Having a Capital One 360 Checking Account opens a lot of benefits to the lucky owner. Despite its annoying ads everywhere, Capital One is really good. The bank combines all the benefits of big banks and online only banks. I am not talking about standard features like Mobile Check Deposit, Zelle, Bill Pay, 360 Performance Saving account with 0.8% APY, earning small interest on your checking account balance. The most valuable benefits are the following.

Huge network of ATM’s

Capital One has its own ATMs where you can deposit and withdraw cash. However, Capital One Debit Card allows you to take money from more than 70,000 fee free ATMs that are part of MoneyPass and Allpoint ATM networks. You can find these ATMs in stores like Target, Walgreens, and CVS. These ATMs are good for withdrawing cash. Next, read about free cash deposits.

Free cash deposits at CVS is a valuable benefit of Capital One 360 account

Capital One has its own ATMs, where you can deposit and withdraw cash. Number of these ATMs is limited. How can you put cash into your 360 checking account?

Little known benefit of the Capital One 360 account is free cash deposits at CVS Pharmacy. Many other online-only banks like Current Bank, Spruce by HR Block allow you to deposit cash at CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, 7-Eleven and other retail stores. But you have to pay a fee, which is high and you are limited to $500 per deposit.

Making the deposit at CVS with Capital One is simple. Take your Capital One Mobile phone and go to the store. Open the Capital One mobile app and generate the barcode to deposit. Barcode expires within 30 minutes, so you want to have everything ready before you generate the code. Let the cashier scan the code and give money. Funds should be available on your balance in a moment.

Easy approval for Capital One Credit Cards like Quicksilver

Originally I wanted to get a Capital One credit card with a signup bonus. Capital One was not able to approve me instantly and requested additional information about my income. The procedure for sending proof of income felt long and complicated, so I abandoned the idea. After some time I opened the Capital One 360 checking account. Surprisingly I got an offer to apply for a Capital One Quicksilver credit card and this time approval was instant. So if you want to increase chances of being approved for a Capital One credit card, you can start with their checking account.

Unlimited Virtual Credit Cards with Capital One account

Once you get the credit card, you will find another benefit. Capital One has one super cool feature that you cannot find at big banks. The feature is called Virtual Credit Card. It helps you to prevent your credit card from being stolen after online purchase. When you need to make a purchase, you use Capital One Browser extension that generates a virtual credit card number, expiration date, CVV on the fly. Then you can make a purchase online just like with a regular credit card. After you made the purchase you can delete the card number.

Accounts for kids

If you have a child that is old enough to have their own debit card, you can open a Money Teen Checking account that earns 0.1% APY. Your child will get a Debit Card. What is even cooler is that you can open a Kids Savings Account with 0.3% APY. It is a high yield savings account that pays interest every month. That is definitely something to brag about.

Less know benefit is Capital One Creditwise that helps to track your credit score.

Overall, Capital One is my favorite bank because it has everything you could possible need under the same account.

When you receive a paper check, you need to deposit it to your checking account. Today mobile deposit of a paper check doesn’t take much time. Here is how you can deposit check with your phone. Most big banks make such a deposit quickly.

In a good old days to cash the check you had to visit a Wells Fargo branch and ask teller to deposit it to your account. Alternatively you could mail the check to Wells Fargo and they’ll deposit check for you. Then some ATM’s offered to deposit checks like a cash.

The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21) was signed into law on October 28, 2003, and became effective on October 28, 2004.

In 2004 U.S. Congress passed a law called “Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act.” The recipient of the original paper check can make a digital copy of the original check as a substitute. It meant there is no need to handle the physical check and anyone can use computer scanner or smartphone to capture image of the check and deposit electronically. The process was also called “Remote Deposit.”

First check deposit using smartphone was offered in 2009 by Element Credit Union. In 2013 Wells Fargo and other 10% of US banks already adopted this handy feature. The following years more and more banks started offering the feature called Mobile Check Deposit aka Mobile Check Capture.

Wells Fargo check deposits rules

According to Wells Fargo Bank deposits made on business days by 9pm Pacific Time are typically available on the next business day. So deposits made on Monday are typically available on Tuesdays. Deposits made on weekends are often available on Tuesday’s.

Most of the time, when you deposit a check, a portion of the funds is made available to your account on the same day, with the remainder becoming available on the next business day.

Wells Fargo

However, some checks can take longer to process. It means that Wells Fargo can hold some of the mobile deposit a little longer. Usually Wells Fargo provides these details at the time of deposit or soon after.

There are few popular reasons for deposited check to be on hold.

