Deposit Checks Via iPhone Photos
So you’d like to have the convienence of depositing your hard earned work check straight from your iPhone into your bank, no matter where you are? Well, there will soon be an app for that – USAA – a very small bank/insurance company is in the process of updating their current app.
USAA only contains one branch in San Antonio Texas and mainly serves military personnel. So with most of the bank’s customers deployed all over the world, this is an excellent idea. To make the deposit, simply take a photo. Take one of the front of the check and one of the back, and hit the send button. That’s all there is to it. There is not even a need to physically send in the check — just void it and go on your merry way as it is all completely handled electronically.
Now we don’t know about you but if our banks had an app like this, we’d be all over it. Any of our readers bank with USAA and are willing to give this a try once the update is released?
[Via NYTimes]
August 10th, 2009 at 11:10 am
ok now thats cool i bank with usaa so i would use that since one of my jobs doesnt have direct deposit
August 10th, 2009 at 11:17 am
My brother uses USAA throught the Coast Guard, from what he tells me they are already an amazing bank/insurance company. This just makes me wish they were in my area!
August 10th, 2009 at 11:20 am
What could POSSIBLY go wrong with this….!?
August 10th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Wow this is amazing, i have USAA.. and can’t wait till this comes out.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Its very cool but its much easier to forge a photo than a paper check. Photos can be manipulated by anyone with basic photoshop knowledge, paper checks are much much harder and evidence of manipulation are much easier to find. Id be a little worried having this that people will abuse it.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am
re naysayers and forgery specialists, I’m sure there are security checks in place … the post doesn’t say account requirements (usually duration of membership) nor does it say how soon funds will be available!
August 10th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Cool, my stepdad uses USAA, but he doesn’t have an iPhone, and I just have an iPod touch…
But in September when the new one comes out (I know, not officially, but do you wanna bet that it won’t have a camera in the next generation iPod?) then I can do this!
August 10th, 2009 at 11:50 am
started doing this last year well not with iphone but with a scanner and email. the app will be sweet
August 10th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I bank with them, and have used the scanner version of this feature; it works very well. The only shortcoming, and I suspect it’ll be the same with the iPhone app, is that you can only deposit one check at a time; there’s no way to handle multiple checks in a single deposit.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I got grandfathered into USAA via my mom and while mailing in the checks was always a minor pain in the butt, this new option RULES with my iphone. I can’t wait to play around with the app.
Living in Florida USAA was one of the few companies that would even get my homeowners insurance after the 2004 hurricane season.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Theoretically the app could solely utilize the camera for taking photos of the checks and send the photos then delete them when the app is closed, this would stop photo manipulation and lower chances of forgery, but then it is harder to distinguish between inks of a very similar colour in photos
August 10th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
After reading about the USAA app here and it’s new option to Deposit@Mobile, I downloaded the app and saw the feature already available. I happen to have a check I planned on depositing using the scan feature anyways, so I tested it.
It worked perfectly fine. It required me to put the check on a dark surface, but it processed through with no issues.
Just another reason iPhones rock.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Oh too funny: “USAA – a very small bank/insurance company”
With more than 7 million customers and ranking just under the 20 largest US banks (per the NY Times article cited in the original posting” this is anything but a “very small bank/insurance company,” or even small or medium. Actually, USAA is an extremely large and successful benefit association that has done the scanner deposits for checks for a couple years now to serve members around the world.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
While this is new for the iPhone app, it’s not a new feature for the bank. USAA customers have been able to scan in checks (or photograph them) for uploading through USAA’s web site for some time now. This just makes it even easier, since it doesn’t require navigating their web site from a desktop.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
this has check fraud written all over it. i mean, check fraud is a very real thing with REAL PAPER checks. surely, it’ll be easier to accomplish with this. i guess USAA trusts all their customers since they have to be military?
August 10th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
This can’t possibly work with the camera on the iPhone 3G, can it? It’s macro capabilities are non-existent.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I have USAA, and have used the scanner method for some time now. Now that the they are expanding their services to include this revolutionary method in conjunction with the iPhone, I am solidified in the belief that USAA is the only bank I’ll ever use.
As mentioned earlier, the only thing to make this feature even better, would be the multiple checks at one time ability. Soon enough, more banks will utilize this type of technology.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
@Brad:
Try it.
If you photograph a check (without macro), and its legible, then you will have answered your own question.
It took me exactly 30 seconds to determine it will work just fine.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Checks? WTF are checks?? The payment we used in the seventies and eighties here in Europe…? ROTFL
August 10th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
FYI USAA isn’t a “small” company, even though they might only appear to have 1 branch they are a very large, well known bank & insurer.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Im stuck in San Antonio, but I don’t use USAA. I have to admit this is pretty cool idea they are implementing.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Dude, USAA is NOT a “very small bank”. It’s a Fortune 500 company with depositors in every state made up of past and present military people and their families.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
@Austin
I would totally agree with you this opens chances of fraud up greatly vs a physical check which is much harder to forge.
