ATM OCR

August 6, 2009 9:15 PM

ATM check deposits. OCR or just instantaneous offshore data entry? TIA.
posted by @troy to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

For our (not a bank, but a large financial instituion dealing with millions of cheques each year) bulk cheque processing, we use a combination of OCR and onshore data entry. I think you've got yourself a false dichotomy there.

Most important point: it won't be OCR on its own. Nothing ever is, if you want it correct.
posted by pompomtom at 9:22 PM on August 6, 2009

I have never seen an ATM that directly scans and accepts checks. You always have to put them in an envelope with your name and account info on it. They take your word for how much is in the envelope, but they have a human verify it when they collect the envelopes from the ATM. That's why funds deposited in an ATM often aren't available immediately. They don't want you depositing a fake check for $10000 and then skipping out with the cash. Do you really have ATMs that scan the check as you deposit it?
posted by cosmicbandito at 9:57 PM on August 6, 2009

Yes. My bank's ATMs do this - you slide the check into the slot, sans envelope, wait a second, confirm/correct the amount that appears on the screen, and choose what kind of receipt you want. This is in California, Well Fargo ATMs.
posted by rtha at 10:09 PM on August 6, 2009

Wells Fargo ATMs scan checks, and they've always determined the correct amount of the checks for me, too. You can even get images of the checks printed on your receipt.
posted by DakotaPaul at 10:11 PM on August 6, 2009

yeah, what rtha said
posted by DakotaPaul at 10:12 PM on August 6, 2009

Chase does this as well on their fancy new ATMs, and I'll second the question. Put in the checks, even hand scrawled crap, no envelope, and it pops up an image on the screen with an OCR'd amount. It then prints the images on the deposit receipt, which is nice. It's remarkably accurate, even with some pretty odd handwriting. I'd assumed it was just very good OCR, but I'd be curious to know otherwise.
posted by The Bellman at 10:13 PM on August 6, 2009

Pretty much all new Bank of America ATMs will scan checks now too. The amount doesn't always come out correctly (sometimes it just give up and make you enter it yourself) but it basically always does for printed checks and works pretty well for reasonably handwritten ones. You can also shove cash in there (no envelope) and it counts it and deposits it into your account immediately.

I'm pretty sure that BoA isn't doing instant offshore data entry for this, as it does "get it wrong" or just give up in a nontrivial percentage of cases. The response is also always instant. I'd imagine they rely on OCR for the initial deposit into the ATM and then use onshore data entry clerks to validate the information later and process payment.
posted by zachlipton at 10:33 PM on August 6, 2009

This is called CAR/LAR (Courtesy and Legal Amount Recognition) if you want to Google it. It's generally OCR (or more specifically ICR) that is tuned to work in a very particular problem space that is very lucrative.

The ATMs that do the scanning are generally NCR models in their SelfServ Intelligent Deposit line. The banks like them because they can scan and process the checks for Check21 and never have to have an employee touch them. They can probably even shred the checks immediately, though they probably don't.
posted by smackfu at 10:43 PM on August 6, 2009

(The legal amount is the handwritten words and the courtesy amount is the digits. If you can read both, you can cross-verify.)
posted by smackfu at 10:50 PM on August 6, 2009

This is just the banks showing off. It doesn't mean anything, and it's in no way "official" -- they're just making a guess at what numbers you would otherwise type in, as a nominal timesaver for you. The real reason is to impress you with how state-of-the-art they are, and how much more advanced they are than those other banks.

No matter how it's input, it's not real money until the issuing bank transfers the funds to yours and nobody objects or protests ("clearance"), anyway, so if the machine suggests three million dollars and you accept that, it's no different than if you typed in 3000000 thanks to a stuck button or a drunken frenzy.

And smackfu, no: the body and the figures are of equal importance and must match. If they are different, the "handwritten" body part does not in any way "win". The check is returned as invalid, usually described as "body and figures differ". It's a validation check, not a convenience.

OCR is easy when the format is so narrow and the possible words/letters/numbers are predictable. It's much more likely $827.22 than "SBZTZZ", after all, especially over there on the right side in the box.

(100 years ago, I designed bank checks. Ask me about MICR.)
posted by rokusan at 1:30 AM on August 7, 2009

oooh, you should totally do a post to the blue about checks, rokusan (100% serious)
posted by ArgentCorvid at 4:57 AM on August 7, 2009

And smackfu, no: the body and the figures are of equal importance and must match. If they are different, the "handwritten" body part does not in any way "win".

Hmmm? I never said one was preferable to the other. "Legal amount" and "courtesy amount" are what these things are called. If you are searching for research on OCRing these things, it's useful to know.
posted by smackfu at 5:58 AM on August 7, 2009

They were always called "body amount" and "figure amount" in my day, Smackfu, so I didn't read yours as terms of art. Then again, it was a million years ago. I think Newton ran the Mint.
posted by rokusan at 6:03 AM on August 7, 2009

I'm glad you asked this, because I've been curious about the new ATMs, too. My BofA branch put them in earlier this years, and I keep wondering what happens. Does the check get stored in the ATM until the machine is serviced? Or is it instant scan-then-shred? FWIW, it rejected a money order someone sent me last week, and I had to go into the branch and stand in a long line to make that deposit.

I've mentally compared it to USAA's Deposit@Home service, where you scan the check on your own computer and upload the image to the bank. I also have a USAA account, and it works fine for me. The bank does not need a hard copy.

Side note: Years ago (late 80s!) I deposited a paycheck at an ATM, entered in the amount correctly, received the "this-is-not-a-receipt" printed confirmation, and went merrily on my way. A few days later checks bounced. Some data-entry person entered my deposit with three extra zeros. When it was corrected, a hold was placed on my account. After that, the branch manager was extemely apologetic, but all my transactions required in-person handling, inside the branch, for a few weeks until the hold expired. Humans make mistakes, too.
posted by Robert Angelo at 2:57 PM on August 7, 2009