Deposit Checks To Your Bank By Taking a Photo 494
Pickens writes "The Mercury News reports that consumers will soon be able to deposit a check by snapping a photo of it with a cell phone and transmitting an encrypted copy to their bank. Although some critics contend paperless deposits are an attempt by the banking industry to eliminate 'float,' the standard one- or two-day waiting period between the time someone writes a check and the time the money is actually taken out of their account, actually remote-deposit capture started out as a way for big companies and financial institutions to process huge numbers of checks without having to ship them around the country. 'Our customers are becoming more and more tech-savvy,' said an SVP for mobile banking at Citibank. 'We're trying to support those people on the go.' Although the process adds a new wrinkle to concerns about fraud and the privacy of financial data, banks and the technology companies helping them say they have largely overcome these concerns. Another bank SVP said, 'For many institutions struggling to raise deposits and differentiate, this is an outstanding offering they can roll out inexpensively [note: interstitial]. It's a sticky product.'"
Checks (Score:5, Insightful)
Or what if US just stops using inferior checks and just wires money like rest of the world? It's also possible to even push money in to credit cards directly, in addition to normal bank wires. Checks are insecure, inconvenient and pretty useless in today's electronic world. For non-electronical purposes you can just use cash.
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Re:Checks (Score:5, Funny)
You seem to have a pretty firm grasp of our banking system :D
Re:Checks (Score:5, Insightful)
Good God, push your money into to credit cards directly? Are you insane? Can you imagine the fees the credit card companies can and would likely impose?
Your deposit is too small - FEE
Your deposit is too big - FEE
Your deposit is greater than your minimum payment we'll just apply your paycheck to what you owe us and here's a Fee for that service - FEE
Your deposit is not every week - FEE
We don't like who you work for, they are not in our network - FEE
Your direct deposit bounced - FEE
Ok so those are a little crazy, but if you look at what credit card companies employ already, those aren't that far off.
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Just saying it's possible. Wire transfer is the normal way and usually doesn't cost anything unless it's an international transfer.
Re:Checks (Score:4, Informative)
Wire transfers cost $25 a transfer here.
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So it's no wonder you're trying to keep that cheque-zombie alive!
$25 for transfering money from account to account? It's rather around 25ct over here! (ok, on average. It's usually more for buissness accounts, but less for personal accounts (usually you get a large enough number of free transactions))
At most you pay around 1Eur if you dare using actual paper forms for the transactions.
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http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_wire_transfer_and_an_automated_clearing_house [answers.com]
" Answer:
A wire is a real-time method of transferring immediate funds and supporting information between two financial institutions and is relatively expensive to use. An ACH is similar to a wire transfer only it uses a batch- process. Transactions received by the bank during the day are stored and processed later in batches and normally do not become available to a beneficiary until the next day. ACH tra
$25 to transfer money to a friend?! (Score:2)
You mean if you want to give your friend $50 for something you owe him/gas money/share of the house bills etc it costs you $25 to transfer the money from your account to his? Or the same if you want to move money from one bank account to another account (held in a different bank) ?
If this is the case, wow. To be fair I don't know your banking system and maybe where I am (the UK) the bankers make their money some other way but if the above is true, that's brutal. Most people here just transfer money around t
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The US banking system is basically where we (UK) were in the 1980's. I even saw someone writing a check in a supermarket when I was in the US recently! I haven't written a cheque for many years and, in fact, APACS will be outlawing cheques here in 2012. The US banking system is much more fragmented in the USA and doesn't have the regulatory structure and capital guarantee that UK banks have to have. Some banks only span a few towns (although these are disappearing) and don't have a national presence. T
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They also don't have the concept of "direct debit". something that astounds me.
Every service that I need to pay for, from my gas utility, electric utility, student loan, and credit card bill can be paid directly at the company's website as a direct debt. I enter my routing and checking account numbers, and the bill gets deducted from my bank account.
I think you misunderstand what "Direct Debit" means in the UK. Direct Debit is basically a system where you authorise a company to withdraw money from your account each month. This is very similar to a standing order (where you instruct your bank "transfer X amount to another bank account on this day each week/month/year") except that for Direct Debits the amount to withdraw is determined by the recipient of the payment.
This means that my phone bill is automatically paid in full each month, even though it
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No, many companies have that over here in the US, especially the utilities, etc. I p
Re:$25 to transfer money to a friend?! (Score:5, Informative)
Internet Banking and Wire Transfers are different things in the US. If I want to pay a bill or transfer money to another person in the US using Internet Banking I can do so for free. Either the money will be transfered electronically using ACH, intrabank transfer or my bank will just write and mail a check to the person.
