Square has unveiled a new service called Square Cash that allows anyone in the U.S. to send money to a recipient from their bank account via email. To make Square Cash work you for, you'll first have to compose an email to the person you want to pay, carbon copy to cash@square.com, place the amount of money in the subject line and hit send. Unlike other competing services, for example, Paypal, there are no hidden fees or strings attached with Square Cash.
For months, Square has been testing Cash in private and charging users $0.50 per transaction. However, now that the service is open to the public, everything is completely free. Furthermore, if you have never used Square Cash in the past, you'll be prompted to enter your debit card information the first time you attempt to send cash, which will then be verified by Mastercard or Visa.
In addition, the person on the receiving end will be asked to do the same. Once the debit card verification is over with, there won't be a single login or password to worry over. Just compose an email in the right format and hit send, Square Cash will take care of the rest.
Walt Mossberg of AllThingsD shared some more information on how Square Cash will work.
"Square says most payments appear in the recipient's account in one day. And it says a significant minority of payments appear immediately, something it hopes to make commonplace as soon as possible.
There's one more twist, however. This simple verification system works only for transfers of up to $250 a week. To qualify for the full $2,500 limit-which is also free-you have to provide some added information, one time only. You can give Square your Facebook credentials, or provide your full name, date of birth, and the last four digits of your Social Security number."
Clearly, there will be some privacy concerns when sending cash via email. However, Square has stated that it is impossible for someone to copy your email address and use it to send cash. At the moment, Square has failed to share information on security, so for the time being, you'll have to take the company's word for it.
For interested parties, Square has its own app in the Google Play Store for Android and on iTunes for the iPhone.