As you said Id suspect since its only for military (present/former/immediate family) these people are all already in government systems to be able to find.
I could see a ton of fraud problems if this was opened up to consumer banks for the public as a whole.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Again, What could REALLY go wrong ????
August 10th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Just tried it out on a check I got for my birthday. Worked like a charm and saved me having to drive over to BofA. I started switching to USAA after BofA basically told me they weren’t willing to do anything to keep my business.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
@Monty:
BofA gives credit cards to illegals. Glad you found another bank.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
USAA is not just for military personnel. I’m a USAA member because my father worked for the State Department. Many (but not all) federal employees can get USAA.
They are easily the best banking/insurance service I’ve ever encountered. I have a credit card, checking account (with debit card), vehicle loan, auto insurance, and homeowners’ through them. They rule.
August 10th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Ive been with USAA for 12 years, I would never go anywhere else. They have excellent insurance rates and The banking is outstanding. Last time I bought a car, I was pre approved through USAA and was cut a check for the dealership I was shopping at. Good bargaining tool walking in with a check for $35,000. This is what Im spending.
I have also been using their original scan in check system as early back as 2006. I dont know how the iPhone APP is going to work, but I do know the online scan method only allows you to scan the check in using their tools and its scanned directly into their website using a java script. It can not be attached from a file. eliminating photoshopping the attachment.
When I was married my wife worked at the Phoenix Branch, I visited the building and was in amazement. The most state of the art building I had ever seen, from a gym the size of an LA fitness inside, where you go in the locker room and pick your size gym clothes off the rack, work out and throw them in the bin when your done, to lights that automatically adjust as the sun goes from one side of the building to the other. That place is amazing.
From Wiki: USAA is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, occupying 286 acres (a former horse farm) with one of the largest single-occupancy buildings in the United States, rivaling the Sears Tower and The Pentagon. 22,000 plus employees with branches located in London England, Frankfurt Germany, Sacramento CA, Colorado Springs CO, Norfolk VA, San Antonio TX, Phoenix AZ, Tampa FL.
USAA FTW!!!
August 10th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I am former army and bank with USAA. I have been using their app for awhile on my Touch and am very pleased with it. I am so sad that I can’t use the check feature. Maybe I will have to upgrade to an iPhone…
But, USAA is bar none the best bank I have ever dealt with. If you can bank with them, do it. No problems or trouble with any of my accounts. I use 5/3 as a local bank here in Cincy for the past year and have had countless errors and mistakes with my account. I just had to visit my local branch on Saturday to fix one of their mistakes. I hate 5/3 Bank.
August 10th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
This service does not work for Asset Management (brokerage) Accounts with USAA (just like the Deposit@Home didn’t either).
USAA, please fix this and add AMAs. Thanks.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Just deposited three checks with my 3GS, no issues. Took about 4 minutes, much faster than scanning with my computer, which usually takes about 10 mnutes per check. USAA pwns.
The cash is available immediatly. The USAA requires you to have a USAA credit card as collateral in order to use deposit@home. I don’t understand why people are concerned about forgery, USAA has provided this service for years without problems.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:01 am
I tried this earlier, on a friends Iphone 3g, and after retaking the photo 10 times I gave up. I could not get a clear enough picture for the app to clear.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:01 am
This is so cool can’t wait to try it today. I think I might write a check to myself to give it a shot. Don’t know why it would be an issue, Bank of America ATMs just scan the checks and deposit them.
August 11th, 2009 at 9:53 am
@Phillip
The big advantage here is that I don’t need to go to an ATM at all. Check deposits are the only time I ever have to physically go to the bank. This app completely removes that necessity.
August 11th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Yay! I have USAA and use their website feature to scan and deposit checks. Doing this with my iPhone will be even easier.
August 12th, 2009 at 3:08 am
what would stop you from taking the pics of the check, going and cashing it at wal mart or some ****, and then as soon as you cash it, deposit the check via pic?? seems like an easy way to double the f*ck up!!
August 12th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I downloaded the update and I would test it, but my wife won’t write me a check! Sucks since the ***** owes me $400…
August 13th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
My brother and I bank with USAA (and I am not sure I would call them small–they insure my home and car, I have my bank accounts through them and they are well known for their Customer Service–http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/02/0219customerservice/1.htm), but I believe they were pioneers in the remote banking field/industry (or w/e). Since they have, I think, literally one branch, they first allowed those of us who do not live in SA, TX to mail in our checks on their dime, then about 2 years ago created the scan your checks in program for those us with a scanner and that has become popular of late at other banks and now this for the iPhone. I don’t know how the scanner thing works, but when I scanned a check a year or so ago and entered the $$ value of the check incorrectly, USAA credited me the amount I was off.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I agree…I deposit my checks with USAA all the time by scanning them — they were a pioneer in that regard. I am going to see if I can use the iPhone app later tonite to scan two checks… not sure the app is updated yet.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Used it to deposit a check just now. Awesome!! Works in a snap!!! Going to do another now. Took just a couple of minutes. Could probably do it in one minute with practice.