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How to Send Money to Friends (or Other Bank Accounts) Instantly with Zelle

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is off to a great start.  Over the weekend, I had some free time on my hands, so I experimented with Zelle, the rebranded Chase QuickPay / clearXchange money transfer service being used by all the big banks.  Enrolling in Zelle is really easy and the feature is built into most bank apps.  In my 2 tests, I transfered $5 from my Chase checking account to my US Bank checking account, and then I decided to send $1 from my US Bank checking account back to my Chase checking account.  I did everything with the help of the Chase and US Bank iPhone apps.  Here are instructions for sending money from one account to another, or from one person to another with Zelle.  If you have Zelle with a different bank than Chase or US Bank, the process should be almost identical.

With Zelle, you have to have to enroll/link a phone number or email address.  Only one phone number or email address can be used per Zelle account.  I decided to use my email address with Chase and my phone number with US Bank.  I signed into my US Bank app, clicked the menu icon in the upper left corner, clicked Send Money, and clicked Receive with Zelle.  I made sure my phone number was listed and my US Bank checking account was linked.

As soon as I updated my phone number with Zelle through the US Bank app, I received an email from US Bank.  I also received an email from Chase that my Zelle phone number was automatically removed because it was in use with another Zelle account.  The Zelle system is very fast and any change you make to one Zelle account will immediately affect another Zelle account if you use the same email address or phone number.

To send a $5 payment from my Chase checking account to my US Bank checking account, I signed into the Chase app and clicked the menu icon in the upper left corner, then clicked QuickPay with Zelle, and clicked Send Money.  Since I didn’t have any recipient’s listed, I clicked the Add Recipient button.

I entered my first and last name and my phone number (which is linked to my US Bank Zelle account), then clicked the Add Recipient button.  I then selected Grant Thomas from my recipient list.  I then entered $5.00 as the payment amount, selected my Chase checking account, and added a note to the Zelle payment: “Test transfer from Chase to US Bank.”

Before sending the Zelle payment, I clicked the calendar icon to view the calendar.  Since I wanted the payment to go through right away, I used today’s date.  I then clicked the Send Money button, and confirmed my payment by clicking “Yes, send it now.”

The Zelle payment was sent right away from my Chase checking account to my US Bank checking account.  To view the Zelle payment, I clicked the menu button in the upper left corner, clicked QuickPay with Zelle, and clicked View Activity.

I clicked the Money Sent tab to view the transaction.  I clicked the transaction to see more details.  Lastly, I went to my Chase checking account to view the outgoing Zelle payment.

After the Zelle payment was sent from my Chase checking account, I opened the US Bank app and clicked on my US Bank checking account.  The $5 Zelle payment was immediately credited to my US Bank checking account.  I clicked the transaction to see more details.

I never received an email from Chase regarding my outgoing Zelle payment, but I did receive an email from US Bank regarding my incoming Zelle payment.  Maybe there was a Chase setting I turned off for outgoing Zelle payments, I’m not sure.

For my second test, I wanted to send a $1 Zelle payment from my US Bank checking account to my Chase checking account.  I logged into my US Bank app and clicked the menu button in the upper left corner.  I then clicked Send Money and clicked Send Money with Zelle.  Since I did not have any recipients listed, I clicked the Add New Recipient link.

I then entered my first and last name, created a nickname for the recipient (GT Chase), and entered the email address associated with my Chase Zelle account.  I then went back to the Select Recipient screen and selected Grant Thomas and verified that the email address was correct.

I then entered $1.00 and selected my US Bank checking account.  Out of curiosity, I clicked the “How much can I send?” link.  With US Bank, you can send up to $2,500 per day / per 3 day limit.  Good to know! On the next screen, I entered a note, “Here is a $1 tip”, and clicked the calendar icon.

US Bank has several payment frequencies available which is a really cool feature if you need to send money repeatedly on a schedule.  I went back to the Review & Send screen and clicked the Send $1 button.  I then received a verification text message from US Bank and entered the 6 digit code to approve the Zelle payment.

The Zelle payment was sent successfully and I verified the payment was sent from my US Bank checking account.  The $1.00 Zelle payment was immediately sent from my US Bank checking account to my Chase checking account.

I also double checked the Zelle payment.  After I clicked the menu icon in the upper left corner, I clicked Send Money and clicked Manage Payments.  Under the scheduled tab, the Completed / Cancelled section showed the $1 outgoing Zelle payment.  I then logged into my Chase app and clicked the menu icon in the upper left corner.

I clicked QuickPay with Zelle and clicked View Activity.  Under the Money Received tab, I saw the $1 incoming Zelle payment from my US Bank checking account.  I clicked the transaction to see more details.

As soon as the $1 Zelle payment was sent from my US Bank checking account, I received a confirmation email from US Bank.  A minute later, I received an email from Chase with details of the incoming $1 Zelle payment.

