# Remote Deposit Capture Controls for Scanned Checks

- Author: PreciseBankFlow (https://precisebankflow.com)
- Published: 2026-10-17
- Category: Internal controls over cash
- Canonical: https://precisebankflow.com/blog/remote-deposit-capture-controls

> Remote deposit capture controls: who scans, storing and destroying checks, duplicate presentment risk and reconciling captured deposits to the bank.
Remote deposit capture controls keep office-scanned checks safe from the moment they arrive to the day they are shredded. They cover who may scan, how each batch is logged, where originals are locked and for how long, how to stop the same check being deposited twice, and how every scanned batch is matched to the bank's credit.

## What risks do remote deposit capture controls address?

Remote deposit capture, often shortened to RDC, lets a business scan checks on an office scanner or phone and send the images to its bank instead of carrying paper to a branch. The controls address what the branch used to handle: someone else seeing the deposit, the paper check leaving the company's hands, and a teller noticing a problem.

### What changes when the branch drops out

With a branch deposit, the bank receives the physical check and the company keeps only a deposit slip. With RDC, the company sends a picture and keeps the original. The bank processes the image electronically. The Federal Reserve's [consumer guide to Check 21 and substitute checks](https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/regcc-faq-check21.htm) explains that banks can capture a picture of the front and back of a check and, if paper is needed later, print a substitute check from that image that is the legal equivalent of the original.

That leaves the company holding a check that has already been deposited. The paper is still negotiable to anyone who presents it again. Every remote deposit capture control traces back to that fact.

### The main risks

- **Duplicate deposits.** The same check is scanned twice, deposited by RDC and then again at a branch, or deposited at two banks.
- **Theft of originals.** A stored check can be taken and cashed elsewhere.
- **Diverted receipts.** The person scanning can leave a check out of the batch and keep it.
- **Lost data.** Images and stored checks carry account and routing numbers of the company's customers.
- **Unmatched credits.** A batch the bank rejects, adjusts or splits can go unnoticed if nobody ties it to the books.

Banks also expect the company to manage risk on its own premises. In its [letter to banks on FFIEC remote deposit capture guidance](https://www.fdic.gov/news/financial-institution-letters/2009/fil09004.html), the FDIC tells institutions to require adequate risk management at customer locations, including controls over the personal information customers retain.

## Who should scan checks for remote deposit capture?

The person who scans checks should not also record the receipts in the books or reconcile the bank account. Scanning is custody of cash. Combining it with recording lets one person drop a check from the batch and make the ledger agree. In a small office, a second person who logs the mail can provide the independent count instead.

### Separate the log from the scan

The cleanest setup has one person open the mail and list every check on a receipts log: date, payer, check number and amount. A second person scans the checks. The log total and the scanned batch total are compared before the batch is submitted. A third person, or the owner, later compares both with the bank credit.

### Limit who can submit

Most RDC systems let the company choose which online banking users can capture and submit deposits. Give the scanning role only to the people who need it, and do not give it to anyone who approves payments. The broader rules for roles in online banking are in [setting online banking user permissions](/blog/online-banking-user-permissions).

### Lock the scanner and the app

A desk scanner tied to the bank's software, or a phone app logged in to the company account, is a deposit channel. Keep scanners in a controlled area, require individual logins and turn off mobile deposit on the business account for users who do not need it.

## Storing and destroying scanned checks after remote deposit

After a check is scanned and the bank accepts it, keep the original locked for a set period, then destroy it by cross-cut shredding with a record of what was destroyed. The retention period comes from the bank's RDC agreement, which usually states how long originals must be kept and how they must be destroyed.

### Mark the check as scanned

Some scanners print an endorsement or mark on the check as it is captured. If yours does not, stamp the back with "electronically deposited" and the date immediately after scanning. A marked check is harder to deposit again by mistake and less attractive to steal.

### Keep it locked, not in a desk tray

Store scanned checks in a locked box or cabinet, filed by batch date. The person who scans should not hold the only key. A rubber band around a stack in a drawer is how originals walk out of an office.

### Destroy on a schedule

When the retention period ends, two people pull the batches due for destruction, confirm they match the batch list, and shred them. Record the batch dates, the number of checks and both names. Do not throw unshredded checks into general recycling.

### Keep the images

Images and batch reports from the RDC system stay with the company's deposit records after the paper is gone. Most systems keep them online for a period too. Download what you need for your own retention policy before the bank's window closes.