• Insufficient funds can put the check on hold for up to 7 business days.
• Deposit of a check that was previously rejected due to insufficient funds.
• New customers can experience up to 30 days delay.
• Large deposits over $5,525 can put check on hold for up to 7 business days. Some part of the check can be released earlier.
• Frequent overdrafts can hold checks more often.

In my experience, checks on small denominations like $100 are deposited without any issues. However, check on a large amounts usually take more time than suggested by Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo has its limits on Mobile Deposits. By default daily limit is $5,000 and $15,000 every 30 days.

Type of the paper check also plays its role. Handwritten checks tend to take more time because there is more room for a mistake. If a letter or a number is hard to recognize, then check can take more time to clear. Also it is a good idea to double check the amount with originator of the check and that checking account has enough funds. Pre-printed checks take less time to process, because issuing bank already knows how much money to allocate for the check. Government checks like tax refund are super easy to deposit, because banks trust that IRS will be able to pay the amount.

Wells Fargo has 12,000 ATMs. ATM also known as Automatic Teller Machine is a cost efficient way to allow customers withdraw cash without in-person visit. However, when one person withdraws too much cash, others may not be able to get money too. That is why every Wells Fargo ATM has withdrawal limits, so that maximum number of customers can be satisfied. Wells Fargo allows to withdraw up to $1,000 per customer.

Another limit is set for Wells Fargo Debit Card. This limit is specific for every customer. When you are a new customer, your can withdraw $300 per day. However, after some time your withdrawal limit can increase. For example, my daily ATM withdrawal limit is $710.

The limit can be increased and decreased. You can call Wells Fargo customer support and ask the limit to be raised. However, decision depends on your eligibility.

How to find Wells Fargo ATM withdrawal limit?

You can find limit on cash withdrawals from your checking account using Wells Fargo Mobile application or using Wells Fargo website. Calling customer support is possible, but least convenient.

When you open Wells Fargo website and login, you can find page with your card details. To get to this page you have to first login to your bank account. Then select Accounts->Manage Cards->Turn card on or off. On the “Card Controls” page click on “Card Details.”

You can watch more detailed instructions in the following video.

If you are on your mobile phone, then on your mobile phone, after you open Wells Fargo App, tap on your checking account. Then tap on “Manage Account”, then tap on “Turn card on or off” and on Card Controls screen screen scroll down and tap on “Card Details”. On the “Card details” screen you can find your “Daily ATM withdrawal limit.

Here is how you can withdraw cash from Wells Fargo ATM

Wells Fargo is not the best bank for active ATM users. If you withdraw money from your debit card often, then you may find other ATM cards more useful. For example, Chime bank allows you to withdraw cash at two large networks of ATMs: MoneyPass and AllPoint.

Cash deposit to your Capital One 360 checking account is a very cool perk. It is something people miss in online-only banks and appreciate in big banks. Although Capital One is not an as big bank as Bank Of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo, it beats them in this regard. It has this very unique feature. For people who want to add cash to the Capital One Checking Account and don’t want to visit a bank branch it can be a game changer.

Cash deposit on debit cards in retail stores is a well known feature. It is available through Green Dot network or Vanilla Reload. All you have to do is take your eligible debit card, up to $500 and visit participating retail locations like Walgreens, 7-Eleven, CVS Pharmacy and some other stores. In the store, ask the cashier at the register to deposit cash to your reloadable debit card. It can cost you a fee up to $5.

Free cash deposit at CVS Pharmacy

Capital One in partnership with CVS now allows cash deposits to your 360 Checking account at the register. And all you have to do is:

1. Take your phone and use Capital One mobile app.
2. Generate a special barcode.
3. Go to the store and ask the cashier to deposit cash.
4. Let the cashier scan the barcode.
5. Keep in mind, that barcode is valid for 30 minutes. So don’t generate code before you are ready to make the deposit.
6. Give cash to the cashier and money should be available within a few minutes.

The limit on deposit is $999 per day and 5 transactions per month. And the deposit is free, so you don’t need to pay any fee. I’ve tried this cash deposit and it was very easy.

On the other hand if you prefer Walgreens as a place deposit cash, you may want to open an account in Chime Bank with a debit card. Chime allows you to deposit up to $500 per deposit without any fee. The total limit is $1,000 per day. Using Chime Debit Card you can deposit cash at other retail stores, but it will cost you a fee.

I believe free deposits at the Register is going to be more popular among other banks.

Debit Cards that are offered by fintech companies are often have lots of cool features. I have more than 10 debit cards and mobile only banks rock it. That is why when I heard about new debit card offered by well known HR Block I was eager to apply. I expected it would be similar to debit cards from other fintech companies like Chime and Current Bank.

