Cheque deposits on your mobile phone

Mobile banking is moving fast – especially in the land of the cheque – the United States.

Chase has introduced a new mobile banking service – depositing your old fashioned paper cheque using your mobile phone. This has been achieved by using an application for Apples iPhone that allows bank customers to deposit cheques with the camera-enabled smartphone.

This means no more trips to a local bank branch or ATM or having the hassle with deposit slips. Customers of Chase simply use their phones' cameras to snap pictures of the front and back of the endorsed cheques and electronically send them to the bank.

The technology, called "remote deposit capture," is gaining popularity among many banks and credit unions.

More common than mobile applications are programs that allow customers to deposit cheques with their home computer scanners. Several local financial institutions have such programs or plan to start them soon.