Large and mid-sized banks across the country are investing in automated telling machines that allow customers to receive photocopied proof of check deposits.

This is really just an extension of what some small business owners have been doing for years. Clark recalls manually photocopying every check in his travel agency days before making a deposit at the bank. That way he was protected if the bank tried to say he did not make a deposit he knew he did.

It was actually Fidelity Investments that pioneered the idea of ATMs giving photocopies of checks.

And under the new Check 21 rules, one additional benefit of these new ATMs is that you'll likely get credit for a deposit one day sooner than before.

Yet this all begs the question: Why are banks spending money on purchasing and installing these fancy devices? Simply put, they save a fortune by eliminating labor costs involved in manual check processing. The payback period on these machines is 14 months, according to The Boston Globe.

In another banking trend, some smaller institutions let you make deposits from home by scanning your check and then e-mailing it. That's exactly how Clark's brother in Phoenix does his banking with San Antonio-based USAA.