 TITLE: What Are Real-Time Payments? CONTENT: Where Can You Get Real-Time Payments?\n-------------------------------------\nIn your daily life, you're most likely to encounter real-time payments on P2P apps. These apps allow users to send or receive money almost instantly, any day of the week and any time of the day—although you may pay an additional fee for instant payments versus free regular payments. You don't have to exchange cash or a check. You don't have to visit a bank branch or wait for \"business hours\" for money to post.\nBut wait. Outside of these apps, maybe \"lightning fast\" doesn't actually describe your experience with most forms of money transfer. You're not imagining things. Real-time payments are still not the standard for most types of traditional transactions, including check payments, regular electronic transfers and card payments.\nStill, real-time payments do seem to be setting new expectations for speed. For one thing, people really like the idea of faster payments. According to industry tracker PYMNTS, 70% of consumers who have used real-time payments before would be \"very\" or \"extremely\" likely to use the option again if it were available for free, and nearly one-third (30%) consider real-time payments to be a key factor in selecting financial institutions.\nThe value of speedier transactions isn't lost on banks, credit card companies or lenders. They're looking at ways to entice customers by accelerating money movement with real-time payments and other types of timely incentives. Here are a few examples:\n*   Online bank Chime offers early access to your direct-deposited paycheck—up to two days faster.\n*   Personal loans from Upstart may be funded in as little as one day.\n*   The Mello Smartloan mortgage from LoanDepot may shave as many as 17 days off closing by speeding up the approval process.\n*   Many credit card issuers now offer instant card credentials you can use online while you're waiting for a new or replacement card to arrive.\nAnd these developments may be just the beginning. New ideas for faster payments and transactions are constantly coming to the fore. The industry is looking ahead to an additional real-time payments network from the Fed, called FedNow, which could help expand options and accelerate money transfer for consumers and businesses even further. END