Re:$25 to transfer money to a friend?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Banks used to make their money by loaning the money you deposit to other people at higher prices. Interest rates being what they are today it's hard to make the kind of profits that banks are accustomed to that way. They're far more likely to make money by charging various fees, paying you nothing for your deposits and investing your deposits in high paying (assuming they don't fail) risky investment opportunities. In spite of the promise of financial system reform this is very likely to continue.
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You're doing it wrong, then. The IRS sent my refund straight to my checking account, and it didn't cost a dime. All I did was fill in the routing and account numbers on my 1040. I could've had them cut a check and mail it to me, but the electronic transfer is faster. The full amount of the refund was deposited in my account, with nothing taken out for fees.
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I pay my credit card by logging into my bank's site and clicking 'transfer funds'. It works just like a regular account, except that I can only push money to it, not draw from it.
This was actually my only criteria for picking my existing bank. I never have to write a check or visit the bank, except the odd instance when I end up with a physical check from someone else. It says a ton of my time. And theirs.
So yes, some banks might choose to go the fees route that you're outlined above, but at least 1 ban
Re:Checks (Score:4, Informative)
Oh, and what's up with paying huge interest-rates on a "credit card" when most people have a much cheaper line of credit backed by their house anyways ? How does it make sense to borrow from the credit-card-company and pay 10% interest or something, when mortgage-rates are a third that ?
Eh? I pay -ZERO- interest on my credit card. I just pay the balance every month.
Credit cards are not loans and if you use them as if they were, you’re an idiot. It doesn’t make sense to borrow from the credit card company and pay 14% (or higher) interest. You aren’t supposed to.
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USA is insane. I mean, the entire cheque-thing ? Hello ? As if it's not ridicolous to begin with, do you send email by handwriting it on paper, then taking a PHOTO of the letter, and sending that to your friend ? No ? Then why is doing the same thing with cheques reasonable ?
Well, checks do have some advantages
I can simply write one for a service instead of having to gain internet access, find the person's account and transfer the balance. Do I really want to do that for every transaction. No; I prefer deciding when to use electronic transfer.
I can avoid giving out my bank account information - I deposit checks simply by scanning them into my account; I don't have to provide everyone that sends me money with my account details; the security of which becomes questionable as mo
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I've got one from my credit union. There are no fees. The intrest rate (not that it often applies to me) is reasonable. I have my paycheck direct deposited, and have the option to automatically funnel some amount of money to my card every month. (Since I pay it off every month, I don't.) When I want to pay, it's three clicks and done.
And there are no fees. For anything but overdrafts.
Stop banking with criminals and thieves. It's stupid.
Re:Checks (Score:4, Insightful)
That would mean forcing the banks to serve the customer instead of the shareholders.
Are you INSANE???????
customers are nothing but pests that must be tolerated.
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Re:Checks (Score:5, Insightful)
All american ones.
If I transfer cash to a friend it costs me $25.00 processing fee plus a $15.00 transaction fee.
This is normal for american banks.
Granted I could use a credit card and pay interest on that but why should I do that. credit cards are for credit NOT bill payment.
I still write a check to pay my electric bill because the electric company charges an extra $3.50 for me to pay electronically.
It's all about screwing the customer, banks love to do that here in the United states. Over in europe they are more restricted when it comes to screwing people.
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The fact that companies charge you to make electronic payments is criminal. Luckily, Progressive is the only company I deal with that does that to me.
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Although useful, and I do often do that myself, it's a long way of replacing cheques in all situations:
What if I want to give someone money when I don't have an Internet connection? (Similarly with a wire - I can't believe that the OP of this thread thinks going into a bank is easier than just writing out a cheque, although maybe these things have different names in the UK to the US?)
Or what if I don't have the security keypad device thing that my bank requires me to use? Or I don't have access to the stron
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What if I want to give someone money when I don't have an Internet connection? (Similarly with a wire - I can't believe that the OP of this thread thinks going into a bank is easier than just writing out a cheque, although maybe these things have different names in the UK to the US?)
