Customers who find the process of depositing cheques at the ATM too impractical or just too slow are getting a helping hand from their banks.
In an effort to make transactions more convenient, accessible and faster, TD Canada Trust has introduced 'green' ATMs featuring touch screens, which allow envelope-free deposits by scanning cheques and displaying the image on an itemized receipt.
Jim Grimmer, head, North American ATM, TD, says: "Our new ATM receipts will make organizing bank deposits easier and give our customers peace of mind in knowing their cheques and cash have been received safely and securely. Not only are envelope-free deposits better for the environment, but they also speed up the time it takes to make a deposit at the ATM."
Grimmer added that 25 of the touch-screen machines will be installed by Dec. 11 in Canada with the remaining 2,800 upgraded by the end of 2015. Envelope-free deposits will save more than 400,000 pounds of paper a year.
And if you'd like to skip the trip to the ATM altogether, CIBC's latest eDeposit feature allows you to take two pictures of the cheque (front and back) with your smartphone, deposit the funds and have your account updated in a matter of seconds. The CIBC Mobile Banking App ensures that your transaction is safe and secure as none of the financial information is stored on your device and all wireless transmissions are securely encrypted.
As you may recall, ING DIRECT introduced its Cheque-In mobile app earlier in June 2013 enabling its clients to deposit cheques by taking a picture with a mobile device. Since that time, an average of 6,500 cheques have been processed weekly through smartphones or tablets.
Many believe using cheques may no longer be as prevalent as in the past, but businesses and consumers still write nearly four million cheques every business day, according to the Canadian Payments Association (CPA).