Check, Check and Double Check

Check, Check and Double Check was Originally Posted on April 16, 2011 by lavarock

I think I mentioned it a while back, but it is worth mentioning again. My credit union offers e-deposit and it works well. Rather than drive to a bank or find an envelope and postage, I take a check I’ve received, scan it and deposit it in my credit union instantly. In seconds, from the comfort of my home, I have deposited a check and received instant credit for it.

There are a couple of “buts” however they are not bad and may vary based upon your bank or credit union. The first is that the daily limit of deposits for me is limited to $25,000 a day and and check more than $2,500 would have the first $2,500 credited right away and the rest credited the next business day (when someone at the bank reviews the scanned image). So to deposit a very large check (like $30,000) would still require me to deposit the check in a normal way. They also will only let you e-deposit US checks. For foreign checks you need to send it in.

I cannot tell you how many banks or credit unions are allowing it yet (a local credit union here is not yet), however the more people who ask, the better chance you will get the service.

So how does it work – somewhat the same as a check scanner at the grocery store (although I think that scanner reads the magnetic ink on a check). With the home system, you place the check on your scanner (mine is a HP Photosmart printer/scanner that cost about $100). I go to the credit union site and click on the e-deposit button. After some displayed info, I have to answer a couple of questions such as, how much is the check and which account I want to deposit to. The scanner takes a image of the check and allows me to crop it if the scanner gets the location of the check edges wrong. Then I flip the check over and it scans the back (including the signature). Once both sides are scanned, the site asks that I verify the checks date is between certain dates and then deposits the amount in my account. I can print the check image (which has the account numbers removed from the bottom). I take that printed image of the check and the check itself, staple them together and file them.

While many of us don’t handle check anymore, opting to perform electronic transfers instead, this is a great and quick way to handle a check deposit.