Ask HN: Is there an easy way to transfer money to people?

2 points by Xcelerate 13y ago ↗ HN

Say I'm at a restaurant and (to make it easy) one guy pays the bill, and I want to give him my share of $11.53 for the meal. Is there an app for my phone where I can just click on his Facebook picture or enter his email and transfer that amount to him?

Or suppose I'm at a bake sale and I don't have any cash on me. I can just enter the name of the person running the sale and quickly transfer $2.50, with a note for my records saying that it was for a bake sale treat.

The reason I ask is: I haven't found such an app, and if there is one, it's not well-publicized. It seems like an interesting idea for a side-project. Thoughts?

13 comments

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vphamdev 13y ago ↗

My friends and I use Venmo for exactly that.

vphamdev 13y ago ↗

https://venmo.com/

voltagex_ 13y ago ↗

One of the big banks in Australia, Commbank, have launched something like this - http://www.commbank.com.au/mobile/commbank-kaching/what-is-k...

eduardordm 13y ago ↗

You just need their social security number or a name. Every bank offer this. If you have just a name, they create a PIN that you send to the recipient.

OafTobark 13y ago ↗

Payments is not easy for a side project. That said, a few apps can solve this. Also why not the PayPal app since you're entering email as well?

dangrossman 13y ago ↗

You're describing PayPal. Splitting a bill at a restaurant using your phones (or Palm Pilots back then) was its founding story 14 years ago. [1] Now 230 million people have accounts -- surely you've heard of it?

1: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/1999/07/20958

Xcelerate 13y ago ↗

So... how do I actually use PayPal to do such a thing now?

dangrossman 13y ago ↗

> Is there an app for my phone where I can just click on his Facebook picture or enter his email and transfer that amount to him?

Click Send Money, enter his e-mail address and the amount, press send. Or if you both have the right phones, just bump them together. http://i.imgur.com/p1Gq5.jpg

You can use the native app on iOS or Android, or use the website.

Xcelerate 13y ago ↗

Thanks for the information. I didn't realize Paypal had such a convenient way of doing that.

> Why do I feel like I'm being punked?

Maybe because I haven't heard of every feature that every single web service has to offer?? Just a guess.

jpau 13y ago ↗

Send it to their email address associated with Paypal.

Here in Australia, I've never seen it used for such. The big banks have launched apps for this purpose, though (eg Commonwealth Bank's "KaChing" app).

http://www.commbank.com.au/mobile/commbank-kaching/what-is-k...

KRoP 13y ago ↗

Simple (BankSimple)[1] has a blog post describing this situation and some of the potential problems.[2] Worth reading.

[1] https://simple.com/ [2] https://simple.com/blog/Banking/mobile-payments/

DistortedRhymes 13y ago ↗

In Australia again see www.pygg.co - send payments using twitter handle, mobile (cell) number, or email address.

atomical 13y ago ↗

Chase quickpay works and works well. Enough people around me have Chase to make my life a little easier.