Regions Bank made headlines last week when it announced it was introducing mobile remote deposit capture (RDC) for a — gasp! — fee. US Bank has offered the service for $0.50 per deposit for two years now. Last month, PNC Bank President William Demchak said the bank was considering charging for the service, after offering it for free. A PNC spokesman backpedaled later in the month, telling the Chicago Tribune that Demchak “was speaking only hypothetically given industry pressures.”

Obviously, most banks offer RDC at no charge. Yet, there’s no doubt that with bank profit margins so compressed, there is pressure to generate fee-based revenue. Might more banks start charging for RDC, a much-beloved service to customers?

Regions is charging $0.50 per deposit when the funds are unavailable to the consumer for two days, said Mel Campbell, a spokesperson with the bank. Same-day funds cost $3.00, and instant access costs 3% of the deposit total. “If you think about the $0.50 of mobile deposit,” Campbell told Bank Innovation, “it’s cheaper than going to the branch, with gas at, what, $3.50 a gallon?”

It’s cheaper for the bank, too — each mobile deposit saves the bank $3.88, according to Mitek. Certainly, there are development costs, as well as technology licensing costs, but it seems banks are already seeing improvements to the bottom line with increased mobile deposit adoption. So why risk alienating customers with these fees?

Some bankers themselves point out that FIs do not charge consumers for deposits made at the branch, despite the fact that those deposits cost the bank far more than RDC. Further, bankers say those banks that charge fees for RDC will kill their marketshare among Generation Y consumers.

RDC is certainly popular. Customers want it, and use it when they have it. Regions reported 250,000 downloads of its RDC-enabled app since its late March update, which introduced the feature.

Mark Schwanhausser, director of omnichannel services at Javelin, believes RDC’s popularity with consumers outweighs any fees associated with it. “I doubt many consumers will switch in great numbers because banking relationships typically are more complex and entrenched,” he said. “Consumers who use mobile deposit must ask themselves: ‘Is it worth switching banks over this convenience fee — which really translates to pennies in extra cost, and might even save me money when I factor the cost of gas and my time?'”

Other analysts are less optimistic about the future of fee-based RDC. “It reminds me of the early days of bill pay,” said David Albertazzi, senior analyst for Aite Group. “There was a long debate over whether to charge, and now everybody offers it for free. I think this debate [over charging for mobile deposit] will be much shorter.”

Mobile deposit has clear benefits for both financial institutions and customers, Albertazzi says. “It is sticky, it has an impact on adoption and customer retention. And it helps banks drive self-service features through the mobile channel.”

Albertazzi calls the move to charge per RDC unwise.

“Because of the eligibility requirements related to risk, customers using mobile deposit are already profitable customers,” he said. “It is likely that the bank is the PFI [primary financial institution] for those customers, so the revenue generated is not significant enough to expose the bank to bad feelings — and bad press.”