I am going to talk about an electronic method of depositing money online. Before you jump on my neck saying that there is nothing new in it and online transactions have been going on for ages, let me ask you something. Have you heard of remote deposit system? I am sure most of you are like me, unaware of the fact that you don’t need to go to a bank to deposit a check or money order. Until today, I didn’t know that there is a service called DepositNow, which lets you scan the checks and deposit in any bank in the country. Isn’t that great? I mean, you don’t have to stand in the queue or rush to bank each time you get a check from a third party or a money order ( and I thought MO had become extinct:) The technology has been around for four- five years. The need to allow electronic check deposit was felt after the sept.11 attacks. The whole air transportation came to a halt during that period. After 9/11, it was decided that electronic check clearing should be created, so that financial system runs smoothly in case of an emergency. Thus Check-21 Act was created.
What you need in order to deposit checks electronically: You will need a scanner and an account at one of the sites which provides this service. I recommend DepositNow, for the simple reason that their service can be used with any bank in the US. You don’t need to change your bank to use the Remote deposit capture service. I have googled about this technology and found out that only this site offers service for all the banks in US. You will need to purchase a special check scanner, which is in line with the terms of Check-21 Act. Most of the check scanners capture only checks, and more over their cost is too high. But I read on this iste’s FAQs that they provide a check scanner which also works as a full-color, two-sided scanner for ordinary media.
How to deposit checks electronically: You scan the check, then upload it through the Remote deposit site, and you are done. All the processing is done by the site. Your money is secure as the site complies with Check-21 Act.
Ah, a word of caution for my readers, who are from countries other than US, sadly this service is not available outside US. Don’t worry, technology travels fast, it is just a matter of some years when every country catch on these advancements.
If you liked the post and decide to use DepositNow, tell them you came through my blog ;), just joking.