Live data from Hacker News

Square Cash

square.com

51–60 of 295 posts

Re: Square Cash

#51

This is my favorite type of product. Here's why: - Take an existing known medium (in this case email) and makes it way more useful. - They didn't try to build a bunch of new UI for connecting your Facebook so you can find and invite and pay your friends, paying out to your card, etc. - It magically hides the messiness of an enormously complex problem (fraud, different types of debit cards & banks all over the world)…

Looks like an excellent target for phishing attacks!

Re: Square Cash

#52
I've had a debit gift card for 10 months with $35 on it. Just used this to send that money to myself. Awesome.

Amazing what you can do with a card number and expiration date. Don't loose your debit cards!

Re: Square Cash

#53
post #13

Note that it takes 1-2 days for the deposit. They must be using ACH to do this. The 'free' part is great. Even with Square, I'd be hesitant to enter my debit card number. Planet Money recently did a great episode all about the US's ACH system and why it works the way it does. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/04/229224964/episode-...

> Even with Square, I'd be hesitant to enter my debit card number.

Are you afraid of entering your debit card number? How do you make purchases online?

Re: Square Cash

#54
post #13

Note that it takes 1-2 days for the deposit. They must be using ACH to do this. The 'free' part is great. Even with Square, I'd be hesitant to enter my debit card number. Planet Money recently did a great episode all about the US's ACH system and why it works the way it does. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/04/229224964/episode-...

The deposit is instant and it does not use ACH.

Here's another comment that describes someone's actual experience with the product: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6557516

Re: Square Cash

#56
I'm completely taken back by the simplicity of this + that it's free. So many times have I paid a contractor via PayPal as a "friend" to reduce PayPal's fees.

Moreover, why hasn't a bank or credit card company done something like this yet? Amazing how the solution disappears into a cc: address line and unique link in your email.

Re: Square Cash

#57
post #42

Aren't emails sent in plaintext? What are the security and privacy implications of using this service?

Since it's based on email, the same as email. You can encrypt the body but not (most of) the headers. So yes, there's a privacy concern there.

Re: Square Cash

#58

This is one area where the US seems to be behind compared to the UK. I am from the UK and that service would look quite poor if it launched over here. We have a system called faster payments service that offers instant (although in some cases up to 2 hours) bank transfers for payments up to £100,000 (can differ between banks). You can use this directly if you share bank account numbers and sort codes but there are al…

[deleted]

Re: Square Cash

#59
post #13

Note that it takes 1-2 days for the deposit. They must be using ACH to do this. The 'free' part is great. Even with Square, I'd be hesitant to enter my debit card number. Planet Money recently did a great episode all about the US's ACH system and why it works the way it does. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/04/229224964/episode-...

Faster transfers are possible. Some companies (Kabbage maybe?) are able to do same day or instant transfers without wiring.

I believe it's done by opening bank accounts at major banks, and then using the interbank transfer system which is instantaneous and only requires an account number and a name. Other services offer pushes to credit cards or debit cards using bill pay systems or blind credits.

It isn't actually that hard to move money from person to person. The real issues with this sort of stuff are: a) payments fraud b) money transmission law and regulatory compliance

Re: Square Cash

#60
post #40

Seems to work amazingly although I'm a bit concerned about the security. A friend sent me $1. I get an email from square, link to website where I entered my debit #, expiry and postal. It deposited directly to my debit card (I didnt even know you could do that). The deposit already arrived! "Checking Card Adjustment POS Pin (Credit) $1.00" So I sent him $1 back (to: my friend, cc: cash@square.com, subject: $1). And i…

Out of curiosity: Do you know whether the $1 is listed as "available funds"? Some (all?) banks list pending transactions like check deposits and include those funds in your account total, but then have a separate header for "available funds" that are actually usable to spend or move.
Post reply on HN