Does It Pay for CFIs to Join the New Paze Digital Wallet?

When Oklahoma grocer Sylvan Goldman introduced shopping carts in 1937, customers weren’t exactly lining up to use them. His wheeled baskets promised relief from lugging groceries through the aisles, but shoppers preferred carrying their purchases themselves. Goldman’s solution? Hire people to push carts around his stores, demonstrating the convenience his customers were passing up. Sometimes, an easier way to shop needs a little help getting started. 

Paze faces a similar challenge at the digital checkout. Its pitch rests partly on something customers already know: their financial institution. For community financial institutions (CFIs), the question is whether that familiar relationship can help customers embrace another way to pay and whether Paze’s growing merchant network makes it a worthwhile addition.

Paze is a digital payment service that launched in 2024, and a big part of its marketing is aimed directly at CFIs. Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union, two professional actors, are the stars of a promotional ad for Paze, which uses their names to symbolize the new digital wallet’s affinity for both banks and credit unions.

One of the goals of Paze is to enlist smaller banks who may have felt existing wallets and payment apps aren’t responsive enough to their needs.

So, what is Paze, how does it work, and where does it fit into the grand digital wallet/payment scheme?

Paze is an online checkout app that is owned by the same big bank consortium behind Zelle. Paze is distinct from Zelle, which is a bank peer-to-peer payment transfer service. Paze allows bank customers to link multiple credit and debit cards and then use Paze to pay online bills without having to type in long card numbers. Banks can subscribe and offer it as a wallet option to their customers. 

In its effort to court smaller banks, Paze recently signed a partnership with Payfinia, an independent payment service firm that already works with smaller banks and credit unions on instant payment services. Payfinia says it can help CFIs streamline and integrate Paze.

Paze is a response to the rise of digital payment vehicles like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. By using Paze or any of the other services, customers can use a listed credit or debit card to make online purchases at participating merchants without having to use the actual credit card.

Capital One, one of the founders of Paze, has posted a comparison of Paze and other payment apps on its web site to help customers understand the differences.

Paze is unique because instead of requiring the use of a separate app, it works directly through a customer’s digital bank account. When checking out with an online merchant, the customer simply enters the email address or mobile number associated with their bank account.

Paze is a late entry into the payment universe, but banks are hoping it catches on so they can avoid some of the costs associated with services like Apple Pay. Banks have to pay Apple a 0.15% fee on every transaction when one of their cards is used on Apple Pay (Apple earned $750MM in those fees in 2025). With Paze, banks can avoid middlemen like Apple Pay and keep more of the income from use of their cards.

Paze sees its target audience as the over-40 crowd. While 70% of consumers under 40 use a digital wallet, only 41% of those over 40 do, according to JD Power in 2025. Paze did its own research and found that about half of bank customers rarely use digital wallets.

Those reluctant digital wallet users are mostly over age 44 and tend to be loyal bank customers. In its research, Paze found that many of those customers believed it was safer to type in a card number at checkout than to use a digital wallet (the opposite is actually true).

Paze has been aiming its marketing directly at that demographic, leaning in on the trust these customers have in their banks to try to convince them to try Paze, partly because it is owned by banks.

Paze reports that more than 200 million credit and debit cards have been added to its wallet, but that figure measures potential reach, not how many customers have activated the service or regularly use it. Participation is expanding: Citi recently joined the major banks offering Paze, and the Payfinia partnership gives CFIs a route into the network. Star One Credit Union was the first institution announced as onboarding through Payfinia. Still, customers can use only eligible cards from participating institutions; a bank-issued card does not automatically qualify.

Merchant acceptance is a separate hurdle. Recent additions include Domino’s, Dunkin’ and Wendy’s, giving customers more familiar places to try Paze. But the service works only at participating online merchants, not at physical checkout counters. Having an eligible card therefore solves only half the equation: customers must also encounter Paze where they shop. For the reluctant wallet users Paze hopes to attract, limited opportunities to use it could make the service harder to turn into a habit.

For CFIs, the practical question is fit: Does Paze’s merchant network overlap with customers’ shopping habits enough to justify the institution’s integration, support and marketing costs? Before committing, CFIs should review the current merchant directory, confirm card eligibility and obtain institution-specific pricing rather than assume that avoiding Apple Pay’s fees guarantees savings. Payfinia may simplify the technical connection, but that alone cannot ensure customers will use the service.

Like Goldman’s shopping carts, Paze may benefit from a demonstration of its convenience. CFIs can provide that introduction through a relationship customers already trust. The stronger case for adoption, however, will come when customers can put that convenience to work at the online checkouts they regularly use.