A common request from credit union employees, although generally not from credit union management, is that the network (CU*Answers or cuasterisk.com) should move to “get” Zelle. While we understand the general rule of thumb that if members seem to like a solution it makes sense to match it, in this case the credit union business leader needs to look deeper:
- Zelle is a branded solution for P2P. It is a community that you join. Zelle provides a P2P transaction approach that is unique to their brand. Your credit union can contact Zelle directly to find a distributor that will connect your CU with Zelle. Once you have completed your due diligence with the distributor and wish to move forward, CU*Answers will work with you and your distributor to interface your members with the Zelle network and activate your program. Integrations to Zelle solutions and distributors are a custom project and may have custom project fees.
- Beyond Zelle’s total solution (member-facing and CU settlement), some credit unions are pursuing their own P2P solution that relies on the Zelle settlement approach, provided by a connection with The Clearing House (www.theclearinghouse.org). Once again, many vendors can provide a connection with this settlement network for an extended and fast settlement approach for P2P activity. Researching The Clearing House and the Real Time Payment (RTP) network settlement might be another way to emulate a Zelle-type P2P solution in the future.
- Finally, you can compare Zelle memberships with other P2P packaged solutions such as the one offered by CU*Answers and powered by Paymentus, the bill pay vendor. P2P solutions are common with payment vendors today.
Since there appear to be ample providers of Zelle connections, CU*Answers has no plans to be a distributor of the Zelle solution. We do anticipate that sooner or later a cuasterisk.com credit union will direct CU*Answers to facilitate a connection between our CU*BASE solution and a Zelle relationship, but that timing is unknown at this time.