USAA allowing iPhone users to send in their checks with an iPhone; American banking stuck in stone age

Checks are a pain in the ass. They’re paper, they need to be deposited in person usually, there can be typos, signature verification issues, the list goes on and on. American banks still use checks, which is simply jaw dropping since checks were invented during the toga wearing times by the ancient romans. How are things on this side of the pond? It isn’t unusual for my friends and I to preorder tickets to a movie we all really want to see. One person buys the tickets, gives us his bank account number, and then via online banking we pay him back. To quote Wikipedia: “In Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia, cheques have almost completely vanished in favour of direct bank transfer and electronic payment.” Cashless society rocks! Rant aside, one bank in America, USAA (United Services Automobile Association), is letting customers with an iPhone deposit checks by using the built in camera to take a photo of the front and back of the check using the bank’s iPhone application, and then hitting send. Genius? Yes, but it doesn’t solve the problem that American banks are stuck in the stone age.

[Via: New York Times]

Update: Video demo below: