Remote Deposit Saves Time, Money
Challenge:
Jared Stancil, chief operating officer of Nashville-based Anchor Tours, knew there had to be a more efficient way of processing his company’s deposits. With three offices -- one in Tennessee, one in Kentucky and one in Alabama -- the company was spending at least $20 per office per week to FedEx checks to its main office.
“We prefer to use a local bank because we like that people know us when we pick up the phone, but this meant our out of-state offices couldn’t physically go to the bank,” said Stancil. “We didn’t want to have accounts at multiple banks. At any time, we might have $30,000 or more worth of checks waiting for our weekly deposit. If one of the out-of-state offices had only one check, they would postpone sending it until they had more. Waiting put us at risk for depositing bad checks.”
Several years ago Anchor Tours accidentally threw away a very large tax refund check from the state. Knowing the chances of the state re-cutting a check were slim to none, Stancil went digging through a dumpster to find it. The check was ripped in four pieces.
“The check looked like it was on life support after we taped it together,” said Stancil. “It was a miracle the bank was able to scan it and get it deposited.”
Consequently, Stancil started taking the checks home, but he knew that wasn’t a good idea either. There had to be a better way.
Karen Foster, staff accountant for Capitol Homes, had similar needs. The home building company usually had several closings a day, which meant there were usually $10,000 to $15,000 in checks laying around until someone could drive to the bank to deposit them. Because of the time involved with making deposits, the company usually only went to the bank twice a week.
Solution:
Both Stancil and Foster were able to streamline their deposit process using “remote deposit.”
Remote deposit allows companies to deposit checks into their account at any time day during the business day without ever leaving the office. Clients use a compact check scanner that captures an image of the check and transmits it over a secure website connection. The total amount of the scanned check is deposited to the account.
“When I heard about Pinnacle’s remote deposit capabilities, I knew we had to try it,” Stancil said. “After testing it here in our Nashville office, it was a no brainer to roll it out to our other offices. Now we can make a deposit from anywhere at any time. It’s given us a virtual bank of sorts and saves us at least 45 minutes to an hour a day.”
“We now enter checks as we receive them,” Foster said. “We can process a little at a time and then upload our deposits all at once.”
Result:
“I wish I’d known about remote deposit sooner. It’s one of the better things we’ve done at our business,” Stancil said. “Each year, more than 20 groups from my industry meet to share best practices and select the best from among those shared. Remote deposit won this past year. Everyone in our industry who hears about our experience with remote deposit wants to know more.”
“Remote deposit also helps us from a cash management standpoint,” Foster said. “By getting our deposits in more frequently, we’re able to maximize interest earned.”