We are working on a project to create an integration to Zelle from our online banking platforms, via a solution provided by Velera (formerly known as PSCU/Co-Op Solutions). This solution utilizes the Velera shared branching rails and infrastructure we have built for our national shared branching solution, although a credit union will not have to use Velera national shared branching in order to take advantage of this new interface.
Here are some key features (subject to change):
The user experience:
- Member logs in to online banking and clicks a “Send money with Zelle” SSO link
- Will launch a Zelle application (using a UI maintained by FIS), displayed within a frame (some minimal branding options may be available)
- We’ll pass information about the member to check for enrollment status
- If the member isn’t enrolled yet, terms & conditions are presented
- Member can enroll using phone number, email address, or both (a verification code is sent to complete enrollment)
- Once enrolled member can send/money via Zelle
- Member can choose names from their contact list or create from scratch
How transactions work:
- Will ride via the shared branch transaction communication rails
- All processing functionality is the same, using a different network ID and transaction processing codes – so if you are a SB client, you’ll start seeing additional traffic coming through along with shared branch activity (same daily reports, same settlement process, etc.)
- If recipient is already enrolled, funds move right away; if not, the recipient must enroll and designate where the money should go before transaction is initiated to the member (so CU*BASE won’t know about the transaction until then)
Other features:
- CUs don’t need to participate in the Velera SB network, but they will be using our Issuer module to interface to CU*BASE
- We can develop this for both desktop/mobile web as well as the mobile app (we may decide to do one at a time)
- Members who have already enrolled via another FI will have the option of transferring their existing token
- Velera handles all alert notifications to the phone/email address provided by the member when enrolled
- Split requests (one request for funds to be sent to multiple people) are supported
- Member can view their activity within the Zelle UI
Status as of October 2024: Project # 61003 is currently in beta testing. Related projects include #62582 which creates an online/mobile web banking SSO (complete), #62583 which includes changes to the mobile app (in development), and #62584 which includes related API development (awaiting implementation). Beta testing is currently underway with Nizari. Full release to all CUs will be determined soon!
Chefs for this recipe: Dawn Moore
We are interested. How much will this program cost the credit union?
Thanks, Anne – see my reply to Jim’s post!
Do you know how much this will cost a participating CU to join this service? We have looked into adding Zelle ourselves in the past and it was VERY expensive for the CU to join. I was curious if you had figures together yet.
At this year’s Leadership Conference we announced that hooking up via our integration with Velera (CO-OP) via their shared branching rails would require a one-time $1,500 setup fee, then $500/month maintenance. If you are not already on the Issuer rail, then add an additional $1,500 one-time setup fee and $75/month data line fee for that. Watch the store for more details coming soon!
I understand this product is similar to Plaid, Venmo, etc. It moves ACH instantly from FI or people without storing all of the recipient’s account information, right? Like the Pay Anyone feature in OLB, it’s instant instead of lag. With that being said, can it replace that cost, or is there more to it? If we enroll in this, can we stop the Pay Anyone without penalty? I can understand the upfront cost and think they are reasonable enough, but why would the monthly cost be so high compared to those previously mentioned services and no startup like when Plaid was added? I’m sure I’m missing some major differentiating factor that I just don’t know enough about the product maybe? Thank you in advance
To clarify, Plaid is a middleman that connects cores to third-party apps and aggregators, but they have nothing to do with directly moving money or anything like that. Our project with them simply provides those third parties a secure way to connect into our online banking so that it won’t be affected by multi-factor authentication or changes to our UI down the road.
For the difference between Venmo and Zelle, I found a very helpful summary by googling “Venmo versus Zelle.” Basically Zelle is FI to FI, Venmo is more person-to-person. The big difference with our project is that we are using the Velera (CO-OP) shared branching rails in order to connect to Zelle, which posts transactions near-real-time to others who also use Zelle. Or the recipient can use their debit card (for a fee) to accept the funds (which doesn’t seem like it would be all that popular with recipients!). The biggest difference we can see is with Pay Anyone you can truly pay ANYONE. With Zelle, you are restricted to sending or receiving money from people who have an FI that works with Zelle.
There are so many ways for members to send money these days, it does get confusing. In the long run most financial institutions will probably elect to hook into as many channels as they can, since you have no control over which channels your members will want to use. Third-party apps will connect with whomever they want, and there’s a big list of players out there working in the “faster payments” space.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that the UI your member will use (which is provided by Zelle/FIS) uses a phone number as the identifier and doesn’t store recipient FI information.