How to Send Money With Your Phone

Sending money with your phone is getting easier as more banks are starting to offer person to person payment services.  If you belong to one of these banks you can send money with your phone simply by sending an email or text message.  The person you’re sending money to doesn’t even have to be a member of your bank to get their money.

Here’s a quick look at the mobile payment services of PayPal, Popmoney, and ZashPay that you can use to send money with your cellphone.

Send Money with PayPal

If you’re a PayPal customer, you’ve been able to send money using someone’s email address or cell phone number for a while now.  I’ve sent money to many people via their email address, however, in order for the person on the other end to get their money they have to sign up for a PayPal account.  New p2p payment services, like Popmoney or ZashPay, are different because the recipient doesn’t need to have a PayPal account to get their money.

Send Money with Popmoney

Services like Popmoney are provided through your bank with the help of companies that specialize in online fund transfers.  For example, FNBO Direct works with a company called CashEdge to provide the Popmoney mobile payment option to their customers.  CashEdge works with many different banks, so if the person you’re sending money to belongs to one of those other banks in the “Popmoney network’ then they can have the money deposited directly into their bank account.

If their bank isn’t using Popmoney then the person you’re paying provides their bank account information at the Popmoney website and the money is transferred.

Send Money with ZashPay

ZashPay is offered through banks and credit unions via the financial technology comany Fiserv.  They aleady have a working relationship with several thousand banks through their online bill pay service called CheckFree and hope to eventually make ZashPay available to the customers of all those banks.

The flow of how money is sent and retrieved is similar to that of Popmoney.  People that you send money to who aren’t in the network of banks that use ZashPay will go to the ZashPay website to start claiming their money and then be directed to their financial institution to login and complete the deposit.

Sending Money with Your Cellphone

It’s pretty cool to think that where you used to have to go to a place like Western Union to send money, now you can do it simply using your cell phone.  As the network of banks providing person to person payments grows and the technology continues to improve it will be easier and easier to pay someone with the push of a button.

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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