Paypal alternative

Occassionally I expect to make and receive small payments involving other individuals.  I'd like to by-pass snail-mail, paper checks etc in some of these cases.  We all know that ebay has paypal, but I don't do anything ebay.  

What other means are there- hopefully something like Amazon or an existing credit card? What I'm hoping for would be "LIKE" an online "direct deposit" to my credit card acct.  Does anyone know of some alternate way to get this done?

THANKS

Everyone now has Venmo. (Except me.)

Apollo_T said:

Occassionally I expect to make and receive small payments involving other individuals.  I'd like to by-pass snail-mail, paper checks etc in some of these cases.  We all know that ebay has paypal, but I don't do anything ebay.  

What other means are there- hopefully something like Amazon or an existing credit card? What I'm hoping for would be "LIKE" an online "direct deposit" to my credit card acct.  Does anyone know of some alternate way to get this done?

THANKS

 zelle 

Heynj said:

Everyone now has Venmo. (Except me.)

 and me!

What is that?

zelle???

I must be leading a sheltered life.

Any input on how these work would be greatly appreciated.

Venmo is a service of paypal according to their site.

zelle next

although i only used it once years ago, Chase had a direct pay service, check with your bank.....but if you only want it applied to your credit card, not directly to a bank account, that wouldn't be viable

@oots,

zelle.com goes to an unrelated corporate site.

Any ideas?

Venmo allows you to pay someone for something without a fee, ties to your bank account. If someone Venmo's you money, you can transfer it to your account without fee within 1-3 days, or with a fee immediately. You don't need a PayPal account to use Venmo. You need a phone with a number.

It's become the thing now in restaurants instead of splitting a bill with cards, or ponying up cash, one person puts it on their card and everyone else Venmo's the payer what they owe them. Makes things very easy.

@Heynj, @oots, @jmitw, @ridski

Thanks everybody for your help.  You've provided a lot of good info.  I'm surprised about the bank posssible connection.  Banks are legendary for their outrageous charges IF they provide such a service...needs to be checked out.  Likewise the idea that venmo may have a no/low fee service is contra to what I've heard. This tip may also have real potential. 

I found the Wikipedia link below which is really helpful.  As with most Wiki articles it's going to take a bit of time (well spent) to get thru, fully.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment

Lotsa good stuff to follow up on.

THANKS

cashapp?  i've never used it....

The Zelle I use is attached to my bank account. When I sign into my account on-line, I can use Zelle to transfer money same day no fee. They work with a lot of banks if you don't want to use the App.

Apollo_T said:

@oots,

zelle.com goes to an unrelated corporate site.

Any ideas?

 many banks have zelle available, very easy way to transfer funds .  You do not need an app  most of the big banks have it available 

Paypal can be used without ebay. Many retailers accept payment through PayPal. And you can send/receive money directly through Paypal with no fee and then transfer it to your bank account.

Be careful with Venmo, if you accidentally send $ to the wrong person, you're unlikely to get it back. See https://chriselliotts.com for cautionary tales.

ril said:

Paypal can be used without ebay. Many retailers accept payment through PayPal. And you can send/receive money directly through Paypal with no fee and then transfer it to your bank account.

Be careful with Venmo, if you accidentally send $ to the wrong person, you're unlikely to get it back. See https://chriselliotts.com for cautionary tales.

 Correct.  While I set PayPal up at a time that I was selling on Ebay, I have ceased that (due to exorbitant Ebay fees, and idiot resellers who have depressed the price levels).  

PayPal works fine for other transactions; if payer indicates that this is a personal transfer, there are no fees.

Our credit union offers Zelle for transfers from our checking account to other people's accounts.  It has worked without a hitch so far.  There is a daily $ limit.  Your account information is not revealed to the other party (afaik).  No fee for us, don't know about other banks.

Since i truly hate online accounts with associated passwords, etc., i use Paypal as a "guest," just to screen my credit card info from random hackable sellers.  Sellers may be paying a fee, but i am not, directly.

I use Venmo a lot.  

Zelle through your bank account is good. I use venmo, paypal, zelle and bill pay through my bank account. I hardly ever write paper checks. PayPal works well for me for sending and receiving money from family members; make sure you pay "friends and family" and there will be no fee. Zelle works well too but it seems to take a couple of days to get to the bank account. Since I use PayPal a lot, I usually leave the balance in there; if it's a lot, I transfer, and again, it takes a few days to get to the account. If I have no balance, it just comes out of my bank account. Same with Venmo.

I use zelle with BOA. 

Transfers instantly 

I have another related question:  marylago has accts w/ 4 service companies, so her $$$ can go both ways. With anybody.

Scully uses Zelle with her BoA acct.

Ridski wants to send her some $$$ using his Venmo acct thru his Podunk Natl acct.  Will this transaction happen?  they don’t have the same service company?  or credit card?  without fees?  within their lifetime?

