The problem with banks, you see, is that they're one of the few remaining weak links in our ultimate goal of eliminating all human interaction. If you've got a check you need to deposit in your account, you've got to trek all the way out to your local branch; sure, granted, you can slip the check in an ATM, but your odds of encountering another living creature in the process of doing that are nonzero. Fortunately, USAA -- which counts military personnel as a significant percentage of its customer base -- is helping to close that loop with its "Deposit@Mobile" service, a component of its just-launched mobile banking app in the iPhone's
App Store. The secret, you see, lies in the iPhones magical camera which can "take" a "picture" of the check, transmit it to USAA, and boom -- your cash is instantly deposited. No muss, no fuss, and no pesky people to get between you and your hard-earned cash. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that you've got to
get the check from someone in the first place... but, you know, one thing at a time.
[Via
The New York Times]
posted August 10th 2009 9:17PM
Now you know the reason why people carry a smarphone instead of dumb phone! I hope BofA and Wells Fargo will follow!
Way to leave the routing and account number on the shot! Check fraud FTW!
Great. . .little photoshop action. . .boom! Riches beyond my wildest dreams!
I don't see banks going to this too soon. The liability is huge. And if they do, can I opt out that MY checks can be submitted this way? (On the rare shot I write one.)
I agree. Most of the checks I write could easily be fudged for a few dollars and I probably would never know. It takes all of the security out of a real check and makes it a piece of paper. And then photographs it with one of the worst cellphone cameras available, hiding forgeries in low-res images.
This is a bad plan, USAA. Please go watch "catch me if you can" if you're unsure why check forgery is a bad thing. Checks from large companies are rarely back-checked in a timely fashion. What if I took a temp job, modified my check, emptied the account, then disappeared? Who's stuck holding the bag on that one?
@Brad
They have been doing this for years on PCs. Using the routing numbers and text recognition software they have nothing to worry about. Anything that doesn't check out the cheque will throw it up for review to a real person.
Furthermore, you do realize that most cheques going through the bank are never looked at, and simply electronically scanned.
With USAA you already just scan to a home scanner into a java app in their online banking site, since they're primarily an online bank.
They started out with prepaid envelopes to mail in payments, but upgraded quickly.
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