If you often deal with digital financial transactions in the States, know that Zelle is one of the most recent transfer systems that, using P2P technology, allows you to easily transfer sums of money to different accounts in a short time. If you are wondering how to use Zelle you are in the right place.
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Basic Infos
Zelle was launched in the US market in early 2017 and has evolved in just a few years to become one of the safest, fastest, and cheapest ways to send and receive money through bank accounts. The growth of this platform, considering the competition in this market, has been incredible.
As a whole, the Zelle ecosystem includes both a web portal and a dedicated mobile app. Zelle has a very important system behind her. In fact, the platform is owned by Early Warning Services, a consortium owned by some of the most important banks in America.
At the time of writing this article, there are more than 50 US banks supporting Zelle by integrating it into their internet banking scope. This way, Zelle users have the option to transact through the Zelle app or directly through the bank’s app.
How to Use Zelle
In order to start using Zelle, you will need to register first. Subscription to the service is free and you can do it directly from the app. If the recipient of your payment is already a Zelle user, the transaction will take place within a maximum of 5 minutes.
However, consider that if the recipient uses a bank that does not yet support Zelle, the transaction will be much slower, with semi-time (or sometimes even longer) than those to send money via the classic bank transfer.
If you want to send money to a person who has an account that is not integrated with Zelle, simply enter their email or phone number. At that point, the system will inform them of the payment by sending them a link, via SMS or email, through which they can accept the payment.
If, on the other hand, their bank is a Zelle partner, the integration between the platforms will greatly facilitate the transaction. In fact, all they have to do at that point to complete the transaction is open a Zelle account.
Once they have the account they will simply have to approve the transaction with one click and the money will be transferred within a couple of minutes.
Is There Any Transaction Fee?
As already mentioned, Zelle is owned by a banking syndicate. This means that Zelle has no transaction costs. Incredible right? This means that you will be able to send and receive money without applying additional costs. However, some banks charge extra for this type of transaction. So it will be best to check with the bank directly.
How much money I could transfer with Zelle?
Initially, Zelle decided to limit the transferable amount on a daily and monthly basis. This limitation, however, did not appeal to users very much, also considering that many other services allowed large transactions instead.
This led Zelle to change her policy. In fact, now Zelle has no maximum transfer limits. Leave this choice to individual partner banks. On the other hand, Zelle users whose banks are not part of the network can send up to $ 500 per week.
Pros & Cons
Among the most important benefits of transferring money using Zelle are:
- Well-built apps and web portals that are easy to use;
- No registration fees;
- No transaction fees;
- No minimum limit;
- Support from a network of reputable US banks.
On the other hand, there are some downsides to keep in mind:
- Without a checking account in a Zelle partner bank, you won’t be able to transfer your money instantly;
- Zelle only allows transactions in USD on US bank accounts. It won’t be useful for international transfers.
- Many banks exaggerate the Zelle transaction fees.
- While it is growing fast, it is still not supported by many shops and merchants
- And overall, there are no user protection mechanisms, as there are in PayPal.
Conclusions
Zelle is really a great idea that can aim to become a great service that you can’t do without. If your bank has made a deal with Zelle they have nothing to lose by trying it out. In fact, as already mentioned, registration is free and you can unsubscribe whenever you want.
On the other hand, although Zelle has grown a lot in recent years, it certainly cannot be said that it is conquering the market. Incidentally, for now, its procedures are tailored only for the United States.
Another big problem is related to the security of the transactions carried out. This is in fact a point on which developers will have to work hard to see Zelle among the leaders of this market in the coming years.
DONE!
