Mobile remote deposit capture (RDC) lets consumers deposit checks remotely using the cameras on their smart phones. Once mobile banking becomes commonplace, mobile RDC could become a differentiator.

Mobile RDC is ideal for credit unions with far-flung fields of membership or for those with few branches or ATMs.

Credit unions—notably NASA Federal Credit Union, Mountain America Credit Union, and Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union—are keeping pace with the national banks in terms of mobile RDC functionality.

And several large vendors—Fiserv, Jack Henry & Associates, and Fidelity National Information Services—announced in 2010 their ability to support mobile RDC for their bank and credit union clients using imaging technology from Mitek Systems.

It’s too early to tell how many credit unions will offer mobile RDC by year’s end. Industry experts say this isn’t a service to rush into. You need to evaluate which types of mobile phones to target and make sure members know how to use it.

“Our intent is to provide this service across all mobile phone platforms regardless of the device or carrier,” says Mary O’Rourke, assistant vice president of member service operations for Randolph-Brooks Federal. “We’re still working toward that goal. Not all mobile platforms, however, provide the ease of development that the iPhone and Android do. So the challenge is making the service universally available to most of our members.”

Some institutions that already offer the service say the next step is to speed up settlement times.

While deposited funds are usually available the next business day, some institutions say it can take up to three or four days for funds to appear in a member’s account after a check is captured with a mobile phone.

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