As I have shown, Zelle is a very quick and safe way to transfer money from one checking account to another or for sending a payment to a friend.  I’m sure Zelle will evolve over time, but I am very impressed with the service as of right now.

If you have any questions about Zelle, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!


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70 thoughts on “How to Send Money to Friends (or Other Bank Accounts) Instantly with Zelle

  1. Aaron

    Please remove CHASE QUICKPAY in your headline. The service wasn’t developed by Chase alone. IF you are going to list Chase QuickPay THEN you need to list other banks in Clear Xchange.

    Reply
  2. Michael

    So if a person had more than one bank account, you’d need multiple emails/phone numbers to use this service?

    I’m sure this service is great but imagine one would have to keep track of corresponding banks/emails to use with multiple bank accounts, which seems like a pinch point.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Yes, you would need separate email addresses or phone numbers for each Zelle account. If you don’t want to send or receive Zelle payments from all your checking accounts, you do not need to set them all up with Zelle.

      Reply
  3. Carl

    This is very helpful info, Grant. I love the possibility of same-day transfers between accounts at different institutions (as opposed to solely P2P use). Very nice indeed. Thanks.

    Reply
      1. Duc Nguyen

        Yes, I went to US bank today and they said to try it out. I looked up how on google and yours article came up. It’s easy to follow for set up. Thank you much

        Reply
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  5. Bill

    Thanks for posting this. My son encouraged me to set up a Zelle account for use in periodic payments he’ll be sending me.

    Your very detailed post helps me understand how the whole process will work.

    Reply
  6. Tyga

    If my bank account was hacked and logged into by a fraudster so they can easily transfer my money using zelle into their own account?since it is minutes transfer? Please help me answer sir

    Reply
  7. Tyga

    Am banking with Bank of America,can someone easily send out money from my account using zelle just by stealing my username and password?

    Reply
  8. Cha

    Hi Grant,

    A client of mine paid me through Zelle but the problem is I don’t have a US bank account. I use essentially PayPal for transactions with client as I am off-shore and, obviously, not living in the US. Do you know of a way on how I be able to claim the payment?

    Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      That is a tricky situation. I think Zelle only works with select US Banks. I don’t think you will be able to accept the Zelle payment without a US Bank account.

      Reply
  9. Ren

    I sent someone $3000 on zelle for 10 pairs of shoes I bought off a website that was the only payment they were accepting and after payment they did not send me tracking information and never got the product ! What can I do to get my money back?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      You are in big trouble. Zelle is intended to send money to friends and family you know, not for buying stuff online. I don’t know if there are any consumer protections built in. Call your bank associated with Zelle and see what they say to do. Good luck.

      Reply
  10. Ren

    Yeah I called and they said they can’t do anything about it … is there any other way for me to get my money back? Possible civil suit?

    Reply
  11. Lauren

    I just registered with Zelle. My friend sent me some money from his Chase account and I have Wells Fargo. I thought it would be an immediate payment but it will actually take up to 3 business days. Ugh I need the money urgently too. So disappointed.

    Reply
  12. Liz

    Do you know if you schedule payments- when does the recipient receive the email notification? For example- if I schedule a payment 2 days out, do they receive the email then or the date of the transfer?

    Reply
  13. John Wilson

    My wife and I share a checking/savings account. Since you can only have one phone number associated, does this mean only one of us can send and receive money?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      I think you can add multiple emails and phone numbers to your Zelle account. That way you can send and receive funds as easily as possible.

      Reply
  14. Jesse Whitman

    I have a customer who has an account with Chase and another one with a small bank in another state. He is trying to send money to himself from one account to another, we set up two different contact methods (email for one and phone # for another) but it is not working. We can’t even get him registered for the app on his phone. I have contacted Zelle 3 times and they are no help. Anything you can help me with?

    Reply
  15. Bill

    I think Jesse’s main problem is “We can’t even get him registered for the app on his phone.” Until he can register the debit card from the small bank with the app, neither pushing or pulling is going to work.

    If you look at the Google Play Store reviews, you will see a lot of people are having trouble registering their debit cards. That’s the main reason the app is rated 1.5 out of 5. If you are customer of one of the affiliated banks, that’s probably not an issue. If Zelle wants to expand beyond that group, they need to figure out how to fix the onboarding process for the app. They can never be the Venmo-killer (rated 4.7 out of 5) unless they fix that.

    Reply
  16. Jennifer

    FYI Not all banks receive funds instantly. I have sent money from my Wellsfargo account to my friends BoA account and he received it instantly. He just sent me funds from his account and I am being told it could take 2 business days to receive the funds. I think Wellsfargo needs to get with the program.

