We have the following statement in our procedure manual under the restrictive endorsement section:

"If the payee should later decide to cash the item containing this endorsement, they can cross out the restrictive endorsement and sign the item."

Really?? This seems risky, especially when you consider 'for mobile deposit only' a restrictive endorsement. Maybe it's old information or maybe I'm just unaware....

Yes, it can be risky, so a bank that allows the indorser to line out the restrictive language and cash the check as if it carried only the indorser's signature (a blank indorsement) should be confident that it knows the individual and his intention.

That does seem to conflict with the recent concern that any check that's mobile deposited carry a restrictive indorsement like "mobile deposit only." But remember that a bank that receives such a check for an in-person deposit doesn't have to accept it. It can still refuse to accept the check for deposit. In fact, it has that right even if the restrictive indorsement wasn't there in the first place.

It would seem smart for a bank to train its tellers that a lined-through mobile deposit restrictive indorsement isn't any more acceptable than a check with a mobile deposit restrictive indorsement that's still intact.

I agree with John. To expand, there really is nothing that prevents you from accepting this check other than if it was previously deposited, you won't have rights. In other words, this is a risk decision (as you previously noted). If the check is $5 to grandma, this risk is going to be significantly different than a $5,000 check to grandson. Therefore, I would want the procedure you quoted to require a decision by management before the check will be deposited and not just allow the font-line to make the decision.

Another option could be to eliminate the procedure altogether, but IMHO there could be legitimate circumstances where a customer initially tried to deposit a check through mobile deposit but was unable to do so (such as a dead phone or out-of-date app) and comes into a branch to deposit the item. Therefore, I'm a proponent of procedures that escalate these situations to management for a risk decision.