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Remote deposit saves steps, gas 5/1 Charlotte Observer In an era of online banking & cash-back at the grocery store, depositing a check is one of the few tasks that forces people to journey to the nearest bank or ATM. Remote deposit - or depositing a check online - could change that. Half the country’s banks offer the service to business customers, touting its convenience. Now some smaller banks, looking for creative ways to distinguish themselves, are considering the same service for consumers. Remote deposit lets customers scan a check, submit it to the bank online, then destroy it a few days later. USAA FSB, a bank that caters to the military, pioneered remote deposit for consumers when it launched Deposit@Home more than a year ago. Kerri Herring, a teacher’s assistant in Kannapolis, said she & her husband use it at least a couple of times a month. People often pay Herring by check for photography work. ‘We’re checkless most of the time,’ said Herring, 23, ‘but there are always going to be grandparents who send birthday money.’ Herring hates driving to the bank just to deposit a check. ‘It wastes time. I hate standing in line.’ Some financial institutions are starting to pick up on that vibe. EasCorp, which sells a remote deposit service called DeposZip, says 7 CUs in MA, NH, IN & OK offer it to consumers, & another 9 throughout the country plan to do the same. NewDominion Bank, which offers remote deposit for businesses, says consumer remote deposit is ‘on the drawing board.’ BB&T says it’s considering it. Other companies say they’re spreading the remote deposit concept, minus the scanner. In February, Charlotte Metro CU started advertising HomeDeposit, which lets ‘highly qualified’ customers deposit checks by submitting information from the check to the CU’s Web site, then mailing it in. ‘They’ve all had 3-4 checks laying around for $10, $15. Who wants to get in the car & drive to the bank for that?’ Mitek is advertising software that lets consumers deposit checks by photographing them & emailing the image - all via cell phone. Wachovia & BofA started offering remote deposit for big corporate clients in 2004. At BofA, Bob Johnston says the response from businesses has been ‘phenomenal,’ especially for global companies who don’t want to mail checks across the ocean to their different offices. ‘Ground courier to an airline, back to a ground courier - you can imagine the length of time & cost to do that.’ Among smaller companies, banks are betting that remote deposit will appeal to niches that still deal often with checks, like property managers or nonprofits. Akil Boston, 2nd Harvest Food Bank, says that using Wachovia’s corporate remote deposit has cut out his almost-daily trip to the bank. ‘7 miles roundtrip,’ said Boston, 27. ‘When you look at gas prices nowadays, it’s pretty economical.’ Remote deposit benefits the banks, too. It can enable them to expand their reach, serving customers who don’t live near a branch. It can cut down on foot traffic at the branches, which can save money on staffing. 90% of a teller’s work involves checks, according to Celent. ‘There hasn’t been a financial services technology that has received so much attention since the adoption of the ATM,’ said Christine Barry, Aite. Remote deposit for consumers is in its early stages. A survey of 157 banks by Celent found that 1/5 offer or are planning to offer it. But Wachovia & BofA say they have no such plans. Some doubt whether most people would go to so much trouble to deposit a check. ‘It would be easier to drop it in an ATM or the mail, or walk it into the branch during lunch hour,’ says Jim Bruene, Online Banking Report. Banks usually charge business customers per month & per check for remote deposit & compatible scanners can cost at least $300. To convince consumers to use remote deposit, Bruene & Barry say, banks will have to drop the fees & make it compatible with low-end scanners. USAA, EasCorp CUs & Charlotte Metro CU charge no fees for their programs, & USAA & EasCorp say their programs work with most any scanner.