I can assure you the Chinese market has not ignored SMS. SMS is probably even more popular a method of communication than actually talking on the phone. Why? It's cheaper. And as mentioned in this thread, lots can be said with only a few characters. For example in English it takes 13 characters to say "have you eaten?", in Chinese it only takes 4. ()

Unfortunately I don't think it supports credit unions, however it wouldn't hurt to ask.

The website is http://www.certapay.com/

I believe the service is called Interac Email Money Transfer, and coincidentally I get my roommates to pay me using it as well due to its low cost.