Ask HN: How do you send money to friends?

• The absolutely best way: have your payees have an account with your bank and have internal-to-your-own-bank transfers. Some USA banks make this very easy.

• Second best, bank to bank transfers of money to your trusted payee. International transfers are in a state of flux, and may after 2013 be able to avoid high fees. Not yet though.

Otherwise:

• Trusted payee who is sophisticated and smart: Bitcoin.

• Trusted USA to USA party: Dwolla. See: http://Dwolla.com Dwolla only for trusted parties or individuals! Dwolla has surprisingly small cost, because they do NOT deal with credit cards. Best for others who have DWOLLA accounts, or USA to USA bank transactions or people willing and able to submit to USA law and bank regime.

• The credit card interbank system typically has fees in the vicinity of 2% to 3% of the gross transaction. Avoid.

• Avoid PayPal. The PayPal terms of service agreement indicates that whatever PayPal decides in a dispute, PayPal's decision is final without appeal. This in known as a contract of adhesion in the USA, where one party has all of the power. Because of this, do not use PayPal. Look up "contract of adhesion" for details.

• Most other online services rely on the credit card interbank system with its high fees of 2% to 3% for transfers. Avoid.

Off Topic:

• Non-trusted parties? Don't deal with them without a letter of credit. Look up "letter of credit" for details.

UK here, we split our house bills and pay each other by bank transfer. No fee, as instant as your internet connection, account number/sort code pairs are safe to share and all that's needed. Europe wide there are similar id numbers that cover all banks to my knowledge, so you can do the same there.

Free bank to bank transfers to anyone you deal with regularly seems like a completely necessary part of a useful consumer banking system to me.

Venmo is blowing up in my social circle as well. I'm using it several times a week now to pay people for dinners, etc. and have gotten a few friends to sign up to make it easy to pay me.

Another vote for Venmo. There are no fees associated as long as you pay from bank account or debit card. Credit card costs 3%. Easy to find friends through social media. Easy to get friends to sign up.