Then you give him cash or tell him you transfer it from your bank account. Wire transfer (or it's closer to ACH I guess) everyone mostly does from Internet now a days. There's no need to go to bank just to transfer money (while it still of course is a possibility)
Or what if I don't have the security keypad device thing that my bank requires me to use? Or I don't have access to the strong passwords on me at that moment? What if the bank introduces new security measures, and you can't access the website until then (yes, mad as it sounds, Barclays pulled this one on me, when they started requiring the aforementioned keypad device things).
We use two level one-time pin lists. Other one is running one-time list to login to bank account, and the other one additional list to confirm payments. Secure and easy and there's no need to change it (and I can't understand why US banks don't use
Re:Checks (Score:5, Insightful)
This is something I have never understood. Why on earth do normal people use banks when there are credit unions?
Re:Checks (Score:5, Interesting)
The other factor was online banking. The credit union's web site is terrible and their online bill pay tools even worse. I pay all of my bills online and even send checks to individuals via the online bill pay (saves the cost of both checks and stamps). Not having decent tools for this is a deal breaker. Granted, the credit union is not all bad. They gave me a very competitive rate on an auto loan, but then at the same time, paying that loan is not as easy as it was when I had a loan with Volkswagen Credit. I hear a lot of people touting the superiority of credit unions over banks, but I have yet to see any evidence of this for my own banking needs.
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You could mail your deposits to the bank instead of driving.
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There seem to be different kinds of electronic transfers, but what's referred to as a "wire transfer" by the bank industry can be pretty expensive. It seems like both sides of the transaction get charged for those, the sender gets charged $15 and the recipient gets charged $15. I've had worse too, especially for international transfers, my end cost me $40 on a recent one.
I do use some kind of electronic bill payment system, I don't know what the technical term is for it, at least it doesn't cost so bloody
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I'm quite surprised people still use checks, however I'm stuck using them for one specific case. I only use a check to pay my rent because the company that runs my apartment charges a $5 fee for electronic rent payments which I refuse to pay.
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Checks are insecure, inconvenient and pretty useless in today's electronic world? Are you daft? Nothing is more secure than a check, debit cards are too convenient, and checks serve me well. In fact, I only use checks and cash since an experience a few years ago.
Some checks and my debit card were stolen by someone who had watched me type in the PIN number, and drained my checking account. The signature on the checks were obvious forgeries, and the bank made good on them. The debit card withdrawals, however,
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The debit card withdrawals, however, I had to eat, since if someone has your PIN they are automatically authorized to use the card. Even withdrawls made after I reported it stolen!
It seems very unusual that they’d honour transactions made after the card was reported stolen... or even process them. That reeks of gross incompetence; the card should have been electronically canceled immediately; the first ATM they stuck the stolen card in should have just eaten the card. If you could prove that you reported it stolen before the transactions, they would have to refund your money. No question.
In any case, the first thing I’d do on a stolen debit card, after hearing of your exp
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I've never actually _written_ a check, but I've had to deposit tons of them. For most things I prefer to use cash, and if I don't have the cash on me I use my debit card. But checks have the advantage that they can be sent safely through the mail. Also, checks don't require knowing an account number or anything. For example, my university mails out a check if you get any charges refunded. Which is great. There really is no other option there, short of requiring every student give out their bank information
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And what happens when systems go down? Power goes out? Electronic transactions are blocked/denied/lost for any reason? What then?
No, no, I'm afraid paper money (currency, checks, notes) will be here to stay, for many, many decades to come.
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Cheques? (Score:3, Funny)
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Oh yeah, great idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Just what I want on my cell phone...a picture of a piece of paper that has my checking account number and bank routing number on it. ::eye roll::
Re:Oh yeah, great idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Everyone you have ever given a cheque to already has your account number, bank routing number and home address. Despite the little lock watermark and "micro-printing", cheques are 100% non-secure and should be treated as such. At least the iPhone has a four-digit password to protect it...
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I have a checkbook that I got from my bank when I opened my first checking account when I turned 16 (almost 10 years ago)...and every one of those checks are still attatched to their little booklets:-)
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Everyone you have ever given a cheque to already has your account number, bank routing number and home address. Despite the little lock watermark and "micro-printing", cheques are 100% non-secure and should be treated as such. At least the iPhone has a four-digit password to protect it...
Its not that the checks are currently not secure - its the element of collecting the data electronically and punting the information around additional networks.
Re:Oh yeah, great idea (Score:5, Insightful)
checks are supposed to have magnetic ink for the MICR code on the bottom.. Problem is that buying a drum of magnetic toner to print fake checks is trivial. and with scumbag companies like quicken selling blank check paper to anyone, you have a super easy way of faking checks with a $30.00 used laser printer and a $100.00 thowaway computer.
