Square Cash Has Cheapskates On The Run

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Scribbling an I.O.U. on a napkin may soon be a thing of the past. Options are running out for chronic cheapskates, welchers, and those who left their money in their other wallet.

Square Cash allows people to send and receive money just by sending an email.   It is remarkably simple and free.  Unlike PayPal, there is no logging in to websites to send or withdraw money.  Just open up whatever thing you use to send an email.  In the “To” space, put the email of the person to whom you wish to send money.  Also “Cc” the email to cash@square.com.  In the “Subject”, type the amount you wish to send.  See screen capture below.

The money goes from your debit card to the other person’s debit card in 1-2 business days.  The first time you use it, you have to type in your debit card number, the card expiration, and your zip code.  You do NOT type in your PIN!

You receive an email when someone sends you money as well as when you send money.  Indulging paranoia – if someone hacked your email account, and the hacker knew you were signed up with Square Cash, you’d get an email saying you sent money.  Of course, besides breaking a handful of laws, the person who receives money may be Suspect #1.  That’s a lot of ifs.  You are not liable for fraudulent activity.

The money left my bank account almost immediately and showed up in my buddy’s account in 2 business days.  So as to not pester any more friends with my testing, I also sent money from my regular checking account (Debit Card #1) to my high interest Capital One 360 Checking (Debit Card #2).  That money showed up the next day.  I used different emails for each debit card, so Square Cash knew which account was linked to which email.

Square’s overachieving founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey, also created Twitter.  If Square sounds familiar, in my post “A Solution for Tenants & Landlords” I talked about using Square’s credit card reader to accept tenants’ rent payment to avoid late rent fees.

Besides sending in your rent, this is an excellent way to making good on your poker debts, pay back friends, or send money to your kids away at college.

You are limited to $250 per week, but can send up to $2,500 per week if you add a bit more info.  That only took me a few seconds to do.  And Yes… they even have an app for it.  Imagine that.  Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Chip,
    Thanks for the heads up on this. I have a lot of friends with “short arms and deep pockets”. I’m always a little nervous about companies having any type of access to my financial information, but after reading your post and the WSJ story many of my concerns were answered. Looking forward to using the service.

    http://www.turbotitleloan.com

  2. That’s really awesome. I thought both parties had to sign up to send money. Is it secure sending money via email like that? What if someone hacks into your email account and tries to send money to their own account? Other than that it sounds like a very useful service.

  3. Hi Erick,
    I think you will find that you are not responsible for fraud dealing with your bank accounts. You are also notified via email when you send or are sent money using Square..

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