Good week for mobile deposits after a rough patch

Last Tuesday I had 3 checks from clients totaling about $1,200 and my bank's app rejected all of them for bad lighting. I tried again on Wednesday with a desk lamp and they all cleared by Friday morning. Anybody else have a weirdly specific trick that finally got their mobile deposits to work?

3 comments

3 Comments

jason5242mo ago

@amy975 That desk lamp trick is a game changer. What you're describing is part of something I've noticed everywhere - a lot of small things we do daily are actually harder than they should be because the tools assume perfect conditions. It's not just banking apps either. I had the SAME problem with my car's backup camera showing a snowy mess in bad light until I got a little magnetic LED light bar for the bumper. Or how about scanning documents with a phone - impossible in direct sunlight, works great in even indoor light. These companies design their software for Laboratory conditions, not real life where a check is on a wrinkled envelope or your hoodie creates a huge shadow. It's like the whole world is optimistically assuming the lighting is always right.

nathan_hill6023d ago

Does anyone else feel like they need a whole film studio setup just to cash a check these days? I'm pretty sure my last mobile deposit rejection was because my own shadow looked like a bear attacking the check. Honestly, I've found that holding my phone flashlight at a weird angle while standing on one leg works best for me. It's probably overkill, but hey, at least my neighbors think I'm doing some kind of yoga while banking.

amy9752mo ago

Honestly I used to think mobile deposit problems were just user error but that desk lamp trick changed my whole view on it. I had the EXACT same issue with shadows making checks unreadable until I pointed a bright light directly at the check from the side. Now I actually keep a small clip-on light next to my desk just for this purpose and haven't had a rejection in months.