As part of USAA’s Deposit@Home service, introduced in 2006, which lets certain members scan and deposit checks on a home scanner. The USAA has now also launched a mobile check deposit capability for the iPhone (News - Alert).

Company officials say qualifying banking members can use iPhones to deposit a check from "anywhere else they can get a wireless signal."

The feature, called USAA Deposit@Mobile, lets you snap a photo of both sides of a signed check with the iPhone camera and transmit the image to USAA, which verifies the deposit information and signature to complete the transaction. Approximately 14 percent of USAA’s 7.2 million members currently interact with USAA via their mobile devices, which is three times greater than any other bank's level.

Maybe the mobile-centricity is due to the fact that 97 percent of USAA members own a mobile device, compared to 89 percent for the general population.

Wayne Peacock, USAA’s executive vice president of Enterprise Business Operations, noted that since nearly 50 percent of their one million mobile users are active-duty military who may be deployed anywhere, "the convenience of mobile access is essential.”

In May, USAA offered their Mobile App for the iPhone, letting members manage insurance, investment and bank accounts on a single platform. The app is free, and has been downloaded nearly 140,000 times from Apple’s (News - Alert) iTunes store.

USAA also lets members access account information and transact business via SMS text messaging, a mobile banking application and its mobile Web site, mobile.usaa.com.