Apollo_T said:

I have another related question:  marylago has accts w/ 4 service companies, so her $$$ can go both ways. With anybody.

Scully uses Zelle with her BoA acct.

Ridski wants to send her some $$$ using his Venmo acct thru his Podunk Natl acct.  Will this transaction happen?  they don’t have the same service company?  or credit card?  without fees?  within their lifetime?

Depending on what you mean by service company... If marylago has a venmo account, I can send marylago $$$ to her Venmo account. Where she puts it after that is up to her. She can transfer it to her bank (immediately with fees, or within 1-3 days without fees), or hold onto it to pay for something else.

With Zelle, I believe when i initiate a transfer to a new party, they receive an email link from Zelle and then provide their banking info to Zelle.  Not 100% sure i'm remembering this accurately, though.

I didn't make my question clear...Sorry.  Corrected below.

Apollo_T said:

I have another related question:  marylago has accts w/ 4 service companies, so her $$$ can go both ways. With anybody.

Scully uses Zelle with her BoA acct.

Ridski wants to send SCULLY some $$$ using his Venmo acct thru his Podunk Natl acct.  Will this transaction happen?  they don’t have the same service company?  or credit card?  without fees?  within their lifetime?

 Basically I'm asking if a transaction between parties that have no financial services in common will go thru quickly? seamlessly?  with no fees?

"I'm asking if a transaction between parties that have no financial services in common will go thru quickly? seamlessly? with no fees?"

With Zelle, yes/pretty much/yes... The only thing is that both parties have to allow the transaction. In other words, if you are sending funds to someone who hasn't already participated, they will need to activate their account prior to receiving the money. Also, it might be that the recipient must use a bank account, not sure there is a "Zelle account" comparable to what Paypal has.

Apollo_T said:

I didn't make my question clear...Sorry.  Corrected below.

Apollo_T said:

I have another related question:  marylago has accts w/ 4 service companies, so her $$$ can go both ways. With anybody.

Scully uses Zelle with her BoA acct.

Ridski wants to send SCULLY some $$$ using his Venmo acct thru his Podunk Natl acct.  Will this transaction happen?  they don’t have the same service company?  or credit card?  without fees?  within their lifetime?

 Basically I'm asking if a transaction between parties that have no financial services in common will go thru quickly? seamlessly?  with no fees?

 If Scully has the Venmo app set up on her phone then yes. It ties to a phone number, not a bank account. I can send Scully money now, and later Scully can hook that to a bank account to transfer the funds. Again, fees apply if you want that money in your bank instantly, but there are no fees if you're prepared to wait 1-3 days for it show up in your account.

Example, just today I got sent some money through Venmo. It sat in my Venmo wallet until I figured out where to transfer it to (I have 2 bank accounts linked to Venmo). Then I transferred it using the 1-3 business days option. No fee. The fee for instant transfer is 1% with a maximum of $10. 

I'm not entirely sure what a service company is in your analogy, however. Can you clarify?

To get paid via zelle, I just supply my cell phone number 

I have my tenants pay their rent by Venmo. Checks? No thanks. As ridski mentioned, the money lands immediately in my Venmo account. I can transfer it immediately to my bank for a fee (I don't ever do that) or more slowly (a few days) for free. There's no fee on either end for my tenants or myself. It doesn't matter who we bank with.

I also make a lot of small donations using Venmo. Much easier and faster than going through a GoFundMe web page or whatever. For example, during the pandemic, I watched a lot of live-streamed music events and it was very easy (too easy?) to tip the performer with Venmo. A few bucks here, a few bucks there, and pretty soon you're looking at real money.

Another benefit of Venmo is that some of your friends won't change their privacy settings and you can see what they're up to by reviewing their Venmo activity log. 

I also have the cash app - similar to Venmo - but I never seem to use it. I think I needed it to pay a cleaning lady or some other service provider for a while, but it doesn't seem to be used nearly as much as Venmo. At least not in my world. 

kthnry said:

Another benefit of Venmo is that some of your friends won't change their privacy settings and you can see what they're up to by reviewing their Venmo activity log. 

Ridski, Venmo and Zelle both appear to be money transfer service companies.  Banks and credit card comps are financial services comps.

kthnry said:

I have my tenants pay their rent by Venmo. Checks? No thanks. As ridski mentioned, the money lands immediately in my Venmo account. 

This is the crux of my issue:  what if I don't have a Venmo acct?  Let's say I don't have an acct at either venmo or zelle. What then?  another possibility is that I have a Zelle acct while kthnry has a venmo acct.  

Also, I routinely make purchases at amzon which are charged to my credit card acct.  What if I want to pay my rent to kthnry using my credit card acct? (I still don't have either ven or zel.)  Does this all mean I can't spend my money with you?

In essence am I faioing to qualify for the position of customer?