[lotsofpulp]

Zelle is owned and operated by the biggest banks in the US, it's basically like using your own bank. You do not even have to use the Zelle app, you can just log into your bank's app and transfer money from there.

And sure, there would have been no need for it to exist had the US government done its job 20+ years ago as opposed to waiting until the 2020s, but the reality is that most Americans have been able to instantly transfer money online using their bank for quite a few years now.

[cvalka]

LOL. The Zelle limits are ridiculously low. Most Americans don't have online access to transferring money. Wire and ACH online transfers are usually not available to the average b2c consumer.

[lotsofpulp]

Only the smallest local bank or credit union would not have the ability to transfer money online via ACH for their customers. Pretty much everyone can login, go to the transfers tab, and enter an account/routing number to transfer money to (or give their account/routing number to another bank to transfer money in).

If you do not, then you should probably sign up for a free account at any of the multitude of online banks that do have the capabilities.

For example, at CIT Bank, which I easily opened a free online account, I have ACH limits of $250k outgoing and $500k incoming, PER DAY. All I had to do was enter my account #/routing # for my other bank accounts.

[cvalka]

Are you able to do outgoing ACH and wire transfers to third party accounts online as an individual?

[lotsofpulp]

Yes, all you need is an account number and routing number. I have done this at BoA, Chase, Marcus, Ally, TD Bank, CIT Bank, Key Bank, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Capital One, Schwab, etc.

[cvalka]

TD bank does not support this!

[lotsofpulp]

Oh yes, I guess I misremembered. Well I guess there’s a reason I stopped using them. Anyway, lots of banks do, and I would switch to one that does let you do it.

[orangepurple]

Please explain to me how the government prevented instantaneous ACH transfers.

Zelle is a shitty middleman with ridiculously low transfer limits.

[lotsofpulp]

Zelle does not set transfer limits, the banks do. For example:

https://www.bankofamerica.com/online-banking/zelle-transfer-...

Zelle is just a payments network.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelle_(payment_service)

Also, as far as I understand, the mechanism of ACH prevents it from being instantaneous, requiring old school processes every night to reconcile and finalize transactions. ACH does not check if accounts have money in real time, it assumes it, and then deals with problems later, which is why transactions take days to finalize.

[happymellon]

Isn't that a problem?

The biggest banks got together and created a new network for transfers, and charge all the smaller banks fees to access it?

It sounds like another method of crushing competition.

[lotsofpulp]

Well they allow any other bank/credit union to use it, and based on the fact that 1,600 financial institutions participate/80%+ of the US population, it must not be costly (or or is free).

It sounds like the US government was asleep at the wheel and the big banks got together and did what they had to to enable US residents to be able to instantly send money to each other electronically.

[happymellon]

You need to read up on it. It uses the Visa and MasterCard networks. It is not free.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo do not get charged the same as your local Credit Union. So smaller institutions get screwed.