Bank III Business III Financial III Mortgages III Bank Of America

Remote deposit is a way to process payments without sending checks to the bank. With remote deposit, you can scan an image of a check, send the image to your bank, and see the funds added to your account more quickly. Let’s cover the basics of remote deposit technology.

Who Uses Remote Deposit?

Businesses are the most likely users of remote deposit technology. They see more checks, and they want to get the checks processed more quickly. However, more and more banks offer remote deposit as a service to personal (non-business) customers.

How to Use Remote Deposit

To use a remote deposit service, you scan checks. An image of the check goes to your bank, and the bank begins the process of collecting money from the check writer.

In most cases, a special check scanner is used. Remote deposit scanners can cost a few hundred dollars or a few thousand depending on your needs - such as how much volume you do. Some banks just charge a monthly fee for a scanner, and some will throw in a free scanner as a promotion to win your business.

However, expensive scanners are not always necessary. For example, you may be able to use a plain old consumer scanner for personal remote deposit. Some banks allow you to use a fax machine, and some are even experimenting with ways to use your mobile phone camera for remote deposit.

Problems With Remote Deposit

It’s possible that remote deposit will save you time and money. You may be able to skip trips to the bank, armored car services, and time waiting on check float. However, there are tradeoffs.

There’s always the chance that your remote deposit system will have errors. By automating things, you run the risk of errors. Of course, you might reduce human errors at the same time.

You also have to worry about new legal issues when you switch to remote deposit. Since you’re not sending checks to the bank, you have to know the rules about how to handle the checks after you scan them. Ask your remote deposit service provider for suggestions on how to stay compliant.

Why Banks Offer Remote Deposit

Banks will increasingly offer remote deposit capture services to businesses and consumers. It makes life easy for customers: deposits are faster, and they’re much more convenient.

Remote deposit is also less labor-intensive for banks. You’ve created the image so they don’t have to.

Remote Deposit Banks

The list of banks offering remote deposit capture features is constantly changing. USAA has been a leader in offering personal remote deposit for non-business accounts.

ACH processing allows businesses to collect payments from customers electronically. Businesses can save money and reduce errors, as well as automate payments and follow-up on bad checks. Learn the basics of ACH processing.

Basics of ACH Processing

ACH processing allows you to use the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network to collect payments.

Good News about ACH Processing

Businesses benefit from ACH processing in several ways:

Payments are credited to your account immediately, so you don’t need to send (or drive, or walk) checks to the bank.

You’ll see fewer errors with ACH processing. Once it’s set up correctly for a client, it’s likely to work going forward. Every time your customer writes a check and drops it in the mail, any number of things can go wrong.

You can automate attempts to collect bad checks. ACH processing services often include this as part of their service, so you don’t have to deal with the same check twice.

Bad News about ACH Processing

If you hadn’t guessed, ACH processing isn’t free. You have to pay setup costs, and you’ll pay a fee per transaction. Given the benefits, it’s probably worth the cost, but ACH processing might not be an option for cash-strapped businesses.

Money is not necessarily available for withdrawal immediately. Using ACH processing is different from receiving a bank wire transfer.

You might not end up getting paid. Even if you get a payment through your ACH processing system, your customer’s bank might pull the money back. The customer may not have funds to cover the purchase, or they may dispute the charge. Again, you don’t receive cleared funds so you have to wait for the banks to settle the transaction.