PayPal was the first free electronic way to send and receive money to people in the US, to my knowledge. Which is a sad indictment of the US’s infrastructure.

Even today, so many people use Venmo, which is still PayPal. Apple Cash seems to work well, but still involves an unnecessary middleman like PayPal.

Zelle is the only half decent solution, that doesn’t involves third parties.

Zelle is also a third party, just well integrated into the banks' UIs. I had a Zelle payment blocked recently and ended up seeing a lot of stuff on the internet / reddit about Zelle doing similar stuff as the other companies when it comes to blocking payments as well as customer service & having money disappear in some cases.

Zelle is the brand name for Early Warning Services, which used to be called clearXchange, and is owned by the biggest banks themselves. When I write there is no middleman or third party, I mean that the money goes from the sender's account to the recipient's account. With PayPal/Venmo/Apple Cash/etc, the money goes from the sender's account, to Paypal/Venmo/Apple/etc's account, and then to the recipient.

Also, with Zelle, you never need to give anyone your bank account number, and you are never authorizing anyone to reach into your account and take money via ACH, like you are with Paypal/Venmo/Apple Cash/etc. It’s also instant.

https://www.earlywarning.com/about

>Early Warning Services, LLC, is a fintech company owned by seven of the country’s largest banks.

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

>Zelle is a United States–based digital payments network owned by Early Warning Services, a private financial services company owned by the banks Bank of America, BB&T, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.[1][2][3] The Zelle service enables individuals to electronically transfer money from their bank account to another registered user's bank account (within the United States) using a mobile device or the website of a participating banking institution.[1][3]

> Also, with Zelle, you never need to give anyone your bank account number

As a non-American, seeing this listed as a plus is always so strange.

It’s beyond ridiculous. The safe thing to do in the US is to have accounts which you don’t give info to anyone. And then you setup ACH transfers from that account to a checking account you use for expenses, and only keep smaller amounts in the checking account enough for money going out in the near future.

> PayPal was the first free electronic way [...]

What do you mean by 'free'? Didn't they always charge fees?

Not for sending money to friends - fees are charged when paying for goods & services