
Ask HN: How do you build a payments app like Venmo? - idax
I understand the MSB MTL side of the business and the regulatory barriers of entry, but how difficult is it to create a payments application that allows businesses to perform Bank Transfers and Credit&#x2F;Debit transfers between two parties?
======
wilde
How much are you willing to spend per transaction? With Stripe or Braintree
it’s trivial but expensive.

Are you targeting just the US market and dollars? Going directly with a bank
is cheaper but more complex [1]. And unless you’re adding significant value
you’ll probably need a money transmitter license in your state.

And if you’re planning on letting any asshole on the internet use this, you
need an anti-fraud strategy because settlement times are measured in days and
there are plenty of ways that money can be sent but never refunded.

Good luck!

[1] [http://engineering.gusto.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-
persp...](http://engineering.gusto.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-perspective-
part-1/)

~~~
idax
Thanks for this. That link is extremely helpful and goes in depth to the ACH
Networks from a developers perspective. Cheers!

~~~
JJE_Cassinfo
Cass is an agile bank /fintech that you may be able to partner with for cost
effective access to the ACH network. We support payments for various
marketplaces. (Disclaimer: I work for Cass.)

------
ziyadparekh
Hi I did this for Pakistan.

Https://getsafepay.com

We partnered with a bank and built a custome Cybersource integration that
supports visa and MasterCard cards

Let me know if you have questions

------
idax
Any payments developers out there? What does it take to connect to different
banking systems to transfer funds and how do you go about it?

~~~
masudrhossain
Building from scratch or using an API?

You can use plaid.com for that. It also integrates with stripe.com pretty well
too.

~~~
idax
Plaid seems like an incredible company, going this route would save a huge
amount of engineering initially, but would cut into revenues. I might explore
this further. Thanks!

