Dwolla, a Des Moines-based payments network, launched a new feature today called Instant. By avoiding the electronic funds transfer process that usually takes 2-3 days, the new feature gives Dwolla’s 70,000+ users immediate access to cash:

“Instant is a new opt-in feature that provides you access to cash immediately. When you turn the feature on, you can deposit and send cash without the wait or delay users typically bump into with Dwolla. Whether you’re in a combine, on the streets of New York, walking down the Embarcadero in San Francisco, or stopping in at Mars Café in Des Moines, if you have access to the Internet, you have cash.”

When users want to use Instant to make a purchase from the 4,000+ merchants in Dwolla’s network, they have two options of funding sources. They can either link to a bank account or borrow money from Dwolla and pay it back at the end of the statement period. If the user chooses the latter option, there is a $500 limit.

The pricing structure is simple. Here’s how it works:

• $3/ month participation fee. This can be turned on and off at any time.
• $5 late fee if the user has not paid his Instant balance by the end of the statement date

To learn more about Dwolla, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.