When Paul’s wife brought a small check to deposit at a Chase bank ATM, she didn’t expect to have the machine spit it back out. Deposits, you see, have a $15 minimum. Wait, isn’t that the point of using an ATM to deposit checks – not having to waste a teller’s time on an $8 transaction?

My wife tried to deposit an $8 check into a Chase ATM, and the ATM
would NOT accept the transaction because it said the amount was too
small, below $15.

I have never heard of this, nor encountered this before, as I have
deposited small rebate checks before with no problem.

She said the ATM offered her the option to insert another check or
cash in order to reach the minimum.

It did return the check when she declined.

How common is this and when did this start?

That’s where you, the Consumerist Hive Mind come in. Have you encountered this problem at Chase or other banks? This doesn’t make a lot of sense–one would think the bank would rather have the robo-teller process little checks so you never have to take up a human’s valuable time.

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