CD Deals Summary
Fed Meeting Preview and Deposit Rate Forecast - March 15, 2023
Silicon Valley Bank Is Shut Down - Second Largest Bank Failure in History
National Banks Are the Most Popular With Consumers, But They Don’t Generally Offer the Best Rates — Find Out Where Your Money Could Grow the Most Credit Unions That Offer Smartphone Check Deposit
An increasing number of financial institutions have added remote check deposits to their mobile apps. USAA Bank was the first to offer mobile remote deposit in 2009, but I think it was Chase which made it popular thanks to a TV commercial showing newlyweds using Chase QuickDeposit. The popularity of smartphones also helps. According to Nielsen, over 50% of the nation's consumers have smartphones. So this explains the demand for mobile check deposit. This US News article reviews the trend and lists several institutions which offer this service:
In the past few years, large financial institutions like PayPal, PNC, ING, Chase, State Farm, and Bank of America, as well as credit unions and smaller regional banks, have added this capability to their mobile apps.
One issue with remote check deposits is the security risk. The article describes some of the fraud-prevention strategies that banks use. One is to reduce the amount that a customer can deposit. This may reduce the cost of fraud, but it also makes remote check deposits less useful for those who have to deposit large checks.
As mentioned in the article, remote check deposit doesn't eliminate the need to visit a branch or an ATM. Nevertheless, it can at least cut down the number of your branch visits.
If you want mobile check deposit, you don't have to limit yourself to banks like Chase or Bank of America. Many credit unions are now offering this service. I reviewed the credit unions on my big list of all-access credit unions and found several that offer mobile check deposit. I've listed these below. It's not a complete list, and I'm sure more will be adding it in the future. Also, I'm not including credit unions which only have remote deposit that's limited to PC/scanners. The ones below are those that have mobile apps that allow remote deposit.
- Alliant Credit Union
- Digital Credit Union
- First Technology Federal Credit Union
- Mountain America Credit Union
- Northrop Grumman Federal Credit Union
- Patelco Credit Union
- The Golden 1 Credit Union
Have you deposited checks with your smartphone? Is this an important feature for you? Or do you still prefer depositing a check at a branch?
USAA is a bank, not a credit union.....
I'll give an example. I've used Chase remote deposit for over a year and it works great. I've deposited dozens of checks and never had a problem.
Recently I opened an account at a local credit union that claimed they had a mobile app with remote deposit. Why not, I thought. Well, unlike huge banks like Chase, who have their own software development, a lot of credit unions use this third party mobile app that just gets their name and logo integrated into it. And, the remote deposit feature SUCKS. It couldn't even take pictures of the check that were legible enough to upload. I tried from every angle. I tried with lights on, lights off, even took it outside. Didn't matter. The picture always came too bright, too dim, or too blurry. Of course, when I tried to upload it anyway, the app was right on top of it and told me "sorry, this picture isn't good enough". I was literally unable to use the app for remote deposit. Back to Chase.
Regarding USAA...I don't know if they still do this but they used to (about 6 months ago) make you have either a credit card or loan with them to do the deposit over your phone. When I called them to state that I don't need a loan or one of their crappy (I didn't say that on the phone) credit cards and that I had direct deposit, insurance (home & auto) with them for 15 years, they told me it did not matter, that I had to have a loan or credit card. I simply declined. I can use Navy FCU to deposit any checks I get (hardly anymore anyway - just older relatives send them) and then pull the money from USAA.com.
It is all paid and deposited via ACH, eBill and e-mortgage.
Only thing I do, is just check my balances from time to time.
Nobody has given me a check for long time and I don’t have any too.
http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/confirmation_outside.asp?inCert1=32188
Now getting back to topic, Service Credit Union offers remote deposit via iPhone, Android phones and desktop scanner. We do not offer deposit via iPad or tablet at this time (it's a materially different app than the iPhone version - it is not a universal app). Our vendor tells us it's not that often requested for tablets and of course some only have front facing cameras, etc.
We process mobile deposits in accordance with our regular funds availability policy on checks. There is no additional charge and no other "requirement" to use mobile deposit. You do need to sign up, however.
My company has built and published a single app which allows members of over 300 credit unions to make mobile deposits (as well as perform other functions like transfers and balance inquirires). The deposit function is currently only available for Apple, so check out Sprig in the Apple App Store. If you're an Android user, the app does not yet have deposit capture.
The Sprig service is offered through the Shared Branch Network (something many credit union members will be familiar with) and it has a lot of really cool capabilities.
You can see more about it at getsprig(dot)com