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Understanding Zelle Pay Limitations
Card not connecting? Get answers today.
Have you struggled to connect your card in the Zelle payment app, or had issues receiving or sending funds? If so, you're not alone. We heard reports from our members, having difficulty connecting their debit cards to Zelle, and decided to investigate. As a result, we uncovered some interesting bits of information that we think you might like to know.
Read below to find out what we learned about Zelle.
Four things to know about Zelle Pay
#1 - Zelle was created by a network of big banks.
Zelle is owned by the Early Warning Services, a private organization, owned by a collection of national banks, including Bank of America, BB&T, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, US Bank, Citibank, and Wells Fargo.
#2 - Less than 3% of US Financial Institutions are currently compatible with Zelle.
Out of the nearly 13,000* financial institutions in the US, only about 350 are currently listed on the Zelle Pay website as a financial partner. This means that the people and accounts you can transact through Zelle are limited.
#3 - To use Zelle, you must have an account at a participating bank.
Through internal testing, we confirmed that users with a bank account at one of the participating partner banks were able to enroll, link their card, and request or send monies in Zelle without issue. Conversely, users without an account at one of the participating financial institutions received an error message stating Zelle was "unable to process your debit card."
#4 - There are free alternatives to Zelle, without account restrictions.
There are plenty of Peer to Peer (P2P) payment apps that allow you to send or receive money, regardless of either party's financial institution affiliations. A couple of free alternatives to Zelle are Venmo and the Cash app. These and other apps will allow you to request or send money to other people and businesses, regardless of either party's credit union or bank.
Exercise Caution Using Any P2P System
While P2P payment systems can seem useful and convenient, your protection in most of these systems is limited. It’s important to take precautions to protect your information and accounts while using any peer to peer platform. If money is accidentally sent to the wrong account or if your credentials are stolen, there are typically limited options for recovery. Add two-step authentications whenever possible, safeguard your login credentials, and ensure you only send money to other accounts that you know, and have verified their identity, if you choose to use P2P.
P2P at Credit Union West
Here at Credit Union West, we are always working to improve our services for members and make new technology and options available. We are actively reviewing P2P options, in order to find the best, most secure option for our members.
*Institution count taken from Callahan, 09/2019 data. Participating banks were found on the Zelle website.
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