Depositing a check with an iPhone is easy, safe and secure. With most banks now offering iPhone check deposit, there’s no need to walk into a bank to deposit a check.
This article is iPhone check deposit 101, for people who’ve never cashed a check with an iPhone before.
The steps are easy and include:
- Find out if your bank allows iPhone check deposits.
- Download and open your bank’s iPhone check deposit app.
- Open the bank’s iPhone check deposit app and take a picture of the check with your phone.
- Mark the check as deposited by iPhone.
- Once the funds show up in the bank account, write “void” on the check and destroy it.
We’ve also included a list of 37 banks that have iPhone check deposit apps.
Follow the five easy steps below to start depositing checks with your iPhone today.
1. Find Out if Your Bank Allows iPhone Check Deposit
The first step to depositing checks with an iPhone is to find out if your bank offers the service. That’s as easy as doing a search for your bank’s name, the word “iPhone,” and the words, “check deposit.” Adding the word “iTunes” will make sure the Apple app store comes up first in the search results.
So for example, let’s say your checking account is with Capital One Bank. You might use your iPhone to do a Google search for “iPhone check deposit Capital One Bank iTunes.” The first result should be a link to Capital One Bank’s iPhone banking app on the Apple app store.
The app’s description says it allows mobile check deposits. That means it’ll allow customers to deposit checks via iPhone.
Read: 37 Banks That Let You Cash Checks With Your iPhone
2. Download and Open Your Bank’s iPhone Check Deposit App
To download the bank’s app, click, “View in iTunes.” Your iPhone will open iTunes and the show bank’s mobile app. Click “Get” and enter your Apple ID and password to download the app.
Most banking apps that enable iPhone check deposits also let users perform other banking tasks. For instance, the Capital One Mobile banking app lets users pay bills, redeem rewards, make payments to friends and family with the Person2Person feature and transfer funds. Some other iPhone banking apps like the E*Trade Bank mobile app add additional features like mobile trading or GPS bank branch and ATM location.
3. Open the Bank’s Deposit App and Take a Picture of the Check With Your iPhone
Most banking apps that let users deposit checks with an iPhone work in relatively the same way. The user must first sign into their online banking account with the phone, then click “Deposit Check.” The app then guides users through the steps to finish the process.
Usually, the app will instruct the user to place the check on a flat, well-lit surface. The app then takes a picture of the front and back of the check.
The app will also tell the user to write some information on the back of the check before taking the pictures. This info includes the bank name, the user’s signature and account number and often the words, “for deposit only.”
Once the app has taken pictures of both the front and the back of the check, it’ll ask for the amount of the check. If the user has more than one account with the bank, the app will also ask which account to deposit the check to.
Once that check has been deposited, the app will ask if the user wants to deposit more checks with their iPhone. If so, the process is simply repeated with each check until all checks have been deposited.
Read: 4 Best Bank Tools to Boost Your Savings
4. Mark the Check as Deposited by iPhone
The next step in the process of depositing a check with an iPhone is to hold onto the check until it clears the bank. To ensure that a check doesn’t get deposited twice, it’s a good idea to put a Post-It note on the check that says, “Deposited by iPhone” and the date of the deposit. A few days later, the customer can check the bank account to make sure the funds arrived in the account.
It’s not really necessary to make sure the funds show up in the bank account. If the app says the check or checks were deposited successfully, then it worked. However, the first few times someone uses iPhone check deposit, they may want to check anyway just to make sure.
5. Write “Void” on the Check and Destroy It
Once a check has been deposited by iPhone and the funds are in the customer’s account, the last step is to destroy the check. Marking the check “Void” and then shredding or burning it is the best way to do this. Destroying the check prevents double-deposits.
While most banks have a system for deleting checks that are deposited more than once, it’s still a good idea to prevent this mistake.
Read: Money Nation’s 6 Best High Yield Savings Accounts 2015
Banks that Allow iPhone Check Deposit
For a list of 37 banks that allow customers to deposit checks by iPhone, see our article “37 Banks That Let You Cash Checks With Your iPhone.” It’s a comprehensive list of banks with iPhone apps that let customers deposit checks remotely. For each bank listed, there’s a link to the bank’s mobile app in the iTunes store.
Some banks have limits on the size of the check that can be deposited. Capital One has a max of $5,000, whereas Chase has a max of $2,000. There are also daily and monthly limitations. Information about these limits should be posted in the app or on the bank’s website information for mobile banking.
A Note About iPhone Check Deposit Security
One thing a lot of bank customers want to know is, “Is depositing checks with an iPhone safe?” Banks have invested a lot of money to ensure that iPhone check deposit is safe. Mobile apps use the same 128 bit encryption as online banking. Also, although bank apps take pictures of checks before depositing them, the pictures aren’t stored in the user’s iPhone.
Image credits: Wells Fargo