The Venmo P2P payments service offered by PayPal just received a booster dose injection with the company now upgrading the facility with instant money transfer between bank accounts.
Much on the lines of rival Zelle taking a similar stance, PayPal has announced this breakthrough tech-knowhow for the benefit of its existing and prospective customer base holding eligible debit cards and bank accounts.
PayPal has been eyeing the operations of the worldwide leaders in card payments system – Visa and Mastercard – for the past several years and has successfully developed this payments knowhow to begin relationships at par with the card giants worldwide.
Available to all US users with eligible Visa and Mastercard debit cards linked to their accounts, the option will cost 25 cents a transaction. Rival Square Cash charges a one per cent fee for instant transfers.
PayPal say the new feature is possible in part because of its “closer relationship with the bank and card issuing ecosystem” but it also comes as the banks threaten Venmo’s dominance in the money transfer market through their Zelle rival.
Zelle is about to begin its roll out to the banking apps of more than 30 participating financial institutions, offering instant transfers to tens of millions of Americans. A standalone Zelle app is also set to arrive later this year.
Also on the horizon is Apple, which is set to introduce P2P payments as part of a forthcoming update to its mobile operating system. The new feature enables users to send money and get paid right in Messages, or tell Siri to pay someone, using the credit and debit cards they already have in Wallet.
