks to rural 19th-century Britain.]]

Traditionally, a passbook was used for accounts with a low transaction volume, such as [[savings account]]s. A [[bank teller]] or [[postmaster]] would write the date, amount of the transaction, and the updated balance and enter his or her initials by hand. In the late 20th century, small [[dot matrix printer|dot matrix]] or [[inkjet printer]]s were introduced that were capable of updating the passbook at the account holder's convenience, either at an [[automated teller machine|ATM]] or a passbook printer, either in a self-serve mode, by post, or in a [[branch (banking)|branch]].

==History==
Passbooks appeared in the 18th century, allowing customers to hold transaction information in their own hands for the first time.  Until then, transactions were recorded in ledgers at the bank only, so customers had no history of their own deposits and withdrawals.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The passbook, which was around the size of a passport, ensured that customers had control over their own information, and was called a "passbook" because it was used as a way to identify the account holder without needing further identification. It also regularly passed between the bank and the account holder for updating.<ref name=telegraphpass>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/9326252/Back-to-the-future-savings-passbook-trumps-the-internet.html |title=Back to the future' savings passbook trumps the internet |date=June 12, 2012 |publisher=The Telegraph |access-date=April 3, 2018 |archive-date=July 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703121937/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/9326252/Back-to-the-future-savings-passbook-trumps-the-internet.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Paying taxes with passbooks (1943).jpg|200px|right|thumb|Customers queuing to bank counter in Finland with passbooks (1943)]]
==Usage==
===Credits and deposits===
To add credit to an account by bringing [[cash]] to a bank in person, the account holder can fill a small ''credit slip'' or ''deposit slip''. The total value of notes and coins is counted and entered on the slip, along with the date and the payer's name. The cash and details are counted and checked by the teller at the bank; if everything is in order, the deposit is credited to the account, the ''credit slip'' is then kept by the bank, and the ''credit slip booklet'' is stamped with the date and then returned to the account holder. An account holder uses his passbook to record their history of transactions with his bank.

===Debits and withdrawals===
Withdrawals normally required the account holder to visit the branch where the account was held, where a ''debit slip'' or ''withdrawal slip'' would be prepared and signed. If the teller did not know the account holder, the signature on the slip and the authorities would be checked against the signature card at the branch, before money was paid out. In the 1980s, banks adopted the black light signature system for passbooks, which enabled withdrawals to be made from passbooks at a branch other than the one where an account was opened, unless prior arrangements were made to transfer the signature card to the other branch. Under this system, the passbook's owner would sign in the back of the passbook in an invisible ink and the signing authorities would also be noted. At the paying branch, the signature on the withdrawal slip would be checked against the signature in the book, which required a special ultraviolet reader to read.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/commonwealth-bank-school-bank/clip2/ |title=Commonwealth Bank – The School Bank (1951) |publisher=Australia Screen |access-date=23 December 2012 |archive-date=17 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517230106/http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/commonwealth-bank-school-bank/clip2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Today, the customer is more commonly verified by [[Personal identification number|PIN]] and commonly through an [[automated teller machine]].

==Direct banking==
{{Main|Direct bank}}
For people who feel uneasy with [[telephone banking|telephone]] or [[online banking]], the use of a passbook is an alternative to obtain, in real-time, the account activity without waiting for a [[bank statement]]. However, unlike some bank statements, some passbooks offer fewer details, replacing easy-to-understand descriptions with short codes.<ref name=telegraphpass></ref>

==Gallery of passbooks==
<gallery caption="Passbook gallery">
File:Saffron Building Society Passbook.jpg|[[Saffron Building Society]] passbook
File:Postsparbuch Vorderseite 1984.jpg|German Postsparbuch, cover
File:Sparbuch der Deutschen Bundespost 1986, Doppelseite.jpg|German Postsparbuch
File:Bank account book, issued by Petty and Postlethwaite for use in Cumbria, UK. 1st entry 1831, last entry in 1870. On display at the British Museum in London.jpg|Bank account book, issued by Petty and Postlethwaite for use in Cumbria, UK. 1st entry 1831, last entry in 1870. On display at the British Museum in London.
File:Steitz Savings and Loan Association Mortgage Loan Passbook (1987).jpg|Steitz Savings and Loan Association Mortgage Loan Passbook (1987)
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Commons|Passbooks}}
* [[Bank statement]]
* [[Cheque|Cheque book]]
* [[Deposit account]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Paper products}}
[[Category:Banking terms]]
[[Category:Accounting source documents]]
[[Category:Retail financial services]]
[[Category:Paper products]]