Maskot / Getty Images
Paypal was one of the first major online payment services to be adopted by the general public in the United States. Since its inception in 1998, a handful of other players have emerged: big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung; upstarts like Cash App and institutional giants like Zelle. We’ve rounded up the most popular apps you can use in the US to pay for goods and services, request contactless payment, and move money.
Read more: How to choose a rewards credit card
Patrick Holland / CNET
If you have an iPhone, you can send and receive money directly through the Messages app with Apple Cash. You can use an Apple Cash credit or debit card to fund a payment.
To initiate a transaction, open the Messages app and select or create a new contact. Tap the Apple Pay icon at the bottom of the screen, choose an amount, and tap request or send. Apple says it takes one to three days for transactions to be processed. Apple Cash is free to use unless you choose an instant transfer, which guarantees processing in under 30 minutes, but comes with a 1.5% transaction fee.
Read our Apple Cash explanation.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani / CNET
Once you have signed up for Cash App, you are assigned a $ Cashtag, your nickname. You can identify contacts by their email address or phone number.
Once you’ve added a bank account or credit card, you can send, request, and receive money through the app. As long as you fund and receive payments through your bank account, there are no fees or charges for overseas transactions. But there is a charge – 3% of the transaction amount – if you pay with a credit card.
Cash App generally takes between one and three days to transfer funds. There is an option to access your money instantly, but you are charged an additional 1.5% fee (with a minimum of 25 cents).
Learn more about Block’s Cash app.
SOPA Images / Getty Images
Google Pay replaced Google Wallet and Android Pay in 2018. You can use it to pay for goods and services, as well as to send and receive money.
While Apple Pay is for iPhone users only, anyone with a Gmail account can use Google Pay. You can access it directly via the Google Pay application or point your browser to pay.google.com. Transferring to a debit card typically takes 24 hours, while transfers to a linked bank account can take up to five days. There are no transaction fees for using Google Pay.
How to set up Google Pay on your Android phone.
Homas Trutschel / Photothek via Getty Images
One of the first digital payment platforms, PayPal is free to use as long as it’s connected to a bank account (or you have a PayPal Cash bank account). If you initiate a transaction using a credit card, a 2.9% fee applies, plus $ 0.30 per transaction. Standard transfers can take one to three days to appear in your account. Instant transfers appear immediately but are charged a 1% transaction fee.
Learn more about PayPal.
Getty Images
Owned by PayPal, Venmo is the third most popular financial app on the App Store. Once you’ve downloaded it, you can send or request money to or anyone else in the United States with a Venmo account. It’s free as long as payment is from a bank account, debit card, or prepaid debit card. For payments funded by credit card, Venmo charges a 3% transaction fee.
Transfers to a bank account usually take between one and three days to clear. There is an option for instant transfer, which is processed in 30 minutes or less. These are charged an additional 1.5% transaction fee (minimum $ 0.25, maximum $ 15).
Zelle
Owned by a collective of 10 US financial institutions, including Bank of America, Capital One, and JP Morgan, Zelle lets you transfer funds directly between bank accounts. There is no app to download and no account to configure. Just enter the email address or phone number of the person you want to pay, and boom: the transaction is instantaneous, and all your details and bank details remain private.
You can download the Zelle app or use it on your bank’s website, if it’s one of the more than 30 institutions that support it. (Not all banks and credit unions participate, but most do.) Although Zelle does not charge you for sending or receiving money, some banks may apply fees to transactions made using the technology.
Learn more about Zelle.
The editorial content on this page is based solely on objective and independent reviews of our editors and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It was not supplied or ordered by a third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or services offered by our partners.
Comments are closed.