Following, because this came up for us this week.

I was told by my local post office that informed delivery doesn't mean it will show up that day. In my case, the images are scanned at a sorting center about 100 miles away. So it's possible that the mail wouldn't show up for a few days.

Are you able to do a direct bank transfer on line? Instant transfer. No mailing involved.

Put app on phone, create an account and link to your bank account, transfer funds from bank account, now you can pay someone who gives you their account name. Or, you can give fhem your account name and they can send you a request for funds which you can either accept or deny.

I barely use it, but carry a balance for when someone prefers that method of payment. Or to pay me that way.

We use Zelle with Chase. If it is a large amount we Zelle over $1.00. If the recipient gets that we send the entire amount. This is in case the recipient accidentally gives wrong info.

I use it monthly, to pay the gardener and my grandson's college allowance. Easy as pie. Have also used for the guy who cleans gutters. You may need the last 4 digits of the phone number of the person you are paying, just the first time, then they are in your system. No need to carry a balance, just indicate transfer from your bank account.

Key Bank has a link at the top of the page. I can send Venmo on the link.

“No need to carry a balance, just indicate transfer from your bank account.”

Thanks - I didn’t realize this. I funded mine a few years ago and somehow the ins and outs have balanced so I never paid attention. I see that option now.

We use Venmo frequently to send our grandkids ’surprise’ money or birthday money, whatever since it’s unsafe to send funds/checks or gift cards anymore thru the mail. I’ve only used Zelle once and only because the person requested it that way and my bank has it available for use.

Eld has good advice about verifying the recipient prior to sending the entire amount. Normally the people you know will have a photo of themselves associated with their account name. If it’s the first time you have sent money to someone, Venmo will ask for the last 4 digits of their phone number, so be prepared to provide it as verification you are sending money to the right person.

I am not a fan of Venmo or Zelle. Can you set it up online on your bank account like paying a bill?

My bank uses Zelle and we love it. We pay for so many things with it. The money is drawn out of our bank account the same way a check would be, only it is instant.

I mostly use it to repay people in my life or get repaid:

My 82 year old Dad loves it. He uses it all the time to pay me back for groceries and other things I get for them when I'm running errands. My brother often drops my dog off at his dog sitter and pays the sitter. I reimburse my brother via Zelle. Just today, my great neighbors left cash on our kitchen counter for the cleaning lady, who we forgot to leave cash for before leaving town. We paid our neighbors back via Zelle.

We have another dog walker submits his bill requests via Zelle and we pay that way.

" Are you able to do a direct bank transfer on line? Instant transfer. No mailing involved. "

Floral, I thought a similar "conversation" happened before in response to your posing the same question. What facilities are available, and what people do, are two different things.

I'll list my following monthly payments and what I do to pay them. I don't think there's anything here unusual or exceptional and I suspect most people are similar :

Gas and electricity utilities, water utilities, homeowners association dues, internet provider, - for two homes - all are paid automatically, no action is necessary on my part. Payment electronically is authorized in advance once with each provider - a pull transaction, they electronically contact my bank (or credit card, as applicable) for payment to be processed.

Two car loans, one mortgage loan, three video streaming services, three digital newspaper subscriptions - auto payment in a similar way, a pull transaction I preauthorized once and it continues until I stop it or the obligation is paid off.

Credit cards - I could have them set up to autopay but I don't. Once a month, I go on each site and authorize the card issuer to electronically submit a request for payment to my bank for the balance due.

Other bills

I just had pest control service done this week and got an invoice electronically. I could have authorized them to "pull" payment, but I didn't. I signed on to my bank's website, the provider was pre-established by me as a "biller". I choose them on the list to receive payment, entered the amount, and clicked Pay. They got a transfer the next day. For billers not previously setup in the banking system (like, If my wife wants to send someone a check for something on a one-off basis), I can enter name, address, etc., amount, and the bank sends them a check.

Property taxes paid twice a year, two properties in two different counties, payment is online by pull - I sign on and authorize them to request payment from my bank account.

Gyms - autopay to credit card

Weekly yard service - I pay with Zelle (instantaneous cash transfer for small amounts, like under a few thousand dollars)

Federal and state income taxes - same way, pull transactions I authorize, paid electronically, no checks involved. Both federal and state agencies require payment this way for some taxpayers. I've been doing it for 20 years or more. I could set up in advance the year's quarterly payments. I don't do that, I sign on to each quarterly (as the amounts change).

I probably don't write two checks a year.

I use Zelle and not Venmo. I too do the "send a dollar first" for all new Zelle and bank transfer recipients.

Larger periodic gifts to family members as part of our advance estate planning are usually done via wire transfers, bank to bank.

Neither are available here in Canada, but Venmo and Zelle are very much like the Interac e-transfer payment service we've used for decades...........The self employed service people that used to accept cheques now all prefer an e-transfer (hair dresser, RMT, cleaners etc), and it's great for paying someone money you owe them for your share of a restaurant bill or to pay them back for the groceries they picked up for you.

I think once you get used to using a service like that, you'll find it really convenient for a lot of things.

I often eat in restaurants with others and my experience is that using Zelle in that situation doesn't seem to be common. At least not with the people I know.

If it's another couple, we'd typically ask the restaurant to split the total into two halves (and who cares who ordered what). If it's something like a lunch of a good number of people (which I do about once a week), someone will do the math to come up with "so much per person" and people toss in their cash.

My Amex card is tied to my Venmo - so I can ”advance” the money to my Vemo account and then send the payment for whatever.

