When your check has cleared the bank. Then you are sure the check has been cashed or depositied by the merchant and the money has been withdrawn from your account. The check you wrote has then ‘been cleared’.

cardinal is right. Once cleared mark it as such with your checkmark both on your check register and next to the amount on your bank statement on the old fashioned paper version to verify agreement. Quicken will do this automatically but only after you follow the steps under RECONCILE option. Banks do make mistakes sometimes and you will never know it if you dont reconcile your account with bank’s. Also, I found a $9.95 charge once that I did not recognize. It turned out to by my clue that an identity thief had billed my account to pay for his online access to my credit report. I would never have known without that little checkmark.