For a while I've been wondering about the plight of checks. With online banking, EFT, electronic bill pay etc, it seems silly to waste paper writing out checks. Plus there is the expected latency. Sure there are some business that still write out checks, but that number is dwindling fast. In fact when I'd moved to the US over 10 years back, I used to see people pay using a check at the grocery store. I don't see that anymore.

Today, I ready about USAA (yes, you read that right) using an iPhone app to take pictures of the check and transmit it to them. “We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president.

So, USAA is not in the top 20 banks in the country, but they are a Fortune 500 financial services company that serves serving or retired US military families. They were formed in 1922 by some army offices to self insure each other. They called the company "Unites States Army Automobiles Association" and later changed to "Unites States Automobiles Association" as other branches of the military were included.



You do not have to mail the check to the bank ever. The deposit is handled electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it.

So, this feature isn't just out of the blue. A few years back they had introduced the concept of customers scanning checks for depositing.

Other banks will probably follow this story and offer something similar soon. Hopefully they remember there are iPhone-phobes out there, like ummm... Blackberry weenies like me.

Some random trivia: They have one branch and are the 3rd biggest single occupancy building in the country, after the Sears Tower and the Pentagon.