Small revolution or expected new feature? Facebook is rolling out a new feature that gives people an easy and secure way to send or receive money between friends on Messenger. And it’s 100% free.
Also Read: SnapChat Launches SnapCash
Facebook had been looking into payment features for a while, even more after arch-rival SnapChat has made the move with SnapCash. Messenger was probably the best choice for Facebook to roll out payments, after “forcing” users to use the messaging app a few month earlier.
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Sending money will be very easy:
- Start a message with a friend
- Tap the $ icon and enter the amount you want to send
- Tap Pay in the top right and add your debit card to send money
And receiving money is even easier:
- Open the conversation from your friend
- Tap Add Card in the message and add your debit card to accept money for the first time
The money you send is transferred right away. It may take one to three business days to make the money available to you depending on your bank, just as it does with other deposits.
Send Money to Friends in Messenger from Facebook on Vimeo.
To those who would question the security of online payments through its platform, Facebook reminded them that they have already been doing so since 2007:
[quote]A dependable and trusted payments processor for game players and advertisers since 2007, Facebook processes more than one million transactions daily on the site and also handles all the payments processed on Messenger.[/quote]
And this is not even talking about the millions of dollars they get paid every day for advertising on their platform.
The first time you send or receive money in Messenger, you’ll need to add a Visa or MasterCard debit card issued by a US bank to your account. Once you add a debit card, you can create a PIN to provide additional security the next time you send money. On iOS devices you can also enable Touch ID.
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The new payment feature will be rolling out to users of Messenger over the coming months, in the US only for the moment.
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