Deposit Checks via Cell Phone

NCR is now allowing customers to deposit checks anywhere they get reception on their data-enabled mobile phones.

Assuming you don't already direct deposit all your checks, NCR's APTRA Passport checking software could be great news. Your phone's camera, which must be at least 2-megapixels, acts as a scanner that captures an image of the check. APTRA then uses Mitek Systems' advanced recognition and image quality technologies to validate all data before transmitting those images directly to your financial institution or online banking web site. Presto! You're done.

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PIN Number Scams / Malware

Instead of using mechanical means to steal from debit cardholders, some thieves are using malware to swipe huge numbers of encrypted and unencrypted PINs. It's not yet widespread, but it'll take serious work to prevent.

Basically, when you type your PIN into an ATM, the PIN is encrypted by the bank, only to be decrypted by your own bank, who (hopefully) approves the transaction. That leaves two ways for these thieves to get access to swathes of PINs. First, they can install malware to copy the PINs in the brief time they're decrypted, while they're sitting in a bank's memory cache waiting to be authorized. Banks typically rely on anti-virus software to catch this kind of attack, and resourceful hackers have taken advantage of this inattention. The second way involves a piece of software that tricks the bank's security software into providing the decryption key for the PINs.

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Manage Your Money Online - For Free

Having read a post about ClearCheckbook on www.makeuseof.com, I decided to check it out. After spending about 5 minutes on the site (after a simple and free sign up maybe 2 minutes), I realized this was exactly the application I have been looking for the past several months. The best part about the application is you control everything manually. You have complete control over the accounts (Cash, Checking, Savings, and Credit) you set up along with the expense categories to assign. Additionally, ClearCheckbook provides up to date reports to view trends or charts of how and when your money is used. You can set up automatic recurring reminders to pay your monthly bills. Not that I will need this feature, but you can work in non US currencies.

I had previously been using my own version of this application in an Excel spreadsheet. One of the best features of this website is that you can access the data from any internet connection.

Staying on top of your finances, especially your expenses can be a great advantage to your overall financial status. Knowing where your money is coming from and where it is going is very important. For anyone that does manage your checkbook or would like to start, I would recommend at least taking a look at ClearCheckbook.

Here are just a few ways ClearCheckbook can help you stay on top of your finances:

• Balancing - Ability to balance your checkbook from anywhere you have internet access.
• Reports - View based on your spending and what you're spending your money on.
• Mobile - Specially designed interface for your iPhone and iPod Touch. Manage your finances from anywhere you have a cellphone or wifi connection!
• Automation - Automatic recurring transactions and notices so you never forget to pay your bills.
• CheckBot 2.0 - Update your account from your cellphone SMS or AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, and Google Talk Messenger services.
• 100% Free! - That's right, ClearCheckbook doesn't cost a penny! It's completely free to use.

Analysts: 150 U.S Banks Nationwide May Fail Next Year

As home prices continue to decline and loan defaults mount, U.S. regulators are bracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the next year. But after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed late Friday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions: Just how many banks might falter? And which one could be next?

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Deposit Checks from Work and Home

Today’s banking world is always growing and attempting to provide the best features available. However, more and more of these services are moving out of the physical bank location and towards the age of online banking. Most business and many regular customers have been paying bills automatically online for a few years now. The most recent feature starting to be offered by banks is depositing checks from your business location or home. This would eliminate the need to drive to the bank and wait in any lines.

“Online banking service provider CheckFree Corp. is rolling out technology that could mean consumers will no longer have to go to a bank branch to deposit checks. Called Remote Deposit Capture, the technology has been around for years and lets people scan checks through their home computers and deposit them electronically. But it has been used mainly for businesses. Customers want to be able to deposit checks without having to go to banks, said Rod Springhetti, CheckFree's vice president of global strategic marketing, and banks want to be able to offer that. ‘I think the ability to remotely capture a check will become part of the standard features and functions of online banking,’ Springhetti said. CheckFree said the service is available starting this week for any consumers who bank online, as long as their banks offer it.”

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