Deposit-Taking ATMs at Credit Unions and Internet Banks
Yesterday when I mentioned Alliant Credit Union as having one of the best checking accounts, a reader described one benefit. She's able to both withdraw and deposit money at ATMs at her grocery store. Alliant Credit Union is one of many credit unions that has partnered with the ATM CO-OP Network, and this gives the credit union members access to many deposit-taking ATMs across the nation.
The ATM CO-OP Network gives credit unions an advantage over several internet banks which do not allow deposits to be made via ATMs. One of these internet banks is Ally Bank. Even though Ally Bank will refund all ATM fees for its checking account customers, it does not accept deposits from ATMs. This isn't mentioned on the Ally website. I had to verify this via the online chat service.
Another major internet bank that doesn't accept ATM deposits is ING DIRECT. Unlike Ally Bank, ING DIRECT doesn't refund ATM fees. Instead, it's part of the ATM Allpoint Network. The inability to make deposits at ATMs is mentioned at ING DIRECT's help section.
Alliant Credit Union is one of many all-access credit unions that has partnered with the CO-OP Network. Some of the other ones include Agriculture FCU, Air Force FCU, Consumers Credit Union, Digital Credit Union and Provident Credit Union.
Many of the deposit-taking CO-OP network ATMs are Vcom units in 7-Elevens. You can see the transactions that can be done in this 7-Eleven Vcom page at CU Service Centers. Note, it lists check deposits, but it doesn't list cash deposits.
These Vcom ATMs can do a lot, but I'm not sure how they compare to the new ATMs at large banks. Chase has its DepositFriendly ATMs and Bank of America has its Deposit Image ATMs which can deposit cash and checks without envelopes.
The ability to make deposits at ATMs can be convenient, but there's always the risk that the machine will malfunction. Then you'll have to figure out how to resolve the issue with the bank and hope your deposit doesn't get lost. You don't have this worry when you make a deposit using a teller at your local branch. Once the money has been deposited in your local bank or credit union, it's easy to transfer the money to your internet bank using its ACH transfer service. That's still my favorite way to deposit cash or checks. However, if banks and credit unions start cutting back on branch locations and if free checking accounts become less popular, deposit-taking ATMs may become more important.
I'm able to deposit cash and/or checks using a US Bank deposit envelope into my Alliant Credit Union checking account, and when I check my account online, I see that Alliant CU has given me immediate availability to my funds!
You mentioned the possibility of the ATM machine to malfunction when making deposits, but I have never experienced this happening...and I've been using an ATM machine for making deposits at various banks over the past couple decades. Yes, there are times that an ATM may be offline and you'll have to find another one, but never has an ATM not functioned correctly for me if it is online.
The second advantage to Alliant Credit Union is ACH transfers. A customer can add several external banks, and if the transfer request (both deposit and withdrawal) is entered before the day's deadline (which I think is 11 a.m. CT), the transfer is made the very next day. No more 2, 3, or 4 day lag times as experienced with many other online banks' ACH transfer systems.
Anybody who's looking for a good online financial institution need look no further than Alliant Credit Union in Chicago if they want a good deal.
Also, to clarify what I think Ken was saying, you can make cash deposits to your Alliant account at ATMs in the network, not simply check deposits. However, that is only at some of the ATMs; as Ken noted, the ones at 7-Eleven do not take cash, only checks. Of course, with Alliant, you can easily deposit your checks online by scanning them, so you don't even need to make a trip to the ATM -- you would only need the ATM when you need to deal in cash.
Ken also is right about a bit of concern about a malfunction at an ATM. I have never had such a problem, but it certainly is a possibility. However, any cash you deposit is in its own envelop, so the ATM owner should be able to confirm it and credit you -- they have the envelop with your stated amount of money in it (oh, of course, it might take a little time to get everything probably credited if the machine ****s up, but you should bee able to get it in the end)! On the other hand, if you withdraw $80, but only $60 comes out of the machine, a bit harder, but again, their count on the machine should show they have $20 more in it than they should, so that should confirm for them.
I also note both deposit and withdrawal limits apply on any ATM. But I understand the same cash limits apply at an Alliant branch. But this means if you need a large amount of cash, you will have delay in getting that from your Alliant account -- over a certain amount, they will give only a check, and you would have to cash that elsewhere. Or, Alliant can ACH cash for free to your bank account elsewhere, and you then can withdraw the cash -- but the ACH will take at least overnight (you would need to set up that ACH connection in advance).
It was an AllPoint ATM and my account was only debitted for the actual amount dispensed. I just went another 2 miles down the street and withdrew the remainder at another AllPoint ATM.