Shit scan someone signature and you can completely fake the check in gimp without effort.
Paper checks needed to be done away with 50 years ago, the greedy banks simple dont want to do wire transfers for free to each other, they love being able to rape their customers with those made-up fees.
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iPhone?
Why on earth did you have to mention that thing in your posting?
If this continues I suggest a corollary to Godwin's law: mention anything fruity out of context and you're out of the game.
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I fully agree with the above two posts. It seems to be something particularly specific to Apple - e.g., also people referring to their "MacBook" or indeed "Mac" rather than generic terms like laptop, computer or PC. You can always tell an Iphone user, as they'll get out their phone and make a big thing of "I'm going to check a website On My Iphone" as so on, as if this was some impressive feat (it was impressive in 2001; it became bog standard on any old phone by about 2005). This probably helps lead to the
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Just what I want on my cell phone...a picture of a piece of paper that has my checking account number and bank routing number on it. ::eye roll::
You forgot about the second pic of the back side of the check that also has your signature on it - nothing could ever go wrong with that, even thought TFA assures that the images will be encrypted when sent.
Re:Oh yeah, great idea (Score:5, Informative)
Checks! (Score:5, Funny)
Another technology where the US is the world leader!
Go USA! Go USA!
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USA! USA! USA!
Obviously you are traitor, commie, or even worse a socialist.
Re:Checks! (Score:5, Funny)
Obviously you are traitor, commie, or even worse a socialist.
If by that you mean foreigner, then you are correct.
USAA has been doing this for years (Score:5, Informative)
USAA has offered "Deposit@Home" for years. Instead of taking a photo you can just scan the check and upload it. The only problem is they require you to have a credit card with them as well to qualify for the service. Hopefully, if other banks offer this service for free than USAA will change that policy. I hate having to mail in checks and sit around for two weeks waiting for them to deposit it.
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I hate having to mail in checks and sit around for two weeks waiting for them to deposit it.
Typically if you make the deposit at an ATM or branch location it doesn’t take nearly as long. I can’t imagine why I’d want to mail a check for deposit.
US Bank, on the other hand, puts a 5 or 7 day hold on all checks over $5,000, which is stupid and I hate it.
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All of the ATMs that the bank I belong to operates (Chevy Chase bank...somewhat local bank here in Maryland) can accept straight up cash or a signed check without needing to put it in an envelope...the money is available in your account right then and there (unless it's a Sunday and you are depositing a check...if you deposit cash in one of their ATMs, even on Sunday, it's available instantly.)
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The problem lies when you move away from MD, where there aren't Chevy Chases. You can withdraw from any ATM (for a fee), but have fun trying to deposit a check to your Chevy Chase account at a WaMu ATM. In this case, your only options are to switch banks or to mail in your checks.
So, I gladly welcome the ability to scan checks in. Right now, USAA is the only bank I know of doing it, and they only have one branch, but service military personnel and families all across the country. My bank, SECU, has a total
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The only reason for mailing here is that USAA doesn't have physical branches in every state but is still available there. Of course to remedy that you can deposit@home with a scanner as I have for two years without any issues. Also, they credit your account instantly as well. Then when you need to go to an ATM and you get charged fees for using one that isn't in your banks network, they pay fee on your behalf. Overall, I would rate them very successful as far as doing everything I used to do at my physi
If you can't join USAA (Score:2, Informative)
Some credit unions offer this service as well; I'm using Alliant Credit union's eDepositplus and its working great. You just need to donate to a PTA or certain charities to join, not hard at all.
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USAA has been offering services via cell phone including check deposits for better than a year now. Everything yo
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They do.
I've been using Deposit@Home for a few years now. I'm not sure if you have to have a credit card through them or not to make it work, but it is a very slick process.
I was confused why this is news--the USAA iPhone app was featured on /. when it first became public information. Other banks are just slow I guess....
meh, should have used USAA (Score:4, Informative)
Scanning a check exists now (Score:5, Informative)
USAA lets me scan a check for instant deposit using a Windows browser, a Java applet and an attached scanner.
I'm a Linux kind of guy and, sadly, I have not found a way to make it work on my Ubuntu and Suse systems. But, it works great with my Windows laptop and it's simply the next best thing to direct deposit.
