Author Topic: Transfer money electronically... For free!  (Read 5913 times)

Mr One Wheel Drive

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Transfer money electronically... For free!
« on: March 18, 2015, 09:56:39 PM »
Recently a friend owed me some money and she wanted to send it electronically, but using the standard way (interac e-transfer) costs $1.50 and paying that much for a simple transfer really bothered me.

I tried thinking of a better way and realised that I can pay bills directly from my account for free, and so could she! So I gave her the account number for my electricity bills and she was able to pay directly into that, which is the same as paying me back.

For it to work you have to at least trust the person enough to give them this rather benign piece of information.

If you want to give out your credit card number then you can also do cash transfers if one person pays into the card, giving it a negative balance, and then you make a cash advance. With my card, anyways, I don't get charged any interest if I have a negative balance. Since there is no limit to how much money you put into a card I imagine that you can transfer large amounts this way as well.

Once you set up the payment in your account online you can also do automated payments and there is no password that you have to worry about.

jmusic

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2015, 12:53:20 AM »
In my bank I can set up a payee that doesn't have an online account.  All it asks for is name and address, and there's an option for account number if applicable.  No reason why you couldn't do it that way (the bank just mails a check).  Easy day...

Ocelot

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2015, 02:33:40 AM »
Here in New Zealand bank transfers from personal account to personal account are totally normal and probably the most popular non-retail form of money transfer. People throw their bank acc numbers around without fear because, really, there isn't anything malicious you can do with it - except maybe send nasty gifts of money? Everyone just uses Internet or phone banking and the money clears within 2 hours. For this reason Paypal etc is uncommon here, even on Trademe (NZ's version of Ebay) you'd just pay straight to account. Not having this would be a major PITA to me, especially as I (and many others) basically never use or carry cash here.

BTW there is never a fee to do this

marty998

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2015, 05:24:30 AM »
Sad to see the North American banks still in a 20th century mindset. $1.50 for a transaction is crazy stupid business practice. Fast way to lose customers.

Something so simple made to be so difficult!

Down here we can transfer money using smartphones and payments to businesses for services can be made through apps.

Transactional banking free, easy, mobile, and accessible anytime, anywhere.

Mr One Wheel Drive

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2015, 06:22:14 AM »
I am jealous. In Canada there are only 6 bank companies and they have no incentive to compete. They make massive profits on top of that.

arebelspy

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2015, 12:51:06 PM »
In my bank I can set up a payee that doesn't have an online account.  All it asks for is name and address, and there's an option for account number if applicable.  No reason why you couldn't do it that way (the bank just mails a check).  Easy day...

This.  Just have her set YOU up (not your electric company) as the recipient, and the bank mails you a check.  Paypal is also free person-to-person funded via bank account and not credit card.
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theSchmett

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2015, 01:03:28 PM »
This is what gets a lot of people interested in cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. Once you've got it, there is only a tiny network fee to send it.

And just for the record, I don't recommend speculating with it. But as a transactional tool I think it could be very useful.

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2015, 01:45:19 PM »
In my bank I can set up a payee that doesn't have an online account.  All it asks for is name and address, and there's an option for account number if applicable.  No reason why you couldn't do it that way (the bank just mails a check).  Easy day...

This.  Just have her set YOU up (not your electric company) as the recipient, and the bank mails you a check.  Paypal is also free person-to-person funded via bank account and not credit card.

+2

My bank is Capital One 360 and I have have a PayPal account. I've used both methods to send people money with no transfer fee.

Runge

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2015, 01:50:08 PM »
In my bank I can set up a payee that doesn't have an online account.  All it asks for is name and address, and there's an option for account number if applicable.  No reason why you couldn't do it that way (the bank just mails a check).  Easy day...

This.  Just have her set YOU up (not your electric company) as the recipient, and the bank mails you a check.  Paypal is also free person-to-person funded via bank account and not credit card.

Venmo also works the same way. Although I don't think it's available outside the US.

Ocelot

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2015, 01:43:12 AM »
Being mailed a physical check is still a whole lot more complexity than it really needs to be. I haven't even seen a check (or 'cheque' as they're known outside the US) in years!

boarder42

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2015, 05:34:15 AM »
there are many many ways to send money free online that arent as weird as paying an electric bill for you.. Amazon transfers, paypal, google wallet.  simple easy no fees if you use your bank account and not a CC. 

Nothlit

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2015, 06:12:05 AM »
My personal favorite has been Square Cash, but I haven't been able to convince very many people to use it. Now Facebook Messenger is getting into the p2p money transfer game, so I imagine that's what most of my friends will use.

fiscalphile

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2015, 07:12:17 AM »
I have three methods of transferring $ online for free. I use 3 different methods typically to accommodate either my fiance for splitting bills, my nuclear family for splitting gift costs, or friends when we split travel costs, respectively:
1) Chase Quick Pay (two chase bank accounts can transfer 2k between each other/ day, for free)
2) Paypal (pay as a "Gift" is a no-fee transfer)
3) Google Wallet

DangleStash

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2015, 08:07:36 AM »
I use Venmo with friends - we split groceries etc, and when I buy my first property I'll probably use it for whatever roommate I get to pay rent too.

It's no fee if you use a debit card or bank account, and I think you can transfer something like 1k-3k per month.

NumberCruncher

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2015, 09:26:40 AM »
My personal favorite has been Square Cash, but I haven't been able to convince very many people to use it. Now Facebook Messenger is getting into the p2p money transfer game, so I imagine that's what most of my friends will use.

Love Square Cash! I use it a couple times a month.

Heather in Ottawa

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2015, 05:59:04 AM »
I wish we could just use account numbers, but it doesn't seem to be an option, at least with my bank (PC Financial). I just tried adding my husband's bank as a payable account (also PC financial), but the first step is to search for the billing company's name, and it won't come up. I guess it's just not done here?

I was the other side of the electric bill payment - it worked great. A very convenient way to "transfer" money.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2015, 06:04:47 AM by Heather in Ottawa »

deborah

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2015, 06:07:13 AM »
Sad to see the North American banks still in a 20th century mindset. $1.50 for a transaction is crazy stupid business practice. Fast way to lose customers.

Something so simple made to be so difficult!

Down here we can transfer money using smartphones and payments to businesses for services can be made through apps.

Transactional banking free, easy, mobile, and accessible anytime, anywhere.

+1 - So much so that cheques are almost a thing of the past. I received a cheque a couple of weeks ago and it was the first one in three years. My bank doesn't even have an office within 500 miles of where I live.

arebelspy

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2015, 08:38:12 AM »
I wish we could just use account numbers, but it doesn't seem to be an option, at least with my bank (PC Financial). I just tried adding my husband's bank as a payable account (also PC financial), but the first step is to search for the billing company's name, and it won't come up. I guess it's just not done here?

I was the other side of the electric bill payment - it worked great. A very convenient way to "transfer" money.

There should be a way to input a bill payer who is not in their system - just put your husband's name there.  The built-in ones they have all the info for, but you can provide the address and such otherwise.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

ender

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2015, 09:49:16 AM »
Google wallet works, too.

Mr One Wheel Drive

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Re: Transfer money electronically... For free!
« Reply #19 on: March 23, 2015, 10:09:26 AM »
I tried and there's no way with PC Financial to add a random person. It looks like with TD you can add other TD customers by calling the bank.

The thing that I like about the system I brought up is that the receiver doesn't need to set anything up. With the paypal money transfers or Google wallet does the person receiving need to have an account? Also how do you get the money out of the paypal / wallet and into your hands or is it only good to pay for other things from paypal or Google wallet?

I don't think that Google Wallet is available in Canada.

 

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