IH Mississippi Valley unveils ‘No Envelope ATM’

By Jennifer DeWitt | Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Customers using one of IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union’s ATMs no longer will fumble around with an envelope to make a deposit.

That’s because the Moline-based credit union has installed what it says is the Quad-City area’s first “No Envelope ATM.’’

Located at IH Mississippi Valley’s corporate offices at 2121 47th St., Moline, the new ATM allows a depositor to insert checks and cash directly into the machine. A second machine will be installed later this month at the credit union’s branch at 3646 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport.

The ATM, known as the NCR PS90e, can accept a stack of up to 40 bills at one time. Using facial recognition technology, the machine will sort and count the different denominations. It then gives the customer a detailed receipt indicating the amount of each denomination deposited.

If a customer is depositing a check, an image of the check appear on the ATM screen before the customer is asked to confirm the amount. The receipt then features an image of the check for better record keeping.

Laura Ernzen, the credit union’s vice president of marketing, said the financial institution believes customers will feel more confident making ATM deposits with the new technology, which until now has  been found mostly in the major financial markets.

She said it addresses issues common to all ATM depositories — including a jammed deposit area, depleted envelope supplies, mathematical mistakes and user errors. “Sometimes a customer will seal an envelope and forget how much the check was for. Then we have errors and they’ll have to go through and reconcile it.”

Although any new technology has a learning curve, Ernzen said the credit union’s first “No Envelope” ATM has been well accepted since it was installed last month. “It’s pretty straight forward,” she said.

The ATM is available to all ATM customers, not just credit union members.

Ernzen expects the new technology will increase the number of deposits made through ATMs.

IH Mississippi Valley will consider installing the new machines as its ATMs come up for scheduled replacement, she said. “We have to weigh if it is worth the price, if the ATM is one predominantly used for withdrawals (and not deposits).”

Ernzen said the PS90e machines are more expensive than traditional ATMs. However, she would not disclose the price.

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at  qctimes.com.