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I just read about this today in the Wall Street Journal, and it sounds promising. I'll copy a bit of the article here, but not all, for copyright reasons. I don't know if the link will work for all, but you could probably search "square cash" on the internet and see how it works. Right now unfortunately, it seems to be for the U.S. only, but the article made mention of "paid premium service" in the future, to allow larger and international transactions.

FROM WSJ:

"...starting Tuesday, you can just email cash, free of charge, directly from your debit card to anyone else's, regardless of what bank each party uses. There's no login or password to remember and no special software or hardware required—you just use email. It works on both ends using any email service or program on any email-capable device, whether a computer, a smartphone or a tablet.

This new service, called Square Cash, comes from Square Inc., best known for equipping small brick-and-mortar merchants with smartphone-swiping devices that allow them to accept credit cards, and with tablets that act as sophisticated cash registers.

Square Cash permits you to send up to $2,500 a week in several transactions or all at once. At launch, it works only in the U.S., and with debit cards carrying either the Visa or MasterCard logo. It isn't meant for buying things from merchants, online or off, only for person-to-person cash transfers.

There are other services that allow you to send money from one person to another digitally. You can do it via PayPal, or via a newer service called Venmo, which PayPal is in the process of acquiring. But I believe Square is simpler and more private. For instance, PayPal places received money in a PayPal account and you must transfer it to your bank in a separate step. Venmo has a strong social component that encourages users to post when payments are made.

I tested Square Cash, sending and receiving money in amounts ranging from $10 to over $1,000, with eight people, and it worked rapidly and flawlessly. I can recommend it for anyone who needs to pay a small debt, give a cash gift, split a bill, or send cash quickly and easily."

The rest is at the link:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 2381777756

Alan

It looks good, I hope it comes to the UK soon so it will break Paypals virtual monopoly

It can only be a good thing Nick.

Sounds like a good idea, there must be some super complicated encryption software for the protection of account and pin numbers etc.

There was a TV prog recently, expaining how 'pin' numbers work and what code is used for the protection of them, but, and yes, always a 'but', they worked on a theory, that if you have enough super computers linked together, (Playstation 3 consoles around the World are used in this way to help study medical matters) it is just possible to break the code.

And I can just see computer hackers now jumping with joy, at the prospect of creating some remote code to intercept the 'stream', when someone activates a transaction...!

Apart from that, yeah, could work in the U.K. as well.

GHOSTHUNTER.

I agree with GHOSTHUNTER above. I'm of the mind that anything can be hacked. What was that old line about a million monkeys with a million typewriters would eventually write "Hamlet?"

But most of us use cards or paypal online, and hold our noses and hope for the best. I would assume the same level of security from this company, as they have been in a related business for a while.

So yeah, anything to get out from under paypal. I hope it works and goes international. (But then, what's to prevent them from cornering the market and then upping the fees? Gotta love it...)

Alan

Tjlglass, you have a 'Private Message'

Ghosty.

Big Al wrote: What was that old line about a million monkeys with a million typewriters would eventually write "Hamlet?"
Alan

zBret

Funny, zBret! Thanks.