My expectations were not realized. And, to be honest, the Spruce Debit Card is a massive disappointment. Even if you like HR Block, Spruce isn’t the right fit for you. Other debit cards and banks can provide you a variety of benefits. Let’s go over all of my complaints one by one.

Transfer money

You must be able to transfer money between a Spruce spending account and an external bank account using ACH transfer. In contrast, the only thing you can do is move money from other banks. You can pull money from an external bank account. Just link the bank and make the transfer. However, when you want to move money back to the external account you can’t. It looks like an attempt to retain disappointed customers from leaving. Hoping being unable to withdraw money they’ll stay.

Deposit paper check

You cannot deposit paper checks using the mobile check deposit feature. Spruce hasn’t implemented this functionality yet. Majority of other banks allow you to deposit checks this way.

You cannot send checks from your Spruce Account. Functionality for paying bills is not implemented yet. In the Spruce Mobile App it is show that Spruce plans this feature.

Why Spruce launched debit card without these essential features? Mobile Check Deposit and Send bills is a “Must Have” for any fintech application.

Deposit cash at the Register

It is great that Spruce Debit Card allows you to deposit cash at the register at retail locations. But even here Spruce managed to screw things up with a fee of up to $4.95 for each deposit. This fee depends on funds transfer providers like Vanilla.atRegister, GreenDot, Moneygram or Walmart. Each deposit is limited to $500 per deposit, $1,000 daily, and $9,500 monthly.

ATM withdrawals are free when you use Allpoint ATMs. If you use ATMs that are not in the Allpoint network, Spruce charges a $3 fee plus the ATM by itself can charge you a service fee. In contrast, other banks like Chime offer you Allpoint and MoneyPass networks free of charge. Charles Shwab Debit Card doesn’t charge you a fee at any ATM around the world and even provides rebates for the charges inquired by ATMs.

You can set up a direct deposit of your salary to your Spruce account. This way your paycheck should hit your balance the night before your payday. Here Spruce also failed my expectations. You can download a form for direct deposit or use routing number and account number to set it up manually. Other fintech apps like Chime allow you to set up direct deposit automatically using Atomic, which simplifies the process.

The Spruce Savings Account is miserable. Majority of fintech companies pay little interest like half percent every month. Some banks like Current Bank go as far as to pay 4% interest. Others, like Netspend, pay 5% if you receive a $1,000 direct deposit every month. Spruce pays no interest at all.

As a conclusion, having a Spruce Debit Card makes no sense to the majority of customers. It is too early to even consider, since its implementation is very raw.

Online-only banks and mobile-only banks like Current Bank became lifesavers for customers with low balances. Having a debit card with access to a large number of ATMs is handy. Big banks require people to maintain a minimum balance or reliably earn money to avoid monthly fees. It isn’t always easy. It may seem that folks who can afford keeping a higher balance are not going to benefit from banks like Current.

Current bank savings account

The first benefit that Current Bank offers is a high-yield saving account. Current Debit Card calls it a “Savings pod”. As of June 2022, it pays 4% APY on balances up to $2,000. And you can have up to 3 Savings Pods.

The average yield on savings accounts in the USA is 0.06%. Usually, high-yield savings accounts pay something around 0.5%. In this context, 4% is a decent APY and there are no additional requirements. Chime bank requires you to receive a direct deposit of $1,000 per month to get 5% APY.

The unique feature of the “Savings Pod” is that it pays interest daily. Most savings accounts on the market pay interest monthly. Seeing 20 cents being deposited to your savings account every day makes the process of savings more visible.

Teens Checking account

The second benefit is a Teens Checking account that you can open for your child. You can have up to 2 kids. This is a very nice addition to your Current Bank. Keep in mind, that banks like Capital One and Chase offer teen accounts as well.

Savings Pod and Teens Debit Card are the only original features of Current Bank. Yes, it offers 40,000 fee-free AllPoint ATMs. Using a Current Debit Card you can withdraw up to $500 per day. It doesn’t give access to MoneyPass ATMs like Chime bank.

Current Bank allows you to deposit cash at retail stores using “Vanilla.Reload” network. It charges you a $3.5 fee per deposit. Each deposit is limited to $500, and the total limit is $1,000 per day. The monthly limit is $10,000. You can find more details on how to load your Current Bank Debit Card. Chime and Capital One offer free deposits at selected stores like Walgreens (Chime) and CVS Pharmacy (Capital One).

Current Bank limits

There is a $10,000 limit on the balance of your checking account. This may be an important limit for high earners.

The bottom line is Current Debit Card is a good option to earn 4% APY on your savings or to make a debit card for your kids.