Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Deposit a Check With Your iPhone

I saw this article today and my inner tech geek went "WOW! I have to try that!"
I just happened to have a check in my wallet that I needed to deposit (for a miserable $141 reimbursement of a $2,000 root canal, but that's another story), so I went right to it!

First of all, not all banks offer this, as the Consumerism Commentary article notes. I do my local banking with Chase, and had already downloaded the iPhone app, but I'd never noticed that at the bottom of the screen, there's an icon for "Deposit." The first time you click it, you'll be asked to sign up for online depositing, which is free. The sign up took no time at all, just a few clicks.
When you're ready to actually deposit a check, you have to select which account (i.e. savings or checking) you want the deposit to go to, and enter the amount. Then you have to photograph the front and back of the check. They say it's best to do it in good light, against a dark background. I had had the check folded in my wallet, so I had to flatten it out. The camera frames the check and reminds you to hold still. You take a photo of the front and then the back-- you can zoom in to make sure your photo isn't blurry before you finalize the deposit. Some kind of processing then takes place, and you get a confirmation back, which includes the routing and account numbers from the check-- I assume that if the camera hasn't read the info properly, you'd get some kind of rejection at this point, but they do caution you to hang onto the check until the deposit has cleared, just in case.
I just did this 5 minutes ago, and immediately got an email from Chase confirming the deposit (though it still notes that it's "pending" and not "cleared.") We'll see if it all goes through properly in a day or two, I guess, but it looks like it will save me a trip to the bank. I have to say, I'm kind of amazed that this is possible!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haven't tried this yet, but along the same lines of technology I LOVE depositing checks at Chase ATMs. I actually have 2 checking accounts, but the Chase envelope-less / slip-less just suck your naked signed check in the machine deposit makes things so easy I even deposit dumb 10 cent dividend checks that I get from my old job. Seems to work just the same way you are describing here.

Blurt said...

When you physically deposit a check, you give them the check and retain a copy the deposit slip. It's very interesting how they're going to account for their books with this approach - with a photo?

Bexi said...

That's kind of awesome. I'm very excited. I wonder how long it will take everyone else to jump on the bandwagon?

Forex Demo said...

You proved that iphone is really mini computer..
Thank you for the post..

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded the app and successfully deposited 2 checks. This will save me a lot of time!

Anonymous said...

Been using this feature for a month or two now. I have trouble with a few checks because the security features on the check itself. The routing and account # are difficult to see on the pic because of the check background design. Still, Chase rejected it immediately on the iphone so I didn't waste much time.

Clean Credit Repport said...

The ingenuity of people is incredible. I like the idea of having the actual check for records and not having to make a trip to the bank.

Al said...

I heard that on radio that Chase (my bank) is now allowing me to deposit paycheck and other checks using my iphone. I must admit I am a bit pessimistic about "mobile security" at this point I know the data is transferred digitally and it is probably encrypted but I just don't know enough about wireless data security.

Crystal Stemberger said...

This pretty cool! I don't have an Iphone but I'd totally take advantage of that app if we did since my husband is a contract sports official and receives 30-50 checks a year - I hate errands and dropping those at the bank all the time really sucks.

Anonymous said...

this is so fucken stupid i took about 20 pics and it keeps coming up it cant read it...... so fucken stupid all this time wasted taking pictured i could of went to the bank and put it in thanks for wasting my time u stupid fucks.