How To Deposit Cash To Online Bank Account

By Harry Sit

Do you use an online checking account such as ING DIRECT, Ally, USAA, Fidelity, or Schwab? If you do, here’s a challenge:

How do you deposit cash to it?

It would be cheating if you first deposit the cash to a local, brick-and-mortar bank and then transfer it to your online bank. In that case you are not really depositing to your online bank. It also means you have to maintain a local, brick-and-mortar bank account.

It’s very easy to deposit a check to an online bank account. If you are not in a hurry and if you trust the Postal Service, you can just mail it. Many online banks also offer remote deposit by smartphone or computer scanner. USAA accepts check deposits at UPS Stores. Fidelity takes checks at their local offices.

Depositing cash? Not so easy. You know you are not supposed to send cash by mail. UPS Stores don’t accept cash deposit for USAA. Fidelity’s local offices don’t take cash either. Take a picture of the cash with your smartphone? Good try.

Buy a money order and then do the deposit by mobile phone? First, a money order costs money. Second, you want to check to see if the mobile deposit app accepts money orders. ING DIRECT’s mobile deposit app does not accept money orders. Neither does Fidelity’s. USAA does not accept money orders at UPS Stores.

I recently had to deposit some cash. I used this state-of-the-art device that sits outside our cafeteria at work. It took my cash, counted the bills, deposited it, and then gave me a receipt. All done in less than 1 minute.

ATM Machine

Wait, did I say online account? Yes, I use Alliant Credit Union*. There is no branch near me. Alliant Credit Union contracts with several ATM networks. Many contracted ATMs take deposits.

I use the same machine for depositing checks. It beats any mobile app by a long mile. When I tried a few mobile deposit apps, they would reject the pictures half of the time. I had to retake the pictures and resubmit, sometimes several times. Very frustrating. With the industrial-grade machine, I can feed multiple checks in one shot. It doesn’t matter whether I feed them face-up or face-down. The machine reads the front and the back and the amount on the checks. It prints a summary or thumbnail image on the back of the receipt. Beat that, iPhone app!

Among all the major online banks — ING DIRECT, Ally, USAA, Fidelity, Schwab — Alliant Credit Union solves this depositing problem most elegantly. For this reason I no longer keep an account at a local, brick-and-mortar bank.

* Anybody can join Alliant Credit Union. All it takes is membership in any PTA or a $10 donation to  charity Foster Care to Success.

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Posted on September 6, 2012 under Banking and Credit Cards. Keywords: .

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Comments

17 Comments on How To Deposit Cash To Online Bank Account

  1. Maggie on September 6, 2012
     

    Do you know which one of Alliant’s ATM networks takes deposits? I’ve had trouble finding any. Thanks!

  2. Ryan on September 6, 2012
     

    I’ve heard that deposits can be made to Alliant using U.S. Bank’s ATMs. However, I am confused about what to put on the deposit envelope. Did the ATM that you used require an envelope?

  3. Harry Sit on September 6, 2012
     

    Maggie – Alliant’s ATM locator page has a checkbox for “Deposit Taking ATMs.” The deposit taking ATMs around me belong to the CO-OP network, Alliance One, and U.S. Bank. When I plug in a random zip code, I see some Allpoint ATMs also take deposits.

    Ryan – Yes, U.S. Bank is a sponsor of MoneyPass ATM network, which Alliant also uses. If the ATM requires an envelope, I don’t put anything on the envelope. It isn’t necessary to use a deposit slip either. It knows where to deposit by the ATM/debit card number. I’ve used U.S. Bank’s ATMs to make deposits to Alliant CU account. No problem, but it has to be a U.S. Bank branch based ATM; the ones you see in airports or retail locations don’t work even though they say U.S. Bank.

  4. Maggie on September 6, 2012
     

    Thanks for the help!

  5. William on September 6, 2012
     

    Everbank allows online deposit using a scanner and your own computer. Further, they pay higher interest than any of the other banks mentioned in your article. I have used their online services for years. They guarantee a rate within 5% of the top rate in the country for money market and checking account. No fees. They reimburse all ATM fees. Why drive to an ATM machine to make a deposit. Use your scanner at home.

