04
Sep
07

Is 24-hour electronic banking really that difficult?

By Joshua Steimle 2 Comments Categories: Entrepreneurship

I bank at Zions Bank. I know, I know, they’re a monster. But it’s easier to stick with them and put up with the hassle than to switch, and I think they know who keeps them in business.

My most recent frustration with Zions has to do with what happens if you make a deposit over the weekend.

You see, I have this deal called Anytime Deposits. They give me a check scanner so that I can scan checks from my office and therefore I don’t need to drive to the bank to make a deposit. The check also clears faster. It costs about $70/month and is well worth the expense. I probably save a few hours per month.

If I make a deposit at 8 pm on Wednesday, it will show up in my account the next morning, and that’s awesome, because I’m often not able to make it to the bank before it closes. But the problem that arises is that if I make a deposit on Saturday, it doesn’t show up in my account until Tuesday. And when Monday is Labor Day, it doesn’t show up in my account until Wednesday.

Now seriously, does it have to be this way? I can only assume that a human being has to review all these deposits, and since they don’t have people there on weekends or holidays, that’s the reason a deposit made on Saturday doesn’t show up until Tuesday. And I suppose a human being has to look at the scanned check image just to make sure it’s a legitimate deposit. I understand all that, but it’s a huge frustration to make a deposit on a Saturday and not have the money show up in your account until Wednesday, and I can’t help but think there’s got to be a way around this issue. Here are some ideas:

1. Have someone work weekends and holidays, or…

2. Failing that, have someone look at all the checks first thing the day after a weekend or holiday, and have those checks show up in accounts in real-time, rather than not showing up until the next day.

3. Change the system so a human being doesn’t have to verify everything.

4. At a minimum, show pending deposits so that if I deposit something on Saturday and then a check hits my account on Tuesday it won’t bounce! Arrr!!! Don’t make this pirate angry.

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  3. When someone asks you what you’re doing this weekend you say “Working, of course, just like any other day.”
  • http://starpointe.wordpress.com Ryan

    Thank goodness my bank offers this service to all its customers for free. I just go to their site, click on Deposit@Home, place the check on my scanner (a regular scanner that I already had), and click “Scan Now” on the web page. The money even goes into my account immediately! It’s freakin’ awesome.

    If you’re elegible, sign up for banking through USAA (www.usaa.com).

  • http://www.2donext.com MIke

    I was going to say that USAA has that for free. But you have to be in the military or related to someone who is.

    On the subject. My peeve with banks and money is that when I place a money transfer from one bank to the other it takes for ever. Place it on Monday the money leaves my account on Tuesday but doesn’t show up in my 2nd account until Wednesday or Thrusday. Come on, what a rip off. This seems like stealing to me. I know in the days when they had to wait for a check it would take a while but now days it shouldn’t be faster.