How to Delete Your Zelle Account from Bank of America

Providing quick and simple person-to-person transfers, Zelle is a great way to send money to people you know. You can pay your friend for your portion of the lunch or send money to your spouse to buy something, and Zelle will make sure the transaction is completed in a matter of minutes.

Connecting with more than 50 U.S. banks and credit unions, Zelle even allows you to use their service directly from a banking app. It applies to both online on mobile banking. And the most interesting part about it is that Zelle doesn’t incur any fees.

Deleting Your Zelle Account

If you want to delete your Zelle account from a banking app, there’s no automated way around it, since you can’t do it using Zelle or your mobile or web-banking app. The only way to remove Zelle is to call your bank and follow the instructions provided by the customer service operator.

As far as the Bank of America customers are concerned, you can find the bank’s mobile banking customer support phone number following these few steps:

1. Open the Bank of America website.
2. In the top right corner of the home page, click “Help.”
3. In the “We’re here to help” menu on the right side of the page, click “Ways to contact us.”
4. Click “Mobile Banking” in the third column to the right.
5. Here you’ll find the “Mobile Banking support” phone number under the “Call us” section.
   

No Protection Programs for Zelle Users

If you want to delete Zelle from your mobile banking app, you may have had some bad experience using it. The most common reason for canceling the service is when people encounter fraud when sending money to people they don’t know.

One of the common fraud examples is buying concert tickets from other people online. That’s especially true when making such purchases on websites like Craig’s List. Because they provide a free exchange between people, none of these websites provide any customer protection for the transactions their users make.

When you encounter a fraud, there’s a common practice involved. Right after you contact the seller about the tickets you want to purchase, they’ll inform you the only way to pay them is over Zelle. If you already have it, sending money this way is a breeze. If not, you can sign up for Zelle in a matter of minutes. So, you send your hard-earned money to the ticket seller, and you wait for the tickets to arrive at your address.

Unfortunately, in this example, they never do. The person who “sold” you the tickets takes your money and never sends you the tickets. And there’s absolutely nothing you can do to retrieve the money you sent. That even applies when both of you use the same bank.

The reason why you can’t do anything about it is simple. Neither Zelle nor any of the partner banks provide any protection programs for transfers done over Zelle. That’s why Zelle stresses that you should only send money to people you know and trust. If you send it to someone you don’t know, they can’t guarantee the transfer safety in any shape or form.

One E-Mail Address per Zelle Account

There’s also another reason why you might want to cancel your Zelle account with a bank. Since the main identification parameter for using this service is either your e-mail address or a mobile phone number, you can’t use the same one in two different banks.

To start using Zelle with another bank, you’ll need first to delete your Zelle account in the bank where you’re currently using it. If you don’t want to do this yourself, you can also contact the bank with which you want to associate your existing Zelle account. They will remove the association with the other bank, and let you start using the service.

Please note, if there are any transactions in the other bank that still haven’t cleared when your new bank enforces the removal of association with that bank, all pending transactions will be canceled. If you’re in a hurry and you can’t wait for the transactions to go through, then you’re all good. Just make sure to create your canceled outgoing transfers once you login to your new Zelle-enabled banking app.

Of course, if you have another e-mail address or a mobile phone number, you can use them to apply for Zelle in a different bank. That way, you won’t have to delete your Zelle account in the current bank.

Keep Zelle Running

Whether you’re canceling Zelle with your bank because you bumped into fraud on Craig’s List, or you want to use it with another bank, keep in mind that it’s a great service to have. If you don’t want to use it with a bank, you can always use the Zelle app to pay other people directly from your mobile phone. And remember, never send money over Zelle to people you don’t personally know.

Have you managed to delete Zelle from your banking app? Did you have any unpleasant experiences with frauds? Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments section below.