  6. Harry Sit on September 6, 2012
     

    William – They let you scan the cash too?

  7. Ryan on September 6, 2012
     

    Thanks Harry! I’ll give it a try.

  8. William on September 7, 2012
     

    Oops, Sorry! I never deposit cash, and so I was thinking only about checks. Oh well. I live in a cashless world I guess.

  9. David C on September 10, 2012
     

    TFB, do you have an alternative way to obtain Medallion signatures and some of the other things a brick and mortar are good for? Are you able to get those through Alliant’s shared branching network?

    Don’t get me wrong… since you left Wells Trade for TD Ameritrade it made sense to close the WF checking… just wondering about the “other” kinds of stuff brick and mortars are good for :-) . I’m also not sure why I didn’t catch the fact that you closed the checking account back in your April 11th post… but you are talking to the guy who couldn’t find his 401k fee disclosure ;-) .

  10. Harry Sit on September 10, 2012
     

    David C – Transferring account from Wells Fargo to TD Ameritrade didn’t need a medallion signature. If I ever need one, I’m sure the local Fidelity or TD Ameritrade office will provide one, even if the very same form will transfer assets away from them. I never had a safe deposit even when I had the Wells Fargo account. I don’t think I will need one.

    Alliant isn’t part of shared branching because it’s too expensive. I heard it costs the home credit union something like $3 per transaction.

    I could’ve left the minimum amount necessary to keep the accounts open and fee-free, but it was too much hassle. I paid Wells Fargo $95 in order to close the accounts I don’t need.

  11. David C on September 11, 2012
     

    @TFB (“Harry Sit”)
    There is craig10x’s post (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/814399/m16586875/#m16586875):

    [Alliant] [is] “unofficially” on the Cu shared service network…in other words, apparently they are but they try to keep it “hush hush” because of the high expense of those transactions…best thing to do
    is try it in your closest Cu shared location…and if it works then great but whatever you do…don’t ask Alliant DIRECTLY about it…

    FYI that seems to be backed up by a quick search at http://www.cuservicecenter.com (as of September 11, 2012 “Alliant CU” comes up in the search results). Shhhh… keep it a secret ;-)

  12. David C on September 11, 2012
     

    …and for what it is worth I interpret Alliant’s status on the cuservicecenter.com website to mean that 1) they are in the network (you can find them under the “Does my CU Participate?” link) but 2) they do not accept guest (other) CU users at their branch locations (a sampling of several Alliant branches including in Chicago and Houston do not show up in the Branch Locator)

    The second point obviously wouldn’t impact an Alliant customer. Anyway I could easily be wrong… no warranties on this info :-) .

  13. Harry Sit on September 11, 2012
     

    David C – Thank you for the info. I heard they only participate in Hawaii. Being a member owner, I would respect its wishes to keep the cost low.

  14. Roger S on December 24, 2012
     

    You state that USAA does not accept money orders thru the UPS Stores. Wrong – I do that all the time and there never is a hold of more than 30 minutes for the money orders (unless I deposit a large sum of $$$). Also, for those fortunate to live where “Check City” does business (I’m in Las Vegas), you can get all the Western Union m.o.’s you want for NO fee… no other transaction required!

  15. Roger S on December 24, 2012
     

    PS: Your link to USAA’s faq is correct: They do NOT accept mo’s via the @Home mobile scanning APP, but they DO accept them at the UPS Stores.

  16. Harry on December 28, 2012
     

    Roger S – Thank you for the info on depositing money orders to USAA at UPS stores. Perhaps USAA should update their FAQs for Easy Deposit.

    “What types of checks can I deposit using USAA Easy Deposit?”

    “You can deposit endorsed checks from U.S. financial institutions. The following check types cannot be deposited:

    Cashiers check
    Money order
    Foreign check
    Savings bond
    Traveler’s check”

  17. Jim on May 18, 2013
     

    I’ve been depositing checks, money orders, and bank drafts to my USAA accounts using the neighborhood UPS store for over six months now.

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