Obviously, a good secure app for smartphones (hopefully one is coming soon for Android but they've only announced for iPhone so far) will be a step beyond the scanner approach.
I kind of like the idea that someone hands me a check, and by the time they have closed their briefcase I have already made the deposit. No more canceling. It would be interesting to see if they can determine whether the check is good or not, and send instant feedback.
The next step is going to be depositing cash. I would love to be able to quickly scan my cash into my account, and then tear up the paper money (honors system). Hmm; gotta think that one through a bit more.
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I hate cheques! (Score:5, Interesting)
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"sort of like making a "credit" purchase on a debit card"
But isn't it harder to dispute a debit charge since the money is long gone by the time you notice the errant charge? With credit you can look over the charges before you pay and dispute anything suspicious.
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Float is a critical feature for the one segment that still relies on paper cheques - small business. Many, many small businesses would go bankrupt if they lost the ability to float their suppliers' payments. If you eliminate float on the way in (require payment via cash/debit/credit) this can easily equate to an interest-free loan worth several thousand dollars. Canada is a lot further ahead than the the US in the elimination of paper cheques
It must be at least 10 years ago (Score:3, Insightful)
Most likely you could talk your bank here into issuing a check for you if you ask them nicely, but it would almost certainly be more expensive than a straight electronic transfer.
On the other hand, somebody likely had fun and made a modest amount of money developing that check scannin app, so the effort I guess is not totally wasted.
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Checks are largely dead in the US as well, at least for personal use. I write exactly one check a month, for rent, and that's because I rent from a nice old lady, not a business, and nice old ladies rarely have merchant accounts set up to receive credit card payments.
However, in my work at a small business that does a lot of work for other small businesses, perhaps 90% of the invoices we send out are paid by check.
Floating dowm profit river (Score:2)
The bankers say they want to eliminate "float" while using the float scam on their customers. They do all their internal transactions electronically, yet when you deposit a check it is the next day or longer before your money is available. Meanwhile they're collecting interest on YOUR money.
I deposited my tax return this year, and was not able to access the funds later that afternoon, although they were profiting. I had to wait until the next day to get my money; meanwhile they collected interest.
The banker
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The bankers call "float" a scam, are all bankers scam artists?
I think events of the last couple of years make the answer to that fairly obvious.
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The bankers call "float" a scam, are all bankers scam artists?
without a doubt, yes. That is one solid fact of life, rule 1 about life. NEVER EVER trust your bank, always look at them with distrust. The ONLY person you can trust with your money is you.
Why not all electronic? No really, why not? (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean this as a genuine question: why is the US so far behind Europe in this?
I haven't seen a cheque in years. Is it too expensive to move everyone over to electronic transfers (surely it's cheaper to get rid of cheque processing)? Too difficult to change the habits of a large population quickly? Concerns about fraud? Plain unwillingness to change? It can't be the recent banking crisis because we had that too...
Re:Why not all electronic? No really, why not? (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean this as a genuine question: why is the US so far behind Europe in this?
I have an answer for you in the form of another question: Is the US actually ahead of Europe in any aspect of life?
(And I am asking that as an American.)
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Actually existing as a country.
Often when people say in Europe they mean their corner of it, or one country. Often the comparison is the US system against the best of > 30 different ones.
Re:Why not all electronic? No really, why not? (Score:4, Insightful)
There is definitely one. Free public bathrooms.
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Toilet seat covers :). I really miss those when I go back home to Spain.
Re:Why not all electronic? No really, why not? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes. We still have the freedom to own a firearm,
I don't have that unless I get a license and deal with a whole lot of legislation.
choose where to live,
I can live anywhere I please in the EU. What makes you think I can't?
express religious and political opinions without being jailed,
I can do this. What makes you think I can't?
choose our own doctors,
I can do this. What makes you think I can't?
choose whether to buy health insurance,
I can, if I so choose, buy private health insurance. Though for some idiot reason, many private insurance policies don't cover diagnostic procedures and finding out what's wrong with you is half the battle on the NHS. There's no legislative reason for the private insurers to refuse to cover diagnostic procedures, they're just wankers like that.
and choose where to go to college-- this week anyway. Next week? Who knows.
I did choose where to go to college. As did my brother. In both of our cases, a major part of the decision making process was "at least 100 miles away from here".
Seriously, are you trolling or do you have some vision of Europe as being a dystopia where everyone is told what to eat, what to think and how to shit from cradle to grave?
