Chase is boosting the mobile capabilities of its peer-to-peer payment program to gain traction against PayPal and others with new features such as real-time transfers.

Payments service QuickPay will be rolling out a slew of new features this summer, including mobile enrollment, the ability to save and view receipts, which join the recent launch of real-time payments for Bank of America and US Bank customers. As consumers now demand real-time convenient services, use of traditional checks has become less common and the rise of mobile peer-to-peer platforms such as PayPal’s Venmo have forced banks like Chase to update their strategy.

“Our customers can now send money to more people real time – just by using a phone number or email address,” said Lauren Francis, spokeswoman at Chase. “[They] can now send money to customers of U.S. Bank and BofA in minutes.

“Previously, this could take up to three days,” she said. “[Chase is] rolling out to other ClearXchange banks in the near future.

“We expect P2P transaction volume within the bank network to climb rapidly.”

Quick payments
QuickPay is now available for consumers to send each other payments within real time, when in the past it could take up to three days. So now users can immediately send and receive money through the mobile service.

The peer-to-peer transaction platform is available through the Chase mobile app. While the real-time transaction feature has just launched, Chase will also be rolling out new features on mobile for the service later this summer.

First-time users will be able to enroll directly through mobile instead of needing to be on desktop. Currently, users have to go Chase.com on a computer and register for the service that way.

The mobile enrollment will attract more users by allowing customers to sign up immediately while on the go. For instance, if one individual has QuickPay and would like to pay or receive a payment from a friend that does not have the service, the other person can immediately sign up without having to get to a computer.

Users will also be able to view and save receipts for their transactions. They can add the receipts directly from their contact lists.

Receipts from friends will also be able to be viewed through the contact list.

The updates to Chase’s QuickPay help it compete against mobile platforms from PayPal’s Venmo that allow users to directly send money to friends and family.

Paying your pals
PayPal Canada rolled out a new payments platform titled PayPal.Me that enables users to send a personalized URL link to friends and family via their mobile device to collect on IOUs and avoid money hassles with owed payments (see more).

The financial service has grown since being spun off from eBay and continues to push ahead in mobile, but whether or not this is enough to remain competitive with Apple Pay and others is still unclear (see more).

“In addition to a more seamless, intuitive experience, the following are the enhancements to Chase QuickPay on mobile, such as enroll in Chase QuickPay, add recipients directly from their phone contacts list, see images of recipients from their phone’s contacts list,” Ms. Francis said.