Zelle Is Shutting Down Its App (techcrunch.com) 18
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Zelle is shutting down its stand-alone app on Tuesday, according to a company blog post. This news might be alarming if you're one of the over 150 million customers in the U.S. who use Zelle for person-to-person payments. But only about 2% of transactions take place via Zelle's app, which is why the company is discontinuing its stand-alone app.
Most consumers access Zelle via their bank, which then allows them to send money to their phone contacts. Zelle users who relied on the stand-alone app will have to re-enroll in the service through another financial institution. Given the small user base of the Zelle app, it makes sense why the company would decide to get rid of it -- maintaining an app takes time and money, especially one where people's financial information is involved.
Most consumers access Zelle via their bank, which then allows them to send money to their phone contacts. Zelle users who relied on the stand-alone app will have to re-enroll in the service through another financial institution. Given the small user base of the Zelle app, it makes sense why the company would decide to get rid of it -- maintaining an app takes time and money, especially one where people's financial information is involved.
Didn't even know they had one (Score:2)
I've never used it outside of my bank. But then, I never knew they had an app. That might be part of the problem. Anyway, I'm not likely to miss an app I never used.
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Yep - it's funny how many of these "use our app" situations don't really do that much compared to browsers or embedded interfaces.
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LinkedIn is really, really agressive about using their app. Sorry guys I have no interest in downloading any "apps". I think the only apps I have installed that didn't come with my phone are the family messaging app we use, one of the major AI chat things, and my local public transit fare app thing. If I need your service I'll logon to your website. In incognito mode.
Because most banks wont let you use Zelle's app (Score:5, Interesting)
If your bank supports Zelle, you often can not use the Zelle app as Zelle app directs you to use your bank app.
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My primary bank is a credit union... (Score:1)
..and they do not support Zelle. Which I do not miss a bit.
I use other apps, not to be advertised here. And have not had trouble, mostly perhaps because I measure twice, cut once.
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Similar but reversed. My credit unions aren't part of Zelle, but some people don't use or won't use Venmo or Paypal FF. This removes one of the few free ways to transfer funds.
I used to be able to tie a debit card to Zelle. Now it's looking like I need to open yet another bank account (I've got four) to find one that offers Zelle built in. Zelle is a system built buy the banks, for the banks, and I understand why they're doing it, but I'm one of that 2% of users that is hit hard by their action.
Re: My primary bank is a credit union... (Score:2)
Our situations are the same. I use Venmo and PayPal and those offer apps.
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Ditto. This change means I won't be able to pay Zelle users. There are other services, so it's not the end of the world, but it makes Zelle all but impossible for me to use.
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Flamebait. Have you no imagination?
US banking is terrible. (Score:3)
Why is a third party tool needed anyway? From my UK bank website or app, I can use the bank's tools to make an immediate transfer.
My US bank: yes, I can either send a wire (takes probably a day, perhaps with a call to confirm and costs money), or, in some cases, I can "link" my account to another of my accounts and transfer via a ACH, which takes several days.
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Why is a third party tool needed anyway? From my UK bank website or app, I can use the bank's tools to make an immediate transfer.
My US bank: yes, I can either send a wire (takes probably a day, perhaps with a call to confirm and costs money), or, in some cases, I can "link" my account to another of my accounts and transfer via a ACH, which takes several days.
Because the UK government, like almost every other developed country (and most of the developing ones as well) legislated that banks had to provide use electronic interbank transfer system (commonly known as "faster payments" in the UK) that is free to the end users. The primary driver was to enable salaries be paid direct into bank accounts without cost or inconvenience to either the employee or employer.
The US is the only developed country that lacks such a system.
Won't Use Zelle (Score:2)
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I'm not trusting my financial transactions with a 3rd party like Zelle.
Zelle is from a company, owned by a bunch of banks, called Early Warning Services [earlywarning.com] -- which, frankly, should an early warning for the rest of us. :-) They are also behind the online checkout tech Paze [paze.com]. Personally, not a fan of them or the things they've done -- like automatically enrolling people in Paze, if you have an CC with one of these banks (see opt-out note below).
Anyway, from Investopedia [investopedia.com]:
Early Warning Services is fintech owned by seven major U.S. banks: Bank of America Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., PNC Financial Services Group, Truist Financial Corp., U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo & Co.. It also provides identity, authentication, and payment solutions [Paze], including Zelle, a money transfer app.
NerdWallet also has a good write up [nerdwallet.com] of them.
From Paze FAQ [paze.com]:
You will be able to opt-out of Paze at paze.com/optout [paze.com] after your participating bank or credit union has added your eligible card to the service. You will be informed when your bank or credit union has added your card.
Reason App Killed is Fraud/Scamming (Score:4, Insightful)
The reason the Zelle app was killed was fraud/scamming. Zelle has been under strong attack from some members of Congress because of so much fraud/scamming on the platform. So while only 2% of transaction volume happened on the app, a substantially higher percent of the fraud/scamming did.
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I've only heard of Zelle in the context of YouTube videos by people exposing scammers.
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I don't even understand the need for Zelle, and only ever saw it used by scammers when they connect to a victim's PC and instantly try to Zelle money from the victim's account. Doesn't America have an equivalent of "PayID" (transfer between accounts using an email, phone number, or business number as the destination)?
Zelle is one of the few free transfer services (Score:1)
Zelle and Venmo are the only free money transfer services I know about in the US that anyone can receive money on. Both are very convenient and I use both regularly.
Well that and checks.
What else is there? credit card/debit card charge fees. Direct transfer works for some businesses but I don't think as an individual I can receive money that way. Last time I did a bitcoin transfer it was a $20 fee (today down to about a dollar).
I think there is a free way to do paypal but I don't think it's simple - it'