The BoA app on my android phone dies not read the amount. I have to enter it manually.
The app on your phone may not read the amount (though technically the app on your phone probably doesn’t read anything), but behind the scenes it probably is. For the deposit by phone app I worked on we read the amount but still just asked the user to enter the amount.
Disagreement between what the OCR thought it said and what the user said it said was one of the things that could kick it out for manual review.
Can’t speak for BofA’s back end so maybe it doesn’t, but I’d be a bit surprised.
I concur with Dewey that a human may verify checks with a manually entered amount, and possibly a sample of machine read to detect malfunctions. However, I do not believe it would be cost effective to do it in real time, but rather saved for when the ATM is emptied or at some other convenient time when the checks can be verified all at once.
If it is a modern ATM, it doesn’t matter in the slightest when the ATM is emptied. As soon as it is scanned that image becomes the official instrument and is transmitted electronically. The bank could forget about that ATM and never service it again and the check will still get processed. Once it is converted to a digital file it is just as official as the paper check (this is why, when you use a remote deposit app, after you take the pictures it just tells you to dispose of the check, the bank doesn’t ever need to get the paper).
That image may get shunted into a manual queue but it would be a pretty bizarre circumstance that would ever result in tracking down the physical paper check to confirm against that.
What’s the human reader’s error rate, though?
I don’t know, but they do give you the opportunity to review and correct the amount before you accept the deposit. Contrast that with a human teller, where you normally can’t see what numbers they enter when you deposit a check (actually, I guess most banks still use deposit slips, so if her numbers don’t match yours there’s a recheck. Citibank no longer uses deposit slips for most transactions).
BTW, I had one of my rent checks that was scanned incorrectly. I noticed while going through my account. Accidentally, my 5xx looked more like 6xx, and they had removed $100 more from my account. I flagged it right away and sent an email. Also, since the check was scanned, I pointed out that the printed part said “five hundred” pretty clearly, and not “six hundred”. Another reason to write out the amount in that line. 
OTOH, I’m sure nothing would’ve been done had I not noticed, as this was just me being curious and doing my monthly check, so it was about a week AFTER I had paid that rent check.
My bank, PNC, just overhauled its ATMs to do this. You don’t even need an envelope; you just feed the check itself through a slot. You also don’t need to tell the machine what the amount of the check is - it scans the check, shows you an image of it, tells you how much the check is for and asks if you agree, then offers you a receipt that either does or doesn’t show the image of the check. Pretty cool.
On the other hand, I hate having to input my PIN with every single transaction (cash withdrawal, check deposit, account balance, transfer of funds, etc.), over and over again, after inserting my ATM card once at the beginning.
The ones at SunTrust can almost never read my dad’s checks. I don’t know if it’s his handwriting (terrible) or the machines though. The last one I did was for $300, and it read it as $3! >:o
I think this is SOP for all ATMs. If you forget to exit after your last transaction, nobody else has access to your money (or can do anything else that could adversely affect your account).
Our ATMs used to give you a farewell message after you said you had no more transactions; then you’d have to reinsert your card if you changed your mind and wanted to do more. The new system is just annoying.
No, Citizens Bank ATMs in Pittsburgh, at least, don’t have that annoying behavior. Some were recently upgraded to scan checks; others haven’t been. But they all let you do any number of transactions without reentering your PIN.
Our also keep your bank card until you say you’re done. One recent change: if you use the “quick cash” option, which implies you won’t be doing further transactions, it now returns your card before dispensing cash. Used to be the other way around, and some people would get their cash and walk off without their cards (despite the take-your-card beeping).
I prefer it the other way around most of the time. But then I rarely do more than one transaction at a time.
If they give me my card back before they give me my information (or money) then I more likely to remember to stay for the money/information than I am when they give me the information/money first and I have to remember to wait for the card.
Lifetime tally: 4 times forgetting a card at an ATM. 1 time forgetting the money.
That’s how PNC’s ATMs used to work. I far preferred it.