YONKERS, N.Y.– Consumer Reports has released the results of tests it conducted on five mobile P2P services to see how they stacked up for user protections.
In its first-ever test-based ratings of P2P mobile services, Consumer Reports said it rated Apple Pay the highest overall, with excellent or very good marks in the key consumer-protection measures of payment authentication and data privacy.
“Apple's overall rating was significantly higher than the other services we tested: Venmo, Square's Cash App, Facebook P2P Payments in Messenger, and Zelle,” Consumer Reports said.
The publication added that it rated each of the five services good enough to use.
Zelle, a service used by about 150 U.S. banks and credit unions, was rated good overall. “But it was the only service that ranked below average on data security and data privacy, which were weighted heavily in our ratings,” Consumer Reports said. “The Zelle app lacks features that keep you from accidentally sending money to the wrong person. That could happen if you mistype a phone number.”
Zelle issued a statement to Consumer Reports saying it will soon adopt the practice of asking senders to confirm recipients before transferring the money, the current practice of some banks and credit unions that offer the Zelle service.
Consumer Reports said it did rate Zelle well for customer support, good error-resolution policies, and ease of use in finding help in the app.
“It's important to note that we rated the standalone Zelle mobile service, not the version you might enter from your bank’s website or mobile app,” Consumer Reports said.
Other Findings
For those who don’t use Apple products, Consumer Reports said it found Venmo, Cash App, and Facebook P2P Payments in Messenger to be very good performers. “However, all three of these iOS and Android-friendly services received only fair scores for data privacy,” the publication said.
Consumer Reports pointed to eMarketer data that indicates an estimated 79 million adult Americans will use P2P payment services this year, an increase of 24% over last year.
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