

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

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?<p>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.<p>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?
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dangrossman
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>

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

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dangrossman
> 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.

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Xcelerate
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.

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KRoP
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/>

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

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eduardordm
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.

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OafTobark
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?

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vphamdev
My friends and I use Venmo for exactly that.

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vphamdev
<https://venmo.com/>

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

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

