Square has unveiled a new product called Square Cash that lets you send anyone money from your bank account through email. You compose a new email to the person you want to pay, cc cash@square.com, put the amount in the subject, and send. No hidden fees or strings attached.
Square has been privately testing Cash for months and charging users $0.50 per transaction, but now that it’s open to the public, everything is free. If you’ve never used Square Cash before, you’ll be promoted to enter your debit card on the web the first time you send money and have it verified with Visa or MasterCard. The receiver will have to do the same. Once that’s done, there are no logins or passwords to worry about. It’s as easy as sending an email.
Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal sheds some light on the details:
Square says most payments appear in the recipient’s account in one day. And it says a significant minority of payments appear immediately, something it hopes to make commonplace as soon as possible.
There’s one more twist, however. This simple verification system works only for transfers of up to $250 a week. To qualify for the full $2,500 limit—which is also free—you have to provide some added information, one time only. You can give Square your Facebook credentials, or provide your full name, date of birth, and the last four digits of your Social Security number.
Since Square already specializes in making mobile payments as frictionless as possible with its Wallet app, Square Cash is incredibly easy to use. There are obviously privacy concerns with email, but Square promises that’s impossible for someone to spoof your address and use the service to send payments. They’re not offering details at this time on security measures, so you’ll have to take them at their word.
Square Cash has its own iPhone app too. It’s basically a number pad for entering the amount you want to send. It then auto-composes an email for you. You can check it out now in the App Store.
Source: Square Cash
