Lloyds Banking App - Cheque deposit problem

dosh37

I recently installed the Lloyds Banking App on my phone so I could deposit a cheque without having to visit the bank.

I thought it would be quick and easy. NOT!

The phone is a Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro running MIUI 12.x, not that it should make any difference.

The app requests that you point the phone camera at the cheque using a plain dark background.

It doesn't use the standard camera app to take a photo. Instead it captures the image itself.

I assume it uses OCR software to subsequently process the image.

According to the instructions, you are supoposed to position the camera so that the edges of the cheque are inside an on-screen rectangle.

In my case the cheque was not normal size - it was about A5 (landscape format).

You don't actually tap on a 'shutter' button. Instead the app itself decides when to capture the image.

While you fiddle around attempting to position the image, the app displays usless messages such as...

Move Left, Move Right, Move Up, Move Down etc.

These messages are ambiguous: Left, Right, Up, Down depends on how you are holding the phone! Should you hold the phone in portrait format or turn it sidways and hold it in landscape format? Does 'Move Up' actually mean move the camera further away from the subject?

If the app fails to capture the image, it gives no feedback as to why.

Is there insufficient light? Is the image not in focus? Is it too small? Is there too much camera shake? Is the paper not exactly parallel to the plane of the sensor?

After trying different positions, different lighting, trying to steady the camera against a tripod etc., the app sometimes appears to capture an image but then the app displays a message to the effect that the result is unreadable! I made dozens of attempts without success.

Eventually it managed to capture something - although only if the top and bottom edges of the cheque were outside the 'viewfinder rectangle'.

It would have been quicker to have walked the 2 miles to the local Lloyds branch!

Am I doing something wrong or is this one of the worst, clumsy user interfaces ever devised?

I get the impression it was thrown together by a 12 year old who didn't bother having it tested by real users.

LillythePink

It just takes a bit of time to get used to.  I use it frequently and find it ok although the thing to watch is if you have multiple accounts say in different names (I have one for my daughter on there) it defaults to the first account and if you have to retake the picture sometimes, the account defaults back to the first one which may not be yours so just review all the information before you press deposit (i've had two cheques unpaid because of this and i didn't notice)

It's best against a dark background with not a lot of light behind you - shadows can form because of sunlight, ceiling lights etc.  It should also have the green "edges" that you position the cheque in - as i said, it just takes a bit of getting used to and a steady hand.

I've not had to go to the trouble of using a tripod but it was frustrating the first few times.  If the cheque is not a standard size then you probably will have had issues but as long as the picture taken is readable then it should be fine.

The only thing i haven't found as yet, is the deposit limit but i know it exists as it wouldn't bank one cheque i had but I can't remember the amount but it was over £600 and it was rejected.

veryintrigued

The only thing i haven't found as yet, is the deposit limit but i know it exists as it wouldn't bank one cheque i had but I can't remember the amount but it was over £600 and it was rejected.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6221458/list-of-bank-building-society-app-cheque-deposit-limits/p1

trickydicky14

I use a few bank to deposit cheques via apps, the one thing I find an issue is when you are asked to take a photo of the back of the cheque as well, often being blank the phone has a problem focusing. What I do is to put a cross on the back with a pencil and that helps.

dpjs

This sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. The main problem is the lack of feedback on why something hasn't worked. Even when the cheque images are clear, focused, with all corners of the cheque in view, the app can say (repeatedly!) that "we couldn't read some of the information we need" even though to a human eye it is perfectly clear and readable. I have just tried 8 times to pay a cheque via the Lloyds app, and once into the Bank of Scotland app (which uses the same photo capture software) and it was rejected every time. This took the best part of an hour, and the upshot is I just won't bother trying again as this success rate is deeply frustrating. I have to say that the images that the app takes (on a Samsung S10 phone) look okay when you decide to "Use" or "Reject" an image, but when you examine them in the Confirm stage, the stored images are distorted, with the aspect ratio having a greatly exaggerated horizontal width. As with many other things, "progress" is taking us backwards in terms of usability and wasting the user's time. Luckily we have a BoS mobile Bank in the village tomorrow, so it's back to 50's technology to get this cheque paid in.

Rob5342

The Starling one is much nicer, you just position the cheque inside the box and press the shutter button.  

A cheque is landscape so holding the phone in landscape orientation makes sense.

TheBanker

dpjs said:

This sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. The main problem is the lack of feedback on why something hasn't worked. Even when the cheque images are clear, focused, with all corners of the cheque in view, the app can say (repeatedly!) that "we couldn't read some of the information we need" even though to a human eye it is perfectly clear and readable. I have just tried 8 times to pay a cheque via the Lloyds app, and once into the Bank of Scotland app (which uses the same photo capture software) and it was rejected every time. This took the best part of an hour, and the upshot is I just won't bother trying again as this success rate is deeply frustrating. I have to say that the images that the app takes (on a Samsung S10 phone) look okay when you decide to "Use" or "Reject" an image, but when you examine them in the Confirm stage, the stored images are distorted, with the aspect ratio having a greatly exaggerated horizontal width. As with many other things, "progress" is taking us backwards in terms of usability and wasting the user's time. Luckily we have a BoS mobile Bank in the village tomorrow, so it's back to 50's technology to get this cheque paid in.

It's not the banking app that's '50s technology. It's the method of payment - and it's from the 1850s at that!

If you want progress, then why not use a modern payment method such as Faster Payments?

Rob5342

TheBanker said:

dpjs said:

This sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. The main problem is the lack of feedback on why something hasn't worked. Even when the cheque images are clear, focused, with all corners of the cheque in view, the app can say (repeatedly!) that "we couldn't read some of the information we need" even though to a human eye it is perfectly clear and readable. I have just tried 8 times to pay a cheque via the Lloyds app, and once into the Bank of Scotland app (which uses the same photo capture software) and it was rejected every time. This took the best part of an hour, and the upshot is I just won't bother trying again as this success rate is deeply frustrating. I have to say that the images that the app takes (on a Samsung S10 phone) look okay when you decide to "Use" or "Reject" an image, but when you examine them in the Confirm stage, the stored images are distorted, with the aspect ratio having a greatly exaggerated horizontal width. As with many other things, "progress" is taking us backwards in terms of usability and wasting the user's time. Luckily we have a BoS mobile Bank in the village tomorrow, so it's back to 50's technology to get this cheque paid in.

It's not the banking app that's '50s technology. It's the method of payment - and it's from the 1850s at that!

If you want progress, then why not use a modern payment method such as Faster Payments?

It tends to be those sending payments that want to use cheques rather than those receiving them. I had a refund from a Nationwide crdit card that I closed and they insisted on sending a cheque instead of doing a bank transfer.