Wells Fargo smartphone app can now make deposits
The two biggest banks in Minnesota, Wells Fargo and US Bank, now permit customers to deposit checks using their smartphones.
Wells Fargo is the latest bank to get into the mobile deposit game, which US Bank had entered last year.
Customers with an iPhone or Android phone can use the device to take a photo of the front and back of an endorsed check, and then upload the image using the bank's mobile application. Once Wells Fargo sends notification that the deposit went through, the paper check can be destroyed.
At no point is any personal financial information stored on the phone, said Brian Pearce, head of retail mobile banking at Wells Fargo.
"And all the transmission between Wells Fargo and your phone is done via an encrypted connection. So there's no chance of financial information going astray," he said.
Wells Fargo and US Bank both are also looking into ways to use mobile phones to make in-store payments at the point of sale.
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