Deposit your next check with your iPhone

Even with the popularity of direct deposit, many of us still find ourselves needing to trudge down to the local bank branch to deposit a paper check every now and then, but for members of one bank that may be a thing of the past.

The New York Times reports that USAA, a bank which primarily serves military members and has one branch, will soon let customers deposit checks by taking a picture of them with an iPhone.

This is a giant leap forward in banking technology for most banks; but for USAA, which already lets customers deposit checks with a scanner, it's simply a continuation of their strategy to reach out to customers who cannot easily reach its brick and mortar location.

In order to participate in the mobile check deposit program customers will need to have good credit and be insured with USAA. These measures are in place to reduce fraudulent check photographing, since users are not required to mail a check in after making an iPhone deposit.

Here's a look at the iPhone application in action: