PayPal integrates with money transfer service Xoom, 15 months after buying it

International money transfer service Xoom has announced features and integrations designed to do what it was meant to do: exchange money overseas. On Thursday, the company said that it has added a money request feature while also making its first integration with its parent PayPal more than a year after its acquisition (but also 11 months after the deal actually closed). Xoom users will now be able to send money to friends and family using their PayPal account.

PayPal is no stranger to transacting funds overseas, but it had to be between two PayPal accounts. With its Xoom integration, funds can be sent and deposited right within a person’s bank account or be picked up from a preferred location, pay bills, or even reload mobile phones in 50 countries.

At the end of the day, it comes down to people’s preference on how they prefer to send and receive funds. The advantage of Xoom is that it gives people more flexibility instead of having it handled electronically. Maybe they want to have the cash immediately to pay for goods and services or just believe the user experience in Xoom is better.

The PayPal integration opens up additional sources for people to send money through, allowing existing PayPal credentials to be used on Xoom’s website and mobile app to send money abroad, and sharing financial information between the systems. When you’re logged into PayPal, there’s a new option to send money internationally. You specify the country and how you want the money delivered, be it hand delivered, deposited into a bank account, or another option. The system will ask you to create a Xoom account and link PayPal to it. And that’s it.

This capability is currently available through PayPal’s website, and support for the payment processor’s mobile apps is coming soon.

Another feature that is now available for Xoom users is a money request option. Traditionally considered a “one-way street,” the service only allowed people to send money, but if you wanted to ask someone for funds, it had to be through another app. Now remittance requests are supported so people can pay bills, load up their mobile device, and more.

“No more wondering what the best location is for your money transfer or having to write down complicated account information and potentially delaying payments to your loved ones because of mistakes; no more calls to check account numbers for bill payments or mobile reloads,” Xoom explained.

Requesting funds through Xoom is similar to how you might request funds using Venmo or Square Cash, in that both parties need to have an account. But what’s different is that in Xoom, those requesting money can specify the location where they want to pick up the funds, enabling them to spend it based on urgency.

Xoom said that users will be able to start requesting now in 29 countries through either its website or its mobile apps.