    Reply
  17. Jay

    HI ,

    I have a savings/checking with BOA …and have another saving/checking account with capital one 360. I live in virginia so relying on capital one card mostly. I have given same email address/mobile number to both the accounts. Now if i want to transfer from BOA checking to capital one 360 checking account with Zelle. Is it possible ? or they in same network – If yes will i get the money transferred within a day even if it is a non working day ?

    Please let me know on how to transfer my money from boa to capital one 360 via zelle ?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Zelle was create to transfer money from one person to another person, not from one account to another account owner by the same person. You will need to create 2 Zelle accounts to transfer money between your accounts. If you have more than 1 email address, you can use that to sign up for multiple Zelle accounts. The money should be transferred instantly, but there may be times when the transfer takes 1-2 days to complete.

      Reply
  18. Ted

    So I bank with B of A and my mom banks with Chase, can I send her money through Zelle with my online banking service,
    as long as I’m signed up with Zelle on my online banking and she’s signed up with ZellePay on her Chase online banking? What I’m asking is does the person your sending money to have to also be signed up with Zelle?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Yes, you each need to have your own Zelle account. Then you can send money from your account to your mom’s Zelle account and vice versa.

      Reply
  19. Sunil Gunti

    I have a Savings and Checking account with an FI and I can see both of them when I login to mobile banking app provided by the FI. I have registered with Zelle and enrolled my Checking account as a default deposit account which would receive all the payments. Now, when I am requesting money using the FI mobile banking app, Can I select my Savings account instead of the Checking account and If yes, would I be receiving the funds automatically to my Checking account?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      I’m not sure you can change the bank account linked to by Zelle. If your checking account is the default account, then your payments will always go to the checking account.

      Reply
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  21. Bren

    I was using Venmo before Zelle and Venmo is not instant $ transfer. It also only operated like a M-F business. For example, if someone Venmo’d me on Friday after 5pm, I wouldn’t see it in my account until the following monday. Do you know if Zelle operates the same way? If someone zelled me over the weekend, say…on a Saturday? Would it still be instant?

    Reply
    1. Rod Hosilyk

      I just signed up for a Zelle account today (Sunday) and a friend transferred $500 to me in the morning – it was in my bank and usable 30 minutes later.

      Reply
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  24. Raj

    I have a chase and PNC checking accounts. Both are having same email (x.gmail.com) with zelle. I was using chase quick pay. Never transferred or received money in PNC account.
    Now after zelle introduced,If somebody ask my email to transfer money, I am giving x.gmail.com, but the money is going to PNC account all times.So I changed my email address in chase account profile y.gmail.com ,and tried to send money from chase to PNC. But it is not working. Do I need to go to Zelle website and change my email address for chase account ? Or how can I put my mobile number for Zelle transfer in chase and keep same x.gmail.com for my PNC account so that I can use Zelle to transfer money chase–pnc ?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      As long as you have different phone numbers and email addresses associated with each bank account, you can use Zelle. For example, if you have phone number #1 and email #1 with PNC and phone number #2 and email #2 with Chase, you can transfer funds between those accounts. To receive Zelle payment from others, tell them phone number #1 or email #1 for PNC and phone number #2 or email #2 for Chase. There is also a slight delay between transfer funds between accounts, so you may have to wait until tomorrow to see the funds.

      Reply
      1. Raj

        Thanks Grant..but here the issue is I’m having only one phone number for both chase and PNC. So I changed email in chase account ( registered email with Chase bank) I can’t change my mobile number in both accounts. After changing I waited for 2 days. Then tried to send money from chase to PNC using Zelle. But it’s giving error message and not showing any Zelle transfer status. Then I opened PNC account and did “request money” using Zelle and gave the new email , that also not working. I contacted chase , they are telling contact PNC, PNC telling to contact chase. My doubt is whether I need to modify anything in zelle website? Or instead of changing email id in chase user profile, I would need to change in zelle website?

        Reply
        1. Grant Post author

          Can you delete everything from both Chase and PNC, then add email #1 to Chase and email #2 to PNC? I’m not sure why you are having trouble.

          Reply
  25. JOLEEN CROSS

    I use Zelle through Capital One and my landlord has Chase.. i sent her money through Zelle via mobile number. i don’t think she activated Zelle yet through her bank. Will there be a problem recovering the money if she does not activate Zelle?

    Reply
  26. JOLEEN CROSS

    Thank you so much. i had to go on the Capital One website to actually cancel the payment. the mobile app does not give you the option.

    Reply
  27. brandon

    Since Zelle isn’t made to transfer $ to yourself to different institutions are we breaking any of their terms? Or is this loophole or workaround with 2 emails or 1 email and 1 phone number completely safe and within their TOS?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      I don’t think it is against their TOS (I haven’t read their TOS), but it’s your money, you should be able to move it from one bank account to another bank account. It’s just like transferring funds from one account to another.

      Reply
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