The End of Paper Checks?

The world is always getting faster and faster, and hopefully, greener and greener. We've gone from using gold and silver, to fiat cash, to checks, credit cards, and now blink technology. It's almost embarrassing to be the "slow guy" in line fumbling around with cash when everyone else is making instant transactions. This trend is offset however, by small merchants who prefer debit and cash transactions that don't cost them as much in fees to Visa and the like. Slowly but surely financial institutions are offering online banking options and now free e-deposit services for convenience and sustainability. And while it's not exactly check free, it's one step closer than we've ever been, and a step in the direction of a check free world.

In late March 2009 we did a story about Addison Avenue, a federal credit union that sprung up as the official Hewlett Packard employee bank. Addison Avenue is the street where the famed HP garage is that started the company, hence the name. Among other things, Addison offers solar loans and other green financial products. Recently the company started offering e-deposit services which is basically saying that you can scan both sides of your checks (endorsed of course) and then upload the image to their website for faster, more convenient processing.

If banks are starting to trust digital signatures and scanned receipts more and more, we could be approaching a time when check books look more like iPhones... Or maybe an iPhone touch screen app called "icheck" is just around the corner? If you've ever been to an Apple Store you have probably noticed that any employee in the store can check you out, ie. scan your credit card and print (or email) your receipt. In this way, future smart devices that are web and phone enabled (ala iPhone) could turn regular citizens into mobile kiosks who can accept digital checks from anyone; the babysitter, the renter, the possibilities are endless! In the short run, at a minimum, you could use your iPhone's camera to snap a picture of your checks and use an e-deposit system like the one offered by Addison Avenue... but that doesn't eliminate the waste of paper that checks currently represent.

Addison Avenue and other tech savvy financial institutions are leading this trend and thankfully, welcoming new members. Cruise on over to www.addisonavenue.com and sign up to learn more about green banking and begin accepting e-deposits. As for apps, there are several new systems under development for the iPhone and other smart phones working to make it easier and greener to make purchases.