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Deposit Checks By iPhone
kaychoro writes to mention that at least one privately held bank is planning on removing a little bit more legwork for the consumer by allowing the electronic submission of paper checks via a new iPhone app. The app would allow users to take a picture of the front and back of the check and submit that to the depository. "Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the bank's customers qualify."
Some countries still use personal cheques? How quaint!
Taking a picture of a paper check really sounds like state of the art in electronic banking :-).
Living in Europe, the last time I used a check was maybe 10 years ago.
USAA has allowed customers to scan and electronically deposit checks for quite a while. The only new thing here is the iPhone app. Still, it's pretty cool, especially compared to mailing checks in. (For those who don't know, USAA doesn't have physical branches. They were established by and for members of the military, and they've pretty much always been pioneers of remote banking, first by mail and phone, and now over the internet.)
*This* is why you voted for Obama?
This and the unicorns.
My guess is when the other guys calls his bank to complain, they call your bank, and then your bank asks you to present the check as proof. They then analyze the check for forgery and throw you in jail if they find any. Pretty similar to what they do to people who write in numbers on checks currently and try to change the value line.
I read the internet for the articles.
Those were an important platform.
I have to admit that my sarcasmometer was registering at 50/50. I couldn't figure out if you were being facetious or not. This leads me to believe you were, so I'm sorry.
P.S. Why did Chrome's spell-checker accept "sarcasmometer"? Does this exist? Can I get one?
USAA (United Serviceman Automobile Association) is not your normal bank that has offices all over where you can make a deposit. It is a banking service available to military personnel and their dependents. It has always been set up so that servicemen deployed around the world can access their accounts. Before they wrote the iPhone app, members could scan their cheques and email them to the bank for credit, this is just an extension of that service, nothing new.
USAA is a hell of alot larger than just a bank..
This concept isn't new - I'm a USAA member.. (USAA member ship is restricted to Armed Forces and their Dependants (used to be Only Officers int he Armed Forces)) From the start several years ago (8-9) when they opened the Banking part of USAA they allowed Check deposit via a Scanner or via Fax.
the idea of using an IPhone app is no big deal as it's a decent res camera.. and they already have the check image processing software in place (to handle the fax and scans)..
I've never used them for banking.. BUT for insurance.. they are by far the best i've ever seen
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
"I wonder how much "reverse fraud" is possible with this? I take a picture of a $1000 check, and the person who wrote the check says 'hey, wait a minute! I only wrote that check for $100, the person who cashed it faked that image!'"
I'm confused, in your scenario who is committing the crime? I see problems either way. If it is the person who wrote the check, there is still an image of the check. So if the check says "One thousand dollars" on it, he's out of luck - he can't claim it said 100.
If the person who is scanning the check modifies it, not only is he committing a crime, he is risking his credit rating. It's easy to get caught too - I think about half the people I know who write checks have carbon copies of their checks, and almost all businesses have electronics copies. Anyway, it's possible to modify checks as it is, that crime is nothing new.
When I voted for Obama, I voted for change. Not the kind that jingles in the purse pocket of the 90 year old lady standing in front of me at the Piggly Wiggly searching for her checkbook in her handbag. I understand that we probably can't leave these grannies without their paper checks, but at some point, probably during the Obama administration, a bunch of them will die off. We should use that as an opportunity to do away with checks completely.
Electronic bank transfer is where it's at. Paperless society. Swipe and go at the grocery store.
Please Mr. Obama, implement real change. Get rid of checks.
you're aware that the US government can't abolish checks, right?
They don't have the Constitutional authority for the War on (some) Drugs (particularly the asset forfeiture laws) or the bank bailouts or the Federal Reserve or warrentless wiretaps or detaining citizens without charges and due process or collusion with ATT either. Those were stopped by a lack of authority, right?
You need an account at USAA to make a deposit. You need to be in the military or one of their dependents to open an account. You can only deposit to that account with this app. It's not like there are a lot of holes to the process.
That and people who want to buy things as anonymously as possible, cash is still the only real anonymous payment method left.
As per cash only places, they may very well be cash only to avoid having to pay sales tax, which in certain places in the world(ie Europe), ends up being a lot of money.
Monstar L
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
You don't seem to know much about USAA...
They are, if nothing else, extremely cautious about that sort of thing from my experience. I bank with them (as well as have my auto insurance through them). I wouldn't switch away for some imagined slight. Not after having dealt with the HELL that other banks put you through if there is some sort of customer service needed. USAA is by far and away the BEST customer service bank I have EVER dealt with. Bar none. Nope, I'm not switching banks.
I've been using their deposit@home service for a while now, and it's great. This is just a minor evolution of that (camera instead of scanner), and I don't see much to make me think it's a huge difference.
"We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
USAA and a few other banks have been doing this for ages.
I know that USAA in particular already has a system that lets users scan checks themselves with a PC and a scanner, and then can deposit the check via email or the website or what have you, simply by sending the image file to them.
So the only thing interesting here is really a) they're going to do it via an iPhone app, and b) the iPhone picture quality is now considered good enough for this sort of thing.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Some people like having a physical record that they paid something
You mean like a bank statement?
In that case, some people like having a physical record that they paid something that they can use in disputes with a bank.
"Cash only" establishments are just trying to get by.
