Banks Phasing Out Deposit Slips

When you reach a certain age, you realize little things out of the blue can make you feel old. The latest example is banking deposit slips.

I recently ran an errand for my mom at the bank and she asked that I bring her back a few blank deposit slips. It didn’t strike me as an odd request. She serves as treasurer for her Sunday School class, so she keeps track of the donations class members make to their treasury. As such, she will fill out a deposit slip listing the cash and individual checks she deposits.

When I went to the bank with the deposit for her, I asked the teller for some blank slips. But the teller told me they don’t use them anymore.

What?

Just a couple of weeks ago, my home bank in Charleston had deposit slips. Normally, there would be a stack of them on a small table in the middle of the lobby. Customers can fill them out there before getting in line for a teller. But on this day, there were no slips. When I got to the teller, I asked for some extras after pointing out there were none on the table. He produced a wrapped stack of them and pulled out about a dozen for me. He said he’d make sure more slips were placed on the table.

So in a matter of a couple of weeks, the bank went from having them and freely giving them out to claiming they don’t need them and don’t use them anymore.

Clearly, I missed a memo.

Banks phase out deposit slips

I also missed a story from The Columbus Dispatch from way back in 2014. The article stated they were becoming a thing of the past back then — eight years ago!! — because of “new technology that makes the slips unnecessary.”

A spokesman for Huntington Bancshares told the Dispatch that given the amount of paper banks deal with, they’re always looking for ways to reduce the amount.

For years now, my bank has offered an option to deposit a check that allows me to take a smartphone photo of the check itself (front and back). I upload those images to my bank’s app. Obviously, it doesn’t work for cash and it takes an extra day to post to your account.

If you’re like me and enjoy seeing money going into your account as quickly as it seems to get taken out of your account, that day makes a difference.

The teller told me all I need to do is just write my account number on the back of the checks I’m depositing. That, too, doesn’t really work for cash.

When I made my most recent deposit the other day, it consisted of rolled coins. I’m doing my part to fight against this ridiculous “coin shortage” we keep hearing about. Since they wouldn’t give me one, I didn’t have a deposit slip. They asked for my ID, and looked me up that way. They gave me a choice of accounts and I selected the one I wanted and they deposited it directly that way.

One more attempt

I again asked about deposit slips and what one might do if they had multiple checks from multiple sources and wanted to document a breakdown of which checks were deposited. (I would think that even consumers might find that helpful if they had to attempt anything resembling a forensic audit on their account if a question of missing funds came up.)

Some banks actually provide a clickable copy of completed deposit slips on their online banking apps so you have a record.

In the absence of a deposit slip, I asked, what would you do to document those checks? The teller actually had the nerve to pick up a blank deposit slip and showed it to me, saying, “Well, we have these.”

I immediately thought of former late-night host Craig Ferguson: “I know!”

Instead, I just looked at her, standing there holding up as a solution to the problem the very piece of paper I’d asked for and had been told the bank no longer needs.

I then thought of another famous movie line: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”

Do you still prefer the convenience of deposit slips or have you already moved on?