Sounds as if the Canadian situation is similar to here. Trades people and services get paid by e transfer. Money owed to friends and relations too. No Venmo or Zelle here either. Just instant bank to bank direct transfers.

I use Venmo quite a bit, mostly for my hairdresser and between friends. The only thing I make sure to do is turn off the "comments" function, which allows everyone else using Venmo to see why you paid. For instance, I put "Hair color" in mine. I don’t understand why that information is available for everyone to see. So, turn it off if that bothers you.

I could swear it looked like an old "somewhat" friend from my son’s elementary school days-PTA, sports, etc.-was paying a gigolo! I could definitely see her doing that.

Other people can see your transactions??

If you allow it. Includes user and comment, not amount.

"floral_uk: Are you able to do a direct bank transfer on line? Instant transfer. No mailing involved."

"murraysmom: I am not a fan of Venmo or Zelle. Can you set it up online on your bank account like paying a bill?"

Bank bill-pay services don't always perform a paperless account-to-account transaction. It depends whether the payee can receive an ACH deposit pushed by the bank. A paper check will be printed-and-mailed to the recipient if the system can't do an ACH.

Example: A paper check was processed to my local electric cooperative over more than 15 years of using my bank's bill-pay for it. I always set the payment date 5 to 6 days early of the due-date. A delinquent notice instance occurred in July 2024 due to postal issues (I wasn't the only one of the coop's customers affected). I switched my account to auto-pay from the coop's side to eliminate that potential problem, considering the ongoing catastrophe that has become the United States Postal Service. It seems odd that they can pull a payment as a paperless ACH but can't receive a pushed payment as a paperless ACH.

I like Venmo for transfers to and from PEOPLE. For instance, to reimburse my DIL for whatever, to pay my Farm Egg Lady, buy something on FB Marketplace, etc. Easy peasy.

I was very cautious at first so instead of linking my Venmo account to our regular checking account where my balance can sometimes range quite high (depending on the time of the month), I linked it to another checking account we have a different bank. That account rarely reaches over a couple of thousand dollars. Probably overly cautious on my part (according to my son the banker) but it made me more comfortable.

My cousin from Germany never heard of Venmo which surprised me. He asked his daughter (who happens to work with payment systems) and while she knew of it, her experience is that most people there use Paypal. Since I don’t have Paypal, I didn’t realize this was an optiom.

Obviously a lot of different international and personal choices. The US has long been behind in banking/payment technology, so you might be less familiar with them, and maybe less comfortable. Turn on whatever extra security options they offer (2-factor authorization, or a transfer limit, etc) and see what works for you.

" No Venmo or Zelle here either. Just instant bank to bank direct transfers. "

floral, I think you're looking for a difference when there isn't one. Venmo and Zelle are instant bank to bank transfers and are not the only way to do such tasks.

" The US has long been behind in banking/payment technology, "

I suspect there are more banks in my county than there are in your small country. Almost more people in my state than in your small country.

It's a matter of size of undertaking. The US banking system is huge and unlike in other countries, is not just primarily one of a small number of dominant banks. While there are a good handful of national banks, there are thousands and thousands of independent, separate "banking" institutions of various types. Making large, nationwide changes has never been easy and oftentimes, haven't been worth doing.

" I suspect there are more banks in my county than there are in your small country. "

Very much so, even proportionally. The general rule of thumb is 1:10 Canada:US to figure for size. Population is about 1:10, and so are a lot of services and stores (eg McDonalds Canada has 1/10 the number of outlets as McDonalds US) etc. but the number of banks in Canada is less than 1/10 the number in the US.

That doesn't change the reality that the US has been behind the rest of the world in payment and money transfers, including things like credit card terminals, chip and PIN use, and direct money transfers. The reasons are numerous, the facts are the same.

PS: It's a very big country. It just has a much smaller population relative to its size.

You keep trying, and it's getting kind of amusing.

Another topic you don't understand and comments that have you confused?

The number of McDonalds locations has nothing at all to do with the conversation. Ratios? You're puzzled and apparently in the dark about a simple matter. I was talking about banks, not bank branches. Separate, independent and unaffiliated financial institutions.

It's a huge (number of separate members, not branches), heterogeneous system. Not a small country with a few major banks.

I won't repeat what I said, the basic introduction I gave before seems to have you flummoxed. No problem other than to ask that you have some understanding of subjects before pontificating rudely.

Whatever, dude.

So childish. The number of times you've resorted to this failed insult is a good count of the number of times you've found yourself unable to defend your misunderstandings and needing to deflect. The number is growing.

I've been using Paypal for many years and trust it - never had any issues. But I remember news about issues with Zelle, about people having zero recourse when a payment goes astray or if there is fraud. Not sure if they fixed that or not - also not sure if the same is true of Venmo

I have used Venmo for a short term rental, because that's what the landlord had set up, but other than that I've stuck with Paypal.

I recently had a bad experience with PayPal. I bought something very small that was only a few dollars. The company made several large charges that totaled nearly $7000. The credit card company flagged the charges and texted me and I confirmed that they were fraudulent. PayPal then used my checking account to pay for the charges. I saw them pending the next day in my checking account and called my bank, but it was too late to stop the payment. It took 10 days to get my money back. So linking PayPal or Venmo to an account with a low balance and that isnt used to pay your bills is probably a good idea

If Paypal is an option, I always go that way. I have been using it for a very long time and have never had a problem.

We did have some trouble here in our little town with Venmo and it was on the news that Zelle had trouble a few years ago.

I also do not use a debit card. Only credit cards. My objection is my having to keep track of every little purchase and that is a hassle. At least there are lots of options to complete a purchase of almost any kind.