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As peer-to-peer payments services like Cash App, Venmo, and Zelle grow in popularity in the United States, some observers fret that underserved populations are being left behind. PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Xoom money-transfer service said Tuesday it’s attacking that issue in a collaboration with Walmart Inc. and Euronet Worldwide Inc.’s Ria remittance platform. The three-way collaboration will allow domestic Xoom users for the first time to send cash to recipients living in the United States.
With the new service, which is being rolled out now, recipients can pick up cash at 4,684 Walmart stores and at another 175 bank locations that support Ria. Walmart has long worked with Ria for money-transfer services. Fees and other terms for the cash pickups were not immediately available, though PayPal’s announcement said “affordable rates” apply.
The new service also touts fast availability. “Many of our customers in the U.S. already send money to loved ones in the country, and they usually prefer that the money is available right away,” said Julian King, vice president and general manager at San Francisco-based Xoom, which PayPal acquired in 2015 for just over $1 billion. “This rollout reinforces our commitment to make money transfers fast, easy, and affordable for everyone, whether they are at home or on-the-go.”
The importance of the new service lies in the fact that it enables underbanked or unbanked persons to use Xoom’s mobile app or Web site to send cash domestically in a country in which more than half of consumers make domestic P2P payments, PayPal says. Many of these consumers use “fringe” providers and pay “high” fees for this service now, the company says.
Xoom’s domestic U.S. deal with Ria follows a similar agreement last year under which Ria enables Xoom cash pickups for the first time in Russia and 59 other countries, along with expansion of Xoom availability in 26 other nations.
Founded in 2001, Xoom was an early entrant in the market for digital remittances. It now operates in more than 160 countries. Buena Park, Calif.-based Ria was acquired by Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet in 2007 and launched its domestic money-transfer service with Walmart in 2014.
