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Send and receive money with Gmail

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Re: Send and receive money with Gmail

#51

Post by ncr100 »

prlambert wrote: post #34

Interesting to see this get traction here today, this article is for the web version which has been around for awhile. But we did just (in March) launch this for Android: https://blog.google/products/gmail/send-and-request-money-in... & https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/14/you-can-now-send-and-reque...

No money transfers for me. My account is now considered for "business" regardless of me considering my personal account as "personal":

"Wallet can't be used: This could be because Google Wallet isn't supported in your country or because you're using a business account. To see your purchases from Google Play and other products, go to the payments center."

I've unintentionally "poisoned" my personal Gmail account by adding Android Developer capabilities to it. An unexpected negative side-effect.

Google has under-designed its Account concept asserting an account is entirely for business if it's merely associated with an Android Marketplace capability.

Google should really support multiple roles for an account. At the least, caution users when adding Android Developer Marketplace capabilities to Gmail accounts about the new limitations this choice will impose.

Re: Send and receive money with Gmail

#52

Post by gcr »

XaspR8d wrote: post #38
theptip wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're asking about making transfers electronically inside the US, that already exists -- the system is called ACH. You use your bank's routing number and your account number. It's not as widely adopted for things like bill payments, since the US banking system is quite antiquated (they still use checks for many payments). If you're asking about international payments between US and EU banks, currently you do that…

Unfortunately many banks seem to put up arbitrary hurdles to performing ACH transfers, or obscure the fact that they are available. Certainly I've had this issue with Wells Fargo, US Bank, and BoA. I assume this is because a number of them use "free, easy transfers between our customers" as a selling point, which would vanish quickly if it were easy to do between anybody. Sometimes it seems like we're even sliding ba…

One problem is that ACH transfers are inherently quite insecure and the banks don't want to be held liable for fraud. It's in the bank's best interest to make transfers difficult and to check the source and destination identities pretty thoroughly.

Sarah Jeong wrote about her experience with ACH fraud here, where her bank account was emptied when someone found her account and routing numbers: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/why-i-hate-securi...

Re: Send and receive money with Gmail

#55

Post by erichurkman »

gcr wrote: post #52
XaspR8d wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately many banks seem to put up arbitrary hurdles to performing ACH transfers, or obscure the fact that they are available. Certainly I've had this issue with Wells Fargo, US Bank, and BoA. I assume this is because a number of them use "free, easy transfers between our customers" as a selling point, which would vanish quickly if it were easy to do between anybody. Sometimes it seems like we're even sliding ba…

One problem is that ACH transfers are inherently quite insecure and the banks don't want to be held liable for fraud. It's in the bank's best interest to make transfers difficult and to check the source and destination identities pretty thoroughly. Sarah Jeong wrote about her experience with ACH fraud here, where her bank account was emptied when someone found her account and routing numbers: https://motherboard.vice…

This is why I use separate accounts for different things. Bill pay is a separate account. Direct deposit is a separate account. I have an account I _only_ use for writing paper checks (rare these days).

It's a pain in the ass, but a long time ago an employer errantly clawed back a full month of payroll direct deposits from me instead of another employee. The bank couldn't/wouldn't help, and the company's payroll was handled by a third party who was not helpful at all.

Re: Send and receive money with Gmail

#56

Post by tajen »

theptip wrote: post #37
tehabe wrote: post #21

I wonder why banks in the US don't just give all of their customers an IBAN and let them transfer money for free or very cheap. They could even give companies those IBANs and let them receive bill payments that way. But I guess that would be too easy and also too European.

If you're asking about making transfers electronically inside the US, that already exists -- the system is called ACH. You use your bank's routing number and your account number. It's not as widely adopted for things like bill payments, since the US banking system is quite antiquated (they still use checks for many payments). If you're asking about international payments between US and EU banks, currently you do that…

> 25-30$ a pop

As a sidenote, some financial companies named "forex" are specialized in international payments. I use currenciesdirect.com, they don't take a commission and their exchange rate is within 2% of the Google rate. Most other banks apply a 5-10% spread as a hidden fee.

The secret is, they have a bank account in every country, so it's a local payment in US with no fee, and no fee for their bank transfer between their French bank account and yours.

Re: Send and receive money with Gmail

#57

Post by tyingq »

I would love a credible competitor to Paypal.

Google's branding, though, is confusing and may hold this back.

There's Google Wallet, Android Pay, and now this. This is probably related to one of the previously mentioned ideas, but it isn't mentioned on the page.

Re: Send and receive money with Gmail

#59

Post by imrehg »

tyingq wrote: post #57

I would love a credible competitor to Paypal. Google's branding, though, is confusing and may hold this back. There's Google Wallet, Android Pay, and now this. This is probably related to one of the previously mentioned ideas, but it isn't mentioned on the page.

Trying it out, seems like it's powered by Google Wallet, so there should be at least some convergence, hopefully?

Re: Send and receive money with Gmail

#60

Post by tyingq »

imrehg wrote: post #59
tyingq wrote: post #57

I would love a credible competitor to Paypal. Google's branding, though, is confusing and may hold this back. There's Google Wallet, Android Pay, and now this. This is probably related to one of the previously mentioned ideas, but it isn't mentioned on the page.

Trying it out, seems like it's powered by Google Wallet, so there should be at least some convergence, hopefully?

Yes, it's mostly a market messaging thing. Like when they killed Google checkout and said "some" functionality went to Google Wallet.

They really need a more consistent brand and message if they want the general public using these things.

Oh, and they are also shutting down the somewhat related "trusted stores" program.

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