Dwolla

Dwolla
Type Private
Headquarters Des Moines, Iowa
Founder(s)
  • Ben Milne
  • Shane Neuerburg
Website www.dwolla.com
Type of site Online payment system
Registration Required
Users 500,000 (Fall 2013)
Launched December 1, 2010
Current status Active

Dwolla /dəˈwɑːlə/ is a United States-only[1] e-commerce company that provides an online payment system and mobile payments network.

History

The company was founded in 2008 with services based only in Iowa, and having only two employees.[2] After raising US$1.31 million in funding,[3] Dwolla launched in the United States on December 1, 2010, with founders Ben Milne (CEO) and Shane Neuerburg (CTO), in Des Moines, Iowa,[4] and with initially just a few small banks and retailers. By June 2011, Dwolla had grown to 15 employees, 20,000 users, and processed $1 Million in a week for the first time.[5]

Dwolla began with Veridian Credit Union for banking services, while The Members Group of the Iowa Credit Union League processed their transactions.[6]

Additional products and services

White Label

On September 2, 2015, Dwolla released their white label services which consist of a set of APIs to use the ACH system.[7] On October 4, 2015, the companies white label services expanded from payouts to include instant bank authorization for debiting bank accounts.[8]

FiSync

On May 25, 2011, Dwolla released its FiSync integration, which aims to allow instantaneous transactions instead of the typical 2–3 day of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions.[3] As of June 2011, Dwolla has 11 financial institutions who have signed on, providing access to 600,000 potential customers.[9]

Primary service

Previously, Dwolla had charged flat fees of $0.25 per transaction over $10 (instead of a percentage fee). On June 2, 2015, Dwolla announced that was removing all fees.[10] Dwolla has now switched to a Freemium model, with free basic sending/receiving of money (up to a $5,000 limit for personal accounts, or a $10,000 limit for business, government or nonprofit accounts).[11] There is no cost for sending or receiving funds under those limits.[12]

Government Payments

As of April 2013, the Iowa Department of Revenue allows businesses that pay cigarette stamp taxes to now use Dwolla as a method of payment, helping reduce the time payments take as well as reducing processing costs.[13]

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad announced on January 6, 2014 that the state will expand the partnership to allow customers of Iowa Department of Transportation to pay fuel tax and vehicle registration costs online using the low-fee service.[14]

In February 2015, the US Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service added Dwolla to the system which allows US Federal agencies to issue and receive electronic payments.[15]

Inadequate Security Practices

On February 27, 2016, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its first data security-related enforcement action[16] against Dwolla, Inc., a company that operates an online payment that uses consumers’ information to complete financial transactions. Relaying on its UDAAP-related authority, the CFPB alleged that Dwolla failed to maintain adequate data security practices despite representations made on the company website and in communications with consumers that the company has implemented practices that exceed industry standards. Dwolla has agreed to settle and must cease making any misrepresentations about its data security practices, among other requirements.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Businesses". Dwolla (company site). Retrieved 31 October 2015. Today, Dwolla is only available in the U.S., but we’re always exploring ways we can expand to help every small business move money quickly and safely.
  2. ↑ Milne, Ben (June 17, 2011). "We've officially passed $1M a week in transactions". Dwolla blog. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Tsotsis, Alexia (March 25, 2011). "Dwolla's FiSync Lets You Instantly Access Cash, Eliminates ACH Wait Times For Banks". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Dwolla Meetup packs a full house at Mars Cafe \ work=Silicon Prairie News \ date=December 2, 2010". Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  5. ↑ Alexia, Tsotsis (June 16, 2011). "Payments Service Dwolla Hits $1M A Week In Transactions". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  6. ↑ Needleman, Rafe (December 17, 2010). "Cash is dead, says Dwolla". CNET News. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  7. ↑ http://bankinnovation.net/2015/09/dwolla-unveils-white-label-offering/
  8. ↑ http://blog.dwolla.com/bank-account-verification-and-transfers-in-just-a-few-lines-of-code/
  9. ↑ Wood, Geoff (December 1, 2009). "Dwolla launches in Iowa". Silicon Prairie News. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  10. ↑ "No more 25¢. No more transaction fees. - Digital Payments - The Dwolla Blog". Digital Payments - The Dwolla Blog.
  11. ↑ "Transaction Limits - Dwolla". dwolla.com.
  12. ↑ "Dwolla - Pricing". dwolla.com.
  13. ↑ "Iowa Government: Dwolla and Electronic Payments In, Paper Checks Out". www.creditcardprocessingspace.com. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140106/BUSINESS04/301060078/State-Iowa-expands-partnership-Dwolla?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1
  15. ↑ Boyd, Aaron (24 February 2015). "Pay.gov adds 'digital wallet' payment choice". Federal Times (TEGNA). Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  16. ↑ http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201603_cfpb_consent-order-dwolla-inc.pdf

External links

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