CHARLESTON, W.V.-A small credit union here became the first financial institution in the country to create an iPhone remote deposit application.
The $25-million WV United FCU earned that distinction when it launched the service, built in-house, this past summer. The app is as simple as it is unique; members simply downloaded the application, took a clear photo of checks they wished to deposit and clicked "iDeposit" on their mobile device. The application automatically sends the images to the credit union and wipes them clean from the iPhones' memory. All the credit union has to do to identify the member properly is capture his phone number before he uses the application.
Just 10 members were using the service regularly when Credit Union Journal reported on it in late July, just weeks after its launch. Since then WV United FCU has seen that number triple, not a small feat for a credit union of less than 4,300 members, and it hopes for even more growth as it continues to enhance the service.
CEO Linda Bodie said the time spent developing and troubleshooting the application has "definitely" been worth it, and noted that the solution has expanded to allow members to send any and all documents to the CU through their iPhones. Image quality has been the biggest challenge the credit union has faced as the iPhone camera has a limited number of megapixels.
Bodie said the CU will continue to "work with what we have now and to make it better. We'd love to see more members using it but not everyone has an iPhone. But those that do have it, like (this application)."