## Duplicate presentment of remotely deposited checks

Duplicate presentment means the same check is deposited more than once, whether by scanning it twice, depositing it by RDC and again at a branch, or sending it to two banks. The company that deposits a check twice owes the money back, usually through a returned item and a fee. Fraudsters use the same gap on purpose.

### How it happens by accident

- The scanner jams and the batch is rescanned, but part of the first batch had already gone through.
- A check is scanned, then the original is taken to the branch with other paper deposits.
- A customer pays by check and then pays again by card, and both are deposited.
- Two staff members each think the other forgot the check and both scan it.

### Controls that stop it

1. **Mark checks at the moment of scanning**, so a second person can see it has been deposited.
2. **Separate scanned and unscanned checks physically**, in different trays or envelopes.
3. **Review the RDC system's duplicate warnings.** Many systems flag a check whose number, amount and account match an earlier deposit. Do not override the warning without checking the earlier batch.
4. **Never take a scanned original to a branch.** If a check needs to be deposited in person after the bank rejected the image, write that on the batch record.

### Catching duplicates after the fact

Some duplicates slip through and show up later as returned items. Search the bank statement and the receipts ledger for the same payer, amount and check number in two places. [PreciseBankFlow](/) flags lines with the same payee and amount on close dates as possible duplicates, which gives the reviewer a short list to confirm against the batch records.

## Reconciling remote deposit capture batches to the bank statement

Every RDC batch should match a bank credit for the same total, usually on the same or next business day. Compare the receipts log, the batch report and the bank statement line, in that order. Differences come from rejected images, bank adjustments and batches split across days, and each needs a note.

### A worked example

The table below shows one example week. All values are made up.

| Batch date | Checks logged | Log total | Batch submitted | Bank credit date | Bank credit | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Mon 10/05 | 6 | 4,812.50 | 4,812.50 | 10/05 | 4,812.50 | Matched |
| Tue 10/06 | 4 | 2,940.00 | 2,940.00 | 10/07 | 2,575.00 | Short 365.00: one check image rejected as unreadable |
| Wed 10/07 | 3 | 1,210.75 | 1,210.75 | 10/07 | 1,210.75 | Matched |
| Thu 10/08 | 1 | 365.00 | 365.00 | 10/08 | 365.00 | Matched: the rejected check, rescanned |
| Fri 10/09 | 5 | 3,006.20 | 3,371.20 | 10/09 | 3,371.20 | Over log by 365.00: the rejected check scanned a third time |

The Tuesday batch was short because the bank rejected one image. The staff member rescanned it Thursday, which was correct. On Friday someone scanned the same check again from the "to scan" tray. The log caught it, because Friday's log showed five checks and the batch showed six. Without the log comparison, the extra 365.00 would sit in the bank balance until the customer's bank returned it.

### What to do with each difference

- **Rejected image:** rescan once, note the new batch date, and keep the rejection notice.
- **Bank adjustment:** the bank may change an amount it read differently from what was entered. Compare the image with the logged amount and book the bank's figure if the bank is right.
- **Duplicate:** tell the bank, expect a return, and record both the deposit and the reversal so the books follow the bank.

### Related deposit channels

RDC is one of several ways money arrives without a teller. Peer-to-peer payments raise similar matching problems, and [reconciling Zelle payments](/blog/reconcile-zelle-payments) covers the same log, credit and ledger comparison for those.

## When remote deposit capture is the wrong tool for a business

Remote deposit capture is a poor fit when the business cannot separate scanning from recording, cannot store originals securely, or receives so many checks that a lockbox would cost less in staff time. It is also the wrong tool for checks that should never be in the office at all.

### Signs to choose something else

- **One person does everything.** If a single employee opens mail, scans, records and reconciles, branch deposits at least put a teller and a deposit receipt into the chain.
- **High volume.** A bank lockbox service receives payments directly at a bank-controlled address, so checks never pass through company hands.
- **Large individual checks.** Some RDC agreements cap item size or daily totals. Large checks may need to go to the branch anyway.
- **No secure storage.** A shared office with no locked cabinet makes stored originals a liability.

### Moving customers off checks

The strongest control over scanned checks is fewer checks. Inviting customers to pay by ACH or wire removes paper from the office. That shifts the risk to outgoing payment instructions, where controls like [a wire transfer approval process with callbacks](/blog/wire-transfer-approval-process) become the ones that matter.