They're not evading taxes, they're avoiding the service charge that Visa/Mastercard charges them on every transaction. In most businesses profit margins are very small, and the extra 5%-10% that the credit card companies skim off the transaction (particularly on small purchased) can eat up the entire profit.
Many businesses depend on cash customers because they make zero profit on credit card customers -- they just accept credit cards to increase their volume so to bring overall costs down, and hope and pray that they get enough cash customers to make a profit.
You know that "cash back" that credit card companies give you on each purchase? They're just giving you a cut of the money that they're wringing out of the merchant.
I'm a USAA member, and I know for a fact that many USAA members have needs above and beyond a "normal bank" customer. Imagine trying to buy a new car in Florida when you are deployed to Iraq. Think of how difficult it is to have both of your signatures on one sheet of paper... its not a big example, but it is the kind of thing you run into. Think about this, I once worked in an on-base video rental store - we had a guy rent a movie and then get orders that night to deploy... the computer just kept racking up late fees, even automatically reporting to his CO (also deployed) - we cleared it up after a month or two, once someone noticed. Military situations are just plain different.
meh
According to this wiki entry, Apple has roughly 10.7% of the market share of smartphones, while Symbian has 47%, Blackberry has 19.5%, Windows Mobile has 12.4%, and hell, even linux has almost 9%. So to say that the iPhone is is the single most popular is a bit of a stretch (even with the qualifier 'for personal use').
Arguing ease of development shouldn't really be a factor, because all they're really doing it saving a picture and sending it... it can't be that hard with any of the APIs (ridiculously easy with Win Mobile, for example) . But I think arguing that there's no market for potential users could be a bad argument.
I'm a USAA member, and while it isn't some big technical feat of wizardry... I love being able to deposit checks from home. When first released it was Windows only, but they promised a Mac version "soon" and actually delivered on that promise in a timely manner.
They're one of the few businesses I can say I'm completely happy with. They actually still buy into the "quaint" principle that they exist to serve their customers.
#DeleteChrome
P.S. Why did Chrome's spell-checker accept "sarcasmometer"? Does this exist? Can I get one?
Yeah. Like everything else, you can buy a sarcasmometer on eBay.
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> This and the unicorns.
You know, I had to go out and have a custom unicorn horn tip cover made, just for my own safety. Those things are pointy!
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Also a customer and agree that the Deposit@Home program they have is amazingly useful. I hate getting checks from people, but it is nice being able to deposit them from my desk in one minute.
Also agree that they are probably the least evil company in the banking world. I use them for nearly all of my services (banking/loans/insurance) and they always have the best rates and the best support.
"We need a fourth law of Robotics: Stop Fingering My Wife"
>the extra 5%-10% that the credit card companies skim off the transaction
You misspelled "one or two percent."
Can you even show me a merchant account agreement that charges the low end of your claim?
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Almost every customer bill in the UK is paid by Direct Debit. The organisation automatically draws the money straight from your bank account. I know some firms in the US will do this, but the UK version has some important safeguards, absent from the US system.
For variable amounts, (like your electricity bill) the organisation has to give you fourteen days notice before making the deduction from your account.
You can cancel the Direct Debit at any time.
Banks vet organisations heavily before they are allowed to initiate Direct Debits. I've been through this process, and it is quite a thorough auditing.
Customers are protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee. Every bank that allows customers to have Direct Debits has to adhere to this. In effect it says if the organisation made a mistake, debiting the wrong amount, or on the wrong date, you tell the bank and the bank will immediately refund the money plus any charges incurred as a result, recouping from the company.
It's this guarantee that has made it so successful, for customers who don't have to worry about making payments, it all happens automatically. And for companies the big advantage is cost. To collect a direct debit costs pennies and the system can be entirely automated. The savings in bank charges are substantial and in staff time are enourmous.
If you move to a different bank, you need to sign one form and all your direct debits should be moved to your new account. You don't need to contact any of your suppliers.
I can, if I can dig it up. I've since cancelled the account.
Very low-volume businesses get charged this. I ran a photography studio, and probably received 5-10 transactions per month via credit card. I was charged 7.2% plus fees for this service.
Learn about Photography Basics.
Doing financial business in bits and bytes is ridiculously simple and easy, the cost is nearly nill, the banks are just robbing folks as usual. I worked for several years in a Global Funds Transfer department for a huge bank. GFT technology is OLD OLD OLD, think like telegraph/fax old, that is why it works to anywhere, in Mexico, or say Nigeria, or that little village in Tanzania. You just got screwed because the big banks OWN all the wires, and they have divided up the playing field so they seem to compete but don't really do so...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
These are fairly important differences. In the UK, I had direct debits set up for all my bills but since moving to the States, I pay all my bills manually even though I'm occasionally late and incur late fees. Basically when you set up automatic payments here, you're giving the company full access to your account and if they overcharge or empty your account, the bank is under no obligation to rectify the situation and there's no real mechanism in place to "Cancel" the access. It's a potential nightmare.
Another thing that's a bit of a culture shock moving here is the size of the late fees and how quickly they're willing to cut off your utilities.
I've never used them for banking.. BUT for insurance.. they are by far the best i've ever seen
I've had pretty much every possible kind of account with USAA, and they're completely top notch.
I just tried out the updated app, and the Deposit@Mobile feature worked perfectly. I'm a fan.
So, cheques: a piece of paper laced with security techniques to dodge copying/photographing/duplicating/forging is going to be accepted in photographed form? That seems more than idiotic.