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Payment services like Venmo and Square Cash have enjoyed lots of attention from the younger set. Now there's a new option that's making a pitch for everyone else.
This new peer-to-peer service called Zelle officially launched Monday. Zelle will integrate directly into dozens of mobile banking apps, allowing people to send and request money using their checking accounts for free. A standalone Zelle app will be coming later this year. As an added benefit, funds sent using Zelle will become available to the recipient to spend within minutes.
Thanks to Zelle's pedigree -- it was developed by bank-owned consortium Early Warning -- the service will be available soon to 86 million people in the US. The service will eventually become available through 30 financial institutions in the country.
The service joins a crowded field of competitors looking to power new ways of exchanging money. Venmo, owned by PayPal, has become the early standout in peer-to-peer payments. The social network and payments hybrid has gained a loyal following from younger people looking for easier ways to split a dinner tab or pay for rent. Apple jumped in last week, by unveiling its new payments service using Apple Pay and iMessage texts.
The promise from all these services is to make paying for just about anything much easier and safer than cash or checks, potentially bringing on a future when no one walks around with cash, or even a wallet. Still, people have stuck with traditional cash because it's remained reliable for centuries and never runs out of batteries.
"We welcome any development that helps people address the awkwardness of dealing with cash when paying friends or family back," Venmo spokesman Josh Criscoe said in a statement about Zelle.
Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay and their competitors are likely hoping to not only kill off cash, but grow into critical facets of people's financial lives, helping them also buy items in stores or pay bills online. Because those activities are so critical to banks, it makes sense these companies would eventually come out with their own peer-to-peer service to prevent Silicon Valley from taking over yet another industry.
Payment services like Venmo and Square Cash have enjoyed lots of attention from the younger set. Now there's a new option that's making a pitch for everyone else.
This new peer-to-peer service called Zelle officially launched Monday. Zelle will integrate directly into dozens of mobile banking apps, allowing people to send and request money using their checking accounts for free. A standalone Zelle app will be coming later this year. As an added benefit, funds sent using Zelle will become available to the recipient to spend within minutes.
Thanks to Zelle's pedigree -- it was developed by bank-owned consortium Early Warning -- the service will be available soon to 86 million people in the US. The service will eventually become available through 30 financial institutions in the country.
The service joins a crowded field of competitors looking to power new ways of exchanging money. Venmo, owned by PayPal, has become the early standout in peer-to-peer payments. The social network and payments hybrid has gained a loyal following from younger people looking for easier ways to split a dinner tab or pay for rent. Apple jumped in last week, by unveiling its new payments service using Apple Pay and iMessage texts.
The promise from all these services is to make paying for just about anything much easier and safer than cash or checks, potentially bringing on a future when no one walks around with cash, or even a wallet. Still, people have stuck with traditional cash because it's remained reliable for centuries and never runs out of batteries.
"We welcome any development that helps people address the awkwardness of dealing with cash when paying friends or family back," Venmo spokesman Josh Criscoe said in a statement about Zelle.
Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay and their competitors are likely hoping to not only kill off cash, but grow into critical facets of people's financial lives, helping them also buy items in stores or pay bills online. Because those activities are so critical to banks, it makes sense these companies would eventually come out with their own peer-to-peer service to prevent Silicon Valley from taking over yet another industry.
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