Deposit Check via iPhone

Mobile or Internet banking has already saved us much time from walking to the bank’s branch office to manage our accounts and transfer money. The USAA bank, a private bank and insurance company in San Antonio of U.S., will soon introduce an innovative mobile solution to handle check deposit. You’ll no longer need to visit a bank or even use ATM to deposit a check. What you need to do is: Pickup your iPhone and take a shot of your check.

As reported by New York Times, the USAA bank will allow its customers to deposit checks via iPhone. The bank’s iPhone application will be launched some time this week. To deposit a check, simply pickup your iPhone and launch the bank’s application. Photograph both side of your check via iPhone’s built-in camera and hit the Send button. That’s it. The images of the check will then transfer to the bank’s deposit-taking system for further processing. To see how it works, check out the video:

The feature will benefit the bank and its customer. However, the check deposit feature will not be available all customers. The bank claimed only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature that accounts for around 60% of the customer base. To learn more about USAA bank’s iPhone application, you can check out its official homepage.

The application has been released and is now available on App Store for free. USAA customers can now take a snapshot of both sides of a check and transfer the images to the bank via iPhone. The initial response to this feature is amazing. Many iPhone users have rated this app with five stars and find the check deposit feature extremely useful:

Great app! I love making my deposit by taking a picture of my check! You are way ahead of customer expectations.

Unbelievable to think we can now deposit checks using your iPhone camera!!!

I never write reviews, but this deserved it. The check deposit feature is awesome.

A spokesman of USAA mentioned that the iPhone app has been downloaded nearly 150,000 times, and more than 58,000 users have already elected to use it. And in just three days after the debut of the iPhone app, $1.5 million in checks have already been deposited via the app. I am really amazed the adoption rate.

To learn more about how the app works for check deposit, check out the demo video from USAA:

Other than this prominent feature, the USAA iPhone app also adds Google Maps to the app’s ATM locator, Roadside assistance and Rental Car Locator for easier navigation.

Some users are worried about fraud and asked USAA what preventive measure they have implemented to tackle fraud. Here is the answer from USAA blog:

Because USAA is commited to preventing and mitigating fraud, only members who meet the established criteria may use our Deposit@Home and Deposit@Mobile services. Additionally, abuse of this service such as falsifying a check or re-presenting a check whether to USAA or any other financial institution is a federal offense.

To download or check out further details of the application, you can click this direct iTunes link.