Comment by Aurornis
4 days ago
The US actually has two real-time payment systems: RTP and FedNow. The number of participating banks is growing rapidly.
https://real-timepayments.com/Banks-Real-Time-Payments.html
Prior to that, you could get instant transfers but it came with a small fee because they were routed through credit card networks. The credit card networks took a fee but credit card transactions also have different guarantees and reversibility (e.g. costing the bank more in cases of fraud)
From the linked RTP site: "Because of development and operational costs most banks and credit unions will offer "send only" capabilities"
Which means nobody can send me money.
FedNow on the backend is supported by fewer banks than Zelle is, which is probably why hardly any banks expose a front-end for it.