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> I mean this as a genuine question: why is the US so far behind Europe in
> this?
Because the USA was far ahead of adopting cheques to begin with.
Wire transfers are readily available here but I rarely use them. Why should I?
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I really don't understand this.
Everybody used to use cheques here (UK) but they are now almost completely replaced by plastic and bank transfers.
Why? Because people prefer carrying plastic than cheque books. Because people hate having to pay them in. Because cheques bounce. Because banks charge businesses to both write and receive cheques. Because there is a greater chance of fraud. Because it takes around three days for the money to arrive in your account and even then it is not guaranteed to have cleared.
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Another poster stated fees of $25 for transfering money.
I'd stick to sending those clumsy paper forms too...
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Security Issues (Score:2)
I don't know about Europe, but in the US banks eat the cost for someone vacuuming out a personal account. Businesses are on their own, however. See Krebs on Security [krebsonsecurity.com] for fun details.
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I write checks for two things: paying my water bill, and paying for heating oil. Both are a pain in the ass, but cities in the US are crushed for money these days, and upgrading IT infrastructure loses. The oil companies, it seems, don't want to take the 2% hit in the cost of the oil.
The only time I ever receive a check is when a friend is paying me back, and frankly there just isn't any other good option other than the near crooks at Paypal.
There have been banks accepting home deposits of checks for a good
Been using it for 6mos (Score:3, Informative)
I have had this option with usaa.com for almost a year now, and it's GREAT. As for the photo, it is NOT saved in your phone, ever. Once the bank accepts the images, it instructs you to write VOID on the check and shredd it. Quite nice to be able to drop a check in within minutes of receiving it, and use it too!
Checks are "old school" (Score:5, Funny)
I hardly ever use checks these days. Can I just take a picture of some cash and deposit it instead?
Last time I used a check (Score:2)
old news? (Score:5, Informative)
Digital Credit Union (Score:4, Interesting)
Not only do you get some sort of possible bizzare nerd cred for using DEC's old credit union, but just like USAA, you've been able to deposit via check for about 3 years now. Sure DCU has no snazzy iPhone app, but, damned if i've ever lived near one of their banks in my lifetime.
Interesting stopgap (Score:2)
As much as this raises privacy concerns, it's a good step towards eliminating paper check processing. Everyone knows checks are pretty much things of the past - most people in the current generation pay all their commercial bills with electronic paymens. Only person-to-person debt settlements or gifts are done through checks by anyone under 35 or so. Remote deposit capture has been around in large businesses forever, and is even more prevalent with Check 21 now.
Checks are old-fashioned, but what can replace
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Pentagon Federal Credit Union (Score:3, Informative)
We are in the process of rolling out this same sort of program at our company as well (as I've been building about a dozen servers to support it). We've had the ability to deposit by mail for ages and this is the next logical step.
With most of our userbase being military and deployed to locations where they cannot access any branch services at all. Our userbase has become tech savvy enough to support a system like this. The largest impediment to implementing a system like this has been having the tech easy enough to use a "non-geek" can perform the tasks necessary without needing a large amount of training.
To those saying "What if I want to deposit counterfit checks". Well several systems are in place to prevent or at least mitigate that damage. You are only allowed to deposit up to a certain amount via the system (and have funds immediately accessible), the checks are processed real-time and won't be accepted without several validity checks passing and the account money is being collected from also happens as close to real-time as possible. Remember, just cause you deposit a check doesn't mean it can't bounce, that money is not truely in your account until funds are transferred from the check writers account. If you have those funds available for use immediately, it's because your financial institution trusts you to now deposit bad checks.
The the comment above about "great, just what I want, images of checks on my phone". The application itself handles taking the photo and no local copy is retained on the phone after the process is completed. (The image of the check is still available on the company's servers for review just like if you mailed in checks or deposited them via our branches.)
The news isn't about the check scanning (Score:2)
Say hello to mega fraud... (Score:2)
Say that company X issues a check to a Mr. Victor Timothy, who we'll refer to is VicTim, for short.
So, all I need to do is take a photo of VicTim's check, and I photo-deposit it into my account, Then VicTim deposits the paper check into his account, it gets rejected for already having been processed, and it is left to him to fight it out with the company and his bank?
My how crime has evolved...
O rly? (Score:2)
Our customers are becoming more and more tech-savvy
Then why the hell are they still using checks?
This is like adding a tow package to the front of your car so you can pull it with a team of sled dogs.