A couple of months ago a friend of mine and I were talking about check deposits. (She also works in the banking industry. Most of my other friends want to talk about things besides banking. Can’t say I blame them.)

The subject of check deposits came up because she and I went in on a wedding gift together. She paid for it and I wrote her a check to cover my share. Months after I wrote the check she admitted she still hadn’t deposited it. To be honest, I hadn’t even noticed. And I couldn’t blame her – checks sit on my counter, bulletin board, wallet, purse, and car for months before I get around to depositing them.

Neither one of us is sure why we have this mental block about depositing checks. We both manage to endorse them (on the right side no less), write our account numbers on them, and write “For Deposit Only.” It’s getting to the bank that is the problem. And it shouldn’t be. There’s an ATM on pretty much every corner. And my friend has accounts at about 28 different banks, so she obviously has even more options. (Okay, 28 is a slight exaggeration. She has 5. But still…)

Given my mental block about check deposits, I was thrilled to see that Chase launched its remote deposit feature. Not that I bank with Chase. And of course I don’t have an iPhone. (If you can’t keep track of your own phone, let alone mine, I have the HTC Incredible.) Obviously in the short-term, Chase’s new service does me little good because I can’t use it.

The great news is that since a major bank now offers remote deposit, other banks are sure to follow. Even better would be when companies start to realize that not everyone has an iPhone. Another sign that mobile banking is due to become more common is Fiserv’s new mobile remote deposit service. (For more on this, see the article “Remote Deposit? No longer such a remote idea” on Comperemedia.)

Of course if my friend and I were truly on top of it, I never would have written her a check. I would have paid her through one of the P2P services that banks are offering. Chase, PNC and US Bank have all launched new services this year that allow customers to send payments using an email or cell phone number. Maybe next time I’ll experiment. But right now, I really have to get to the bank.

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