Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for automating the separation of a check and a stub attached to the check in a payment receiving and processing system. For example, one embodiment of the invention involves a computerized apparatus configured to receive a document image, locate a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line in the document image, and capture a check image by capturing a portion of the document image based at least partially on the location of the MICR line.