There’s an App for That?
Another interesting tidbit from earlier in the week, also forwarded to me by tipster Chet, was an announcement (h/t TUAW) from USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company.
Surprising, since bank’s haven’t been getting a lot of good ink lately.
USAA plans to update their iPhone mobile banking app to allow certain customers to deposit checks simply by sending the bank pictures of the front and back of the check. The bank deposits the money without ever possessing the actual check, which the customer never has to send to USAA.
No fuss, no mess. This is a huge win.
Why USAA and not a big bank?
It makes sense for their clientele, mostly current and ex-military folks. Apparently, about 14% of their customers already use mobile banking to access their accounts, and I’ll bet that number increases once people realize they can qualify for this nifty service and get their deposits processed much more quickly.
It also makes sense for the bank, which has only one branch office in San Antonio, to provide another method for people to get their money quickly deposited. After all, if most of your customers’ deposits rely on the mail, you can’t be very nimble with your investments, and I’m guessing the bank provides prepaid envelopes for deposits, which can’t be cheap.
Obviously, there is concern about fraud here, but the bank says they’ve factored that into which customers are offered this service, only offering it to people are eligible for credit and also carry insurance with USAA. Even so, the bank says that’s about 60% of its customers.
Am I the only person jealous of this app?
Going to the bank is one of those nagging meat-life tasks, like faxing legal documents, that you expect will never be replaced with by the interwebs. I wonder if big banks will be quick to follow. On the one hand, large banks have become increasingly cranky about transactions in person, limiting teller visits, pushing people to use ATMs, etc. This makes me believe they don’t want me to come to the bank to do mundane business like deposit checks.
On the other, I assume there are heavy sunk costs to all those branches and ATMs that they want to recoup and closing them isn’t an option. Plus, you have to assume there’s a cost involved with implementing this type of system.
Still, I’d love to deposit checks by iPhone. Until then, I guess I’ll have bank-envy.
Thoughts? Place them in the comments.