The latest figures show that approximately 12 million Americans have been depositing checks using smartphones and tablets.
According to the latest numbers, estimates regarding the use of mobile payments in certain areas are actually higher than many of the predictions had expected them to be.
While smartphone wallets continue to struggle to take off, certain banking behaviors are skyrocketing.
The check deposit sector of mobile payments has proven to be faster in its growth and stronger overall than even the most bullish advocates of the industry had predicted. This particular behavior is being openly adopted by many Americans, as 12 million of them used the feature last year.
This mobile payments activity has represented deposits of over $40 billion in checks into accounts.
This mobile payments technique is available at a growing number of American banks and is accomplished by using an app to snap a photo of a check in order to deposit its amount directly into a bank account. The number of people who are adopting the use of this technology is rapidly growing as individuals find that the convenience of this form of check depositing is considerably higher than having to use an ATM or – especially – actually wait in line in the bank to speak with a teller.
The mobile payments industry has not failed to take notice of this growing trend and a number of new partnerships and programs are being launched in order to reflect the opportunities that are now perceived in this area. This could mean that the options and use of smartphone banking will experience a rapid expansion in the hopes that those check depositing consumers will catch on and widen the types of activities that they are willing to use over their devices.
There are currently 708 banks and credit unions that are partnered with Mitek, for instance. That company is the maker of the leading software for mobile document capture. These agreements are to be able to offer their customers the ability to provide options for depositing checks over smartphones and tablet devices. By the end of this year, it is expected that the number of people using these services will have grown even further as this trend develops.
