(a) Except as provided in (c) - (d) of this section, “negotiable instrument” means an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest or other charges described in the promise or order, if the unconditional promise or order
(1) is payable to bearer or to order at the time it is issued or first comes into possession of a holder;
(2) is payable on demand or at a definite time; and
(3) does not state any other undertaking or instruction by the person promising or ordering payment to do an act in addition to the payment of money, but the promise or order may contain an undertaking or power to give, maintain, or protect collateral to secure payment, an authorization or power to the holder to confess judgment or realize on or dispose of collateral, or a waiver of the benefit of a law intended for the advantage or protection of an obligor.
(b) “Instrument” means a negotiable instrument.
(c) An order that meets all of the requirements of (a)(2) - (3) of this section, and otherwise falls within the definition of “check” in (f) of this section, is a negotiable instrument and a check.
(d) A promise or order other than a check is not an instrument if, at the time the promise or order is issued or first comes into possession of a holder, the promise or order contains a conspicuous statement, however expressed, to the effect that the promise or order is not negotiable or is not an instrument governed by this chapter.
(e) An instrument is a “note” if the instrument is a promise and a “draft” if the instrument is an order. If an instrument falls within the definition of both “note” and “draft,” a person entitled to enforce the instrument may treat the instrument as either.
(f) “Check” means a draft, other than a documentary draft, payable on demand and drawn on a bank, or a cashier's check or teller's check. An instrument may be a check even though the instrument is described on its face by another term, such as “money order.”
(g) “Cashier's check” means a draft with respect to which the drawer and drawee are the same bank or branches of the same bank.
(h) “Teller's check” means a draft drawn by a bank
(1) on another bank; or
(2) payable at or through a bank.
(i) “Traveler's check” means an instrument that
(1) is payable on demand;
(2) is drawn on or payable at or through a bank;
(3) is designated by the term “traveler's check” or by a substantially similar term; and
(4) requires, as a condition to payment, a countersignature by a person whose specimen signature appears on the instrument.
(j) “Certificate of deposit” means an instrument containing an acknowledgment by a bank that a sum of money has been received by the bank and a promise by the bank to repay the sum of money. A certificate of deposit is a note of the bank.