Remote deposit service takes off

Five community banks in Michigan have signed agreements with Michigan Retailers Association to offer remote deposit to their business customers.

By offering the service, these banks differentiate themselves and are better able to compete as the service becomes more common among larger banks.

Remote deposit is “one of the most actively adopted technologies today in the payment industry” said a spokesperson at Celent, a financial services research and consulting firm. Celent reports that two-thirds of the top 100 U.S. banks now offer it.

“We’re glad to be able to assist businesses and community banks in adopting this time- and cost-saving technology,” said MRA President and Chief Operating Office James P. Hallan. “The time has come to make check transactions as easy to process as payments by cash or credit card.”

Remote deposit is a service that allows a business to scan all types of checks and electronically present them for deposit from an office or home. The process eliminates time-consuming bank runs, and checks clear faster, which saves time for both businesses and banks.

The service, offered by MRA in partnership with the Michigan Bankers Association, allows businesses more control over their deposits and offers customizable reports.

“The program will interface with the business’s AR/AP bookkeeping system, which is a really powerful feature,” said MRA Vice President of Sales and Marketing John Mayleben.

“Also, you find out about checks with non-sufficient funds or closed accounts much more quickly.”

Remote deposit can handle all types of U.S. checks: business, personal, government, money orders and even travelers checks.

While remote deposit is relatively new to Michigan-based banks, community banks in other areas are seeing growth in the number of business clients using the service. Buckhead Community Bank in Atlanta is projecting the number of clients using the service to grow fourfold over the next 12 months.

Businesses that sign up for MRA’s remote deposit service will pay a monthly fee and a small per-check fee to employ the new system.

These fees combined are less than the current transactional cost of depositing a paper check plus the labor cost of making a daily bank run.

For more information about the service or to sign up for it, contact Mayleben at 800.366.3699 or jmayleben@retailers.com.