Zelle^® is a fast, safe and easy way to send money directly between almost any bank accounts in the U.S., typically within minutes.³ With just an email address or U.S. mobile phone number, you can send money to people you trust, regardless of where they bank.²

You can send money to friends, family, and others you trust.²

Since money is sent directly from your bank account to another person’s bank account within minutes,³ it’s important to only send money to people you trust, and always ensure you’ve used the correct email address or U.S. mobile number.

To get started, log in to Alerus online banking or mobile app and navigate to the “Send Money With Zelle^®” tab. To enroll, accept terms and conditions, tell us your email address or U.S. mobile number and deposit account, and then you will receive a one-time verification code, enter it and you’re ready to start sending and receiving with Zelle^®.

To send money using Zelle^®, simply add a trusted recipient’s email address or U.S. mobile phone number, enter the amount you’d like to send and an optional note, review, then hit “Send.” In most cases, the money is available to your recipient in minutes.³

To request money using Zelle^®, choose “Request,” select the individual(s) from whom you’d like to request money, enter the amount you’d like to request, include an optional note, review and hit “Request.”⁴

To receive money, just share your enrolled email address or U.S. mobile phone number with a friend and ask them to send you money with Zelle^®.

If you have already enrolled with Zelle®, you do not need to take any further action. The money will be sent directly into your bank account and will be available typically within minutes¹.

If you have not yet enrolled with Zelle®, follow these steps:

1. Click on the link provided in the payment notification you received via email or text message.
2. Select Alerus.
3. Follow the instructions provided on the page to enroll and receive your payment. Pay attention to the email address or U.S. mobile number where you received the payment notification – you should enroll with Zelle® using that email address or U.S. mobile number where you received the notification to ensure you receive your money.

Zelle® is a great way to send money to family, friends, and people you are familiar with such as your trainer, babysitter, or neighbor².

Since money is sent directly from your bank account to another person’s bank account within minutes¹, Zelle® should only be used to send money to friends, family, and others you trust.

Neither Alerus nor Zelle® offers a protection program for any authorized payments made with Zelle® – for example if you do not receive the item you paid for or the item is not as described or as you expected.

It’s easy — Zelle® is already available within Alerus online banking and mobile banking app. Check our app or sign in online and follow a few simple steps to enroll with Zelle® today.

You can find a full list of participating banks and credit unions living with Zelle® here.

If your recipient’s financial institution isn’t on the list, don’t worry! The list of participating financial institutions is always growing, and your recipient can still use Zelle® by downloading the Zelle® app for Android and iOS.

To enroll with the Zelle® app, your recipient will enter their basic contact information, an email address and U.S. mobile number, and a Visa^® or Mastercard^® debit card with a U.S.-based account (does not include U.S. territories). Zelle® does not accept debit cards associated with international deposit accounts or any credit cards.

When you enroll with Zelle® through your online banking account, or mobile banking app, your name, the name of your bank, and the email address or U.S. mobile number you enrolled is shared with Zelle® (no sensitive account details are shared – those stay with Alerus).

When someone sends money to your enrolled email address or U.S. mobile number, Zelle® looks up the email address or mobile number in its “directory” and notifies Alerus of the incoming payment. Alerus then directs the payment into your bank account, all while keeping your sensitive account details private.

In order to use Zelle®, the sender and recipient’s bank accounts must be based in the U.S.

You can only cancel a payment if the person you sent money to hasn’t yet enrolled with Zelle®. To check whether the payment is still pending because the recipient hasn’t yet enrolled, you can go to your activity page, choose the payment you want to cancel, and then select “Cancel This Payment.”

If the person you sent money to has already enrolled with Zelle®, the money is sent directly to their bank account and cannot be canceled. This is why it’s important to only send money to people you trust, and always ensure you’ve used the correct email address or U.S. mobile number when sending money.

If you sent money to the wrong person, we recommend contacting the recipient and requesting the money back. If you aren’t able to get your money back, please call the client service center at 800.279.3200 so we can help you.

Scheduled or recurring payments sent directly to your recipient’s account number (instead of an email address or mobile number) are made available by Alerus but are a separate service from Zelle® and can take 1 – 3 business days to process.

You can cancel a payment that is scheduled in advance if the money has not already been deducted from your account.

Money sent with Zelle® is typically available to an enrolled recipient within minutes¹.

If you send money to someone who isn’t enrolled with Zelle®, they will receive a notification prompting them to enroll. After enrollment, the money will be available in your recipient’s account, typically within minutes¹.

If your payment is pending, we recommend confirming that the person you sent money to has enrolled with Zelle® and that you entered the correct email address or U.S. mobile phone number.

If you’re waiting to receive money, you should check to see if you’ve received a payment notification via email or text message. If you haven’t received a payment notification, we recommend following up with the sender to confirm they entered the correct email address or U.S. mobile phone number.

Still having trouble? Please contact the client service center at 800.279.3200.

Yes! They will receive a notification via email or text message.

Keeping your money and information safe is a top priority for Alerus. When you use Zelle® within our mobile app or online banking, your information is protected with the same technology we use to keep your bank account safe.

If you don’t know the person, or aren’t sure you will get what you paid for (for example, items bought from an online bidding or sales site), you should not use Zelle® for these types of transactions.

These transactions are potentially high risk (just like sending cash to a person you don’t know is high risk). Neither Alerus nor Zelle® offers a protection program for any authorized payments made with Zelle® – for example, if you do not receive the item you paid for or the item is not as described or as you expected.