Depositing Clients' Cheques Using Mobile App

[timeshifter]

The bank is 5 minutes away and it's not me that makes the trip

Has anyone ever tried to sell it to you based on how much it costs for your employee to go to the bank every day? If it's a 5 minute trip then:

5 minutes there
5 minutes at bank
5 minutes back

15 minutes x 20 business days = 5 hours per month

If your cost of labor is $10 per hour then it would be a wash.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Yeah our bank is that close too, not even a mile up the road. But during the pandemic we swapped to deposit via app. I think my wife would rather have flaming splints driven under her nails than go back. She can do deposits anytime she has available now, and in less time than it cost before, and without using a single drop of gasoline. It saves everywhere, flat more efficient process, do it.

 

[Nathan Igo]

I would double and triple check on mobile deposits. I know when I was just IT for a business we did have someone come back and dispute a check that was 2.5 years old and they did deposits through the banks machine they sent out. In the end it ended up being a settlement and came to find out due to pcie compliance the company had to keep all records for 3 years which they didn't so they had to eat the cost.

It is probably a lot rarer in our industry but just something to think about or lookup per your states laws.

 

[timeshifter]

What was the reason the check was disputed?

What record didn't the company have - a copy of the check or what?

 

[Nathan Igo]

The dispute was the accounting department of said company didn't have records of the payment.

The company I worked for didn't keep the actual checks or copies of them once they were ran through the machine so they ended up having to just pay back the check amount on advice from their attorney since they were out of pcie compliance by not keeping records for 3 years per CA law. They ended up in the long run getting repaid for the check after spending about 200 hours of audits on transactions and invoices for the client but that is just how checks work in my eyes now. I saw it once 15 years ago so will never mobile deposit a check myself.

 

[HCHTech]

15 minutes x 20 business days = 5 hours per month

If your cost of labor is $10 per hour then it would be a wash.

Oh, I'm aware - I've done the math. I guess for me it's the principle of the thing. I'm not keen to give the bank any more of my money, I guess. Call it curmudgeonly defiance in the face of logic.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Nathan Igo Not sure how your bank works but Wells Fargo has images of all scanned checks in the account register. If such a situation happened to me, I'd just pull that image up. Though I suppose I could file the checks too, but I'm already buried in paper. I don't see how a physical interaction with a bank rep changes the situation you just described either.

 

[timeshifter]

A lot of times it seems that the person who makes the bank runs aren't interested in the efficiency because they like the chance to get out of the office for a little freedom / autonomy / break.

 

[labtech]

Never had a problem. After scanning and depositing in the mobile app, I also keep the checks for up to 3 years for record sake.

 

[allanc]

Thanks to all for your input.
I have been 100% successful in doing my Mobile Deposits.
I plan to keep the original cheques for 7 years (requirement of Canada Revenue Agency).

 

[cypress]

Yeah I started doing this about 2-3 years ago. Quick and easy using the Chase mobile banking application.

 

[timeshifter]

Yeah I started doing this about 2-3 years ago. Quick and easy using the Chase mobile banking application.

Is there a dollar limit anywhere? i.e. maximum single check amount, daily deposit limit, etc.

If I deposit a check today will it be posted and available tomorrow morning? (It is with my scanner that I pay $50 a month for)

 

[VISA MC]

Is there a dollar limit anywhere? i.e. maximum single check amount, daily deposit limit, etc.

If I deposit a check today will it be posted and available tomorrow morning? (It is with my scanner that I pay $50 a month for)

My bank posts the next day as long as I do it before midnight. I also have a $20,000 limit on per-day check deposits.

 

[britechguy]

At my credit union checks sometimes post the same day, and I've never had one post later than the next day.

I have no idea if a daily limit exists and would never come close to going over even a low one.

 

[timeshifter]

What does posts mean exactly? With mine I scan with their scanner before 11:00 PM and it will show as pending. So my present balance will show the total including what I just put in. Available balance will be what was there before the scan. By the next morning it is all available.

Curious for @cypress answer as I use Chase too.

 

[britechguy]

For myself, "post" means being recorded as deposited AND the funds available for immediate use.

For most small checks, depending on exactly what time of day the deposit occurs, this occurs virtually immediately. For large checks, that is at least $5000, generally some part of the deposit is available immediately but the entire amount is not until the following day.

There is actual human intervention, at least at my institution, where the images submitted are reviewed and the actual ACH processed before funds become available for use. But they "cut me a break" (or so it seems) for checks of a couple hundred dollars or less in that if my own account balance is more than enough to cover the check the funds are instantly available.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Paper checks can take up to 14 days to completely clear. Each bank has terminology to track the process between the mini-loan they give you to make the funds available now and when the funds actually show up. And those loans are subject to all sorts of variables that change how and when the funds are released.

But most of the time the funds are available within 72 business hours.

 

[HCHTech]

Paper checks can take up to 14 days to completely clear. Each bank has terminology to track the process between the mini-loan they give you to make the funds available now and when the funds actually show up. And those loans are subject to all sorts of variables that change how and when the funds are released.

But most of the time the funds are available within 72 business hours.

This whole system seems stuck in, I don't know, the 1970's? My bank's limit for next-day availability (assuming none of the checks trip one of the other unusual reasons for delay) is $5,000, So if I have a big mail day and get $6,000 in total checks, I end up getting use of the money faster if I deposit less than $5,000 today and the balance tomorrow, than if I deposit all of them today. This is stupid. They are they same checks. This is 2022. There is no technological reason for this - it is got to based on regulations that should have been updated decades ago.

 

[Sky-Knight]

This whole system seems stuck in, I don't know, the 1970's? My bank's limit for next-day availability (assuming none of the checks trip one of the other unusual reasons for delay) is $5,000, So if I have a big mail day and get $6,000 in total checks, I end up getting use of the money faster if I deposit less than $5,000 today and the balance tomorrow, than if I deposit all of them today. This is stupid. They are they same checks. This is 2022. There is no technological reason for this - it is got to based on regulations that should have been updated decades ago.

Yes it is... and a large pile of it is still written in COBOL using dirty tricks to deal with the fact that we moved past the year 2000.

The Y2K thing was quite real... The 2038 problem will be even worse...

But in reality what you're talking about is a lack of standardization. There's no financial motive for banks to work together as a cohesive network. In the US we have similar issues with medical providers and insurance providers. Heck... it applies to our TAX CODE! There are thousands of people employed to deal with the inefficiencies in systems intentionally left inefficient just so people can make money.

 

[lcoughey]

I love the e-transfer system we have in Canada. We rarely see cheques any more and funds are in our account almost instantly.

The only annoying limitation is that the daily limit for sending funds from a single account is $3000.