For nearly a generation, PayPal has been the third-party payment service most directly associated with the person-to-person digital money transfers. As the country and the world migrate toward mobile, however, PayPal is facing some stiff competition from services that provide users with platforms designed to make it easy to send money using the phone.
A range of new apps and services make it easier than ever to send money using your phone.
ChimpChange
ChimpChange.me is one of the top alternatives to PayPal. Pick up the free app in either Google Pay or the App Store. You can use it anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Once you activate your membership, you can send money to anyone with a mobile number. This service is free, and it works even if the recipient doesn’t have a ChimpChange account. Get your ChimpChange MasterCard, load it with funds and go.
Western Union
The pioneer of money wiring – and the brand most closely associated with transferring funds remotely from one party to another – has evolved into the digital age. The Western Union Money Transfer app enables users to “wire” money to more than 200 countries and territories. Send money to both individuals and businesses, pay bills, track transfers and more.
Popmoney
Popmoney enables users to send money over the phone, through their email accounts or over the Internet on a PC. Users can request money from either a person, a business or a group. They may send money through their bank’s website, or through their Popmoney account or debit card. Notifications are sent to both parties, and the funds are instantly moved from one account to the other.
Snapcash
Known as pioneers in the disappearing message app industry, the people at Snapchat evolved their business model to enable Snapchatters to send and receive money over the phone with their new service, Snapcash. Snapcash works in partnership with mobile-payment service Square, which stores the debit card information entered by users. Just swipe into chat, choose a recipient, enter a dollar amount, press the dollar sign and, poof! Your friend receives money.
Venmo
Innovative and wildly popular, Venmo not only makes it possible to send and receive payments over the phone but incorporates a social aspect that allows users to share updates about payments. Either link a debit or credit card or send directly to another Venmo user. It comes with bank-level security and features several ways to pay for free.
Many apps enable people to send money to their peers, even if the recipient is not signed up with the service.
The arrival of these apps and the integration with social is changing the way money is exchanged. Like these 24 Tools That Simplify Your Life, Chimpchange.me and payment apps in general, make life easier.
PayPal is no longer the only game in town. The march toward mobile has proved to be a fertile breeding ground for developers who are designing innovative and intuitive apps that let one party to send money to another directly from their phones.