System and method for storefront bank deposits

A third party facilitator system for assisting a remote deposit transaction for a financial instrument between a stand-alone kiosk of a remote deposit system and any of a plurality of unrelated financial institutions, the third party facilitator system comprising:

• a memory device associated with the third party facilitator system containing financial institution information, including communication path information, for the plurality of unrelated financial institutions;
• and
• a processor in communication with the memory device, the processor configured to:
• receive a communication from the stand-alone kiosk of the remote deposit system requesting financial institution information from the memory device, the communication including identification information pertaining to a particular financial institution of the plurality of unrelated financial institutions;
• based on the received identification information, determine the financial institution information pertaining to the particular financial institution, the financial institution information including communication path information for submitting remote deposits to the particular financial institution;
• and
• transmit the determined financial institution information pertaining to the identification information to the stand-alone kiosk of the remote deposit system from the third party facilitator system, wherein the determined financial institution information comprises information on a direct communication path from the stand-alone kiosk of the remote deposit system to the particular financial institution, wherein the direct communication path does not include the third party facilitator system.

A remote deposit system for depositing financial instruments with an unrelated financial institution, the remote deposit system comprising:

• a stand-alone kiosk having:
• a user interface configured to receive user information;
• a financial instrument scanner;
• a communication interface configured to communicate with the financial institution;
• and
• a processor, wherein the processor is configured to:
• receive account holder information for an account holder of the financial institution via the user interface;
• transmit a financial institution information query to a third party facilitator system over a first communication path, wherein the financial institution information query includes the received account holder information, the financial institution information query requesting identification of a second communication path from the stand-alone kiosk to the unrelated financial institution of the account holder;
• in response to the transmitted query, receive financial institution information from the third party facilitator system, including the second communication path, the second communication path comprising a direct communication path from the stand-alone kiosk to the unrelated financial institution of the account holder not including the third party facilitator system;
• transmit account holder information to the unrelated financial institution of the account holder over the second communication path using the received financial institution information;
• scan a financial instrument with the financial instrument scanner to obtain scan data and submit the scan data to the unrelated financial institution for deposit;
• and
• transmit a transaction identifier to the third party facilitator system, wherein the transaction identifier includes information pertaining to a completed deposit transaction between the stand-alone kiosk and the unrelated financial institution.