I use Venmo, Zelle, Apple Pay, Cash App, PayPal.

I like Zelle the best since it deals directly with bank accounts and not some "float" entity that holds it.

I use Apple Pay to pay for stuff at stores. It's great to not need anything other than my Apple watch to pay for stuff at the grocery store, hardware store, etc.... Fortunately, Covid drove some new adoption, but it's still only taken a few places. I've never used it for interpersonal transfer, which I believe can be done.

Zelle is quick and easy.

Paypal is quick and easy (I've only ever paid/sent money with paypal), but I don't use it unless I have to.

I've even used Amazon pay for some online vendor purchases which is nice and easy.

Not to get too deep into it but I have a lot of background and expertise in this area (payments channels) and Red Beard hit it on the head... What you want is an ACH provider. Your QuickBooks will integrate directly and you will pay pennies per transaction while negating the long timelines associated with paper check clearing. Similarly when you yourself receive a paper check you will be able to turn it into an incoming ACH via check 21 conversion, meaning the funds will clear to you faster.

I have Apple Cash. I think it's driven by Apple Pay and I can text message money to people with IPhones who are set up. I can also pay for stuff using phone in the store.

When you receive money it goes into the Apple Cash entity and you have to take steps to transfer it to your bank. Instant costs you a wee bit and no charge transfers are usually the next day.

I knew there was ab answer. Way to go RB.

From my non-business owning perspective:
As others have said: Zelle is a direct bank to bank xfer - so no float, no middle man to muck things up.
Vemno - works well, but you have a separate pseudo account with them, where you can slide money in and out of, from your main bank account. This has some pros and cons.
Apply Pay is awesome for consumer level spending. At the checkout at a physical store, all I need to do is double tap the side of my Apple watch and hold it next to the cc machine, and voila! IT is paid! However, the downside to this is that it is linked to a credit carD, so there may be finance charges associated with the transaction, if you aren't careful.

Of the three, I'd recommend something like Zelle - your local bank may verify well already be setup with Zelle. Note that there is a limit to the amount of funds you can transfer on a given day - for consumers, it is something like $3k For businesses, something like $5k or $7k. But the upside is that there is no charge for the transfer.

In the past, I was a huge advocate of the tried and secure analog check writing method. I work in data analytics / IT, and know how unsecure things were back then. While things aren't 100% secure yet, we are at a point where I feel more comfortable with paying for stuff online.

My $0.42...

I went to the actual brick and mortar bank main branch not far from my house. I went on a Friday so I could get the free cookies and coffee! ;)

I explained to them it is just the one vendor that wants electronic payment. To do a bank transfer will cost me a flat fee of $14 bucks for any amount. That is just BS and I ain't paying that just for the honor of paying a bill with no paper. We bought our airplane that way, it is no big deal when dealing with 6 figure transfer that we want done right now.

They do have a ACH system, and that is how we do our draw from the company to pay ourselves. Their system is set up to do a loan payment or a batch that is the same each month. They really don't seem to have a ACH method to pay a few hundred bucks every so often.

I have used PayPal on my personal account to buy some products from an on-line company to avoid having to set up another user name and password with yet another company for a one time purchase. PayPal pays them, and the shipping address is entered automatically.

I hate to have to play with a phone app when I have a high end computer with a 4K monitor and a keyboard and a 1GB internet computer in front of me. I can do way more way faster with a computer.

Zelle, for instance, does not require a phone or phone app, but I do believe that it requires your bank to be signed up.

It sounds like you're paying a price to be using a small, local family owned bank, and that price is a headache when trying to deal with someone that wants to be modern.

You can find a way to deal with the headache, or pay the $14, or you can move to another bank that is in touch with the modern age.

Since you have a business account and I assume you've had that account with the bank for a while, you may want to talk to the bank again assuming your can confirm that Zelle or something similare isn't an option. "This is unacceptible to me. If you can't come up with a way for me to make this payment or wave the cost for the transfer, I'm going to close my account and go to another bank." (assuming you'd be willing to do that).

That's nuts, here in Europe, a bank wire transfer is free.
by law

I do em on my banking app on my phone, or on pc.

IF I go to an actual bank (if i can find one that has a teller, most don't here and only have offices on appointment for loans or insurance stuff) then i might pay a small fee, but certainly not 14 bucks

hell any SEPA transfer within the EU is free.

Y'alls politicans and gubmint aren't doing much consumer protection legislation are they?

The protection isn't for the consumer, it is for the markets. Why offer something free that benefits all when you can embrace capitalism and make it a profit center for a select few?

^^^ stijn

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ailey_1965.jpg

I'd look at Zelle or ACH which offer low or no fees.

You're probably doing a wire transfer which costs a fair bit more.

It's not a law here. We're not in the EU.

We have lots and lots and lots of bank branches, and many of them have tellers and people.

+1, the $14 fee thing is a wire and follows a different system/different rails vs ACH.

You are not limited to working with your bank as the ACH provider, it is common to have a third party provider. MoneyGram is one of the big names but there are many. Note that if you work with a third party there will be underwriting.

Well if you make sure payments can happen safe, fast and free, you see an economical return on that

I'm saying you should get that law, we have lots of bank branches too in the EU
that's no reason not too..
Getting a decent system for payments, that is difficult to commit fraud with, is a good thing for everybody except for the fraudsters.

How many cheque scam threads have there been on this forum since i joined in 2003? i lost count. It's mind boggling to us europeans how a modern western country like the US has such backwards banking systems..It really is baffling how you guys keep getting running into cheque fraud scam stories when we completely did a way with cheques in the late 80ies..

Our banking laws are screwed up because the banks have powerful lobbies, and they like massive profits from fees.

I am going to talk to some of the geeks that really run the bank. I bet there is a way to set up a ACH transfer to the vendor. I talked to one of the many vice presidents at the bank. He did not strike me as the sharpest knife in the drawer.

They do charge us 80 cents per month to do our ACH transfers, but I can accept that.

I talked to the people that are tech support for ACH and transfers. They set me up to pay that vendor with ACH. It will be part of the 80 cents per month we already pay for our salary draws.

Job done. The Vice President I talked to just was one of many VPs at any bank that likely never worked the computer department in support and just did not know how to help me.

I have been using electronic payments since....let's see...November 1998. That was the last time I went into the office to pay the bill. I stopped using cash around 2009 and have stopped using plastic cards 4 years ago (I use Apple pay and local P2P payment option called Swish).

Checks? I have heard of that. My mum had those.

Cash is not really used around here...it is used for less than 5% of transactions and mostly by older people and hustlers.

I still carry about $50.00 with me at all times. What happens if the store you go to has a power outage or the phone system is down? I know that is rare, but it happens.

A few months back we at a local favorite restaurant. As we were served the electricity went out. We ate by the light of the emergency lights, and they brought out candles. At check out time, with no electricity, the credit card machine was dead, and it was no big deal. I paid with cash.

That type of thing has happened a few times in my life, not often but it nice to have the ability to pay and not have to screw the business.

We went to one other restaurant and their phone line was dead, so no credit card sales. Same deal I had cash. The only other choice was to not order, and go somewhere else. We wanted to eat there.

I pay all my personal monthly bills electronically and automatically.