British high street bank Barclays have today pushed out their attempts at entering the mobile payment space. Their app, Pingit promises to let users transfer money upto £300 per day using nothing more than a phone number. There are no NFC capabilities in this though as you would find in Google Wallet. With the UK still trying to get up to speed with this, Barclays have opted for a much more simple approach.
The application is free to download and importantly all transfers are also free. It isn't platform exclusive either with iOS and BlackBerry apps also available. At the moment you have to have a Barclays account to be able to send money, but they have promised to open it up to other banks sometime in March. Anyone using any bank can register to recieve money though.
It works by linking your bank account to your current mobile phone number. To make a payment to someone, you can either choose them from your address book or enter their phone number manually. The secure transfer is then carried out in seconds. Everything is secured by a five digit passcode.
The usefulness of such an app is questioned when you consider that you won't be able to go into a store, and pay for items using Pingit. The use cases are more personal, and one of the examples given is that ten people go out for a meal. When it comes to paying, everyone wants to pay individually and by a different method potentially taking a decent length of time. By bringing Pingit into the equation, one person can pay on their credit card and the other 9 use Pingit to instantly send them their share of the bill. Or how about parents quickly sending money to their student son or daughter at university?
With the number of smartphones ever increasing, anything that can make something tedious like bank transfers and sending money more convienient is a step in the right direction. Some will always be cautious over using their phone to deal with their money. The emphasis here though is that using an application such as Pingit is as secure as regular online banking which we do all the time.
Hit the source link for more information, and download links can be found after the break.
Source: Barclays
Reader comments
Barclays releases Pingit, send and receive money using a phone number
In several African countries, driven by poverty and safety (can't afford checking account, check cashing places crooked) the capability to transfer money to cell phones - dumb ones - has existed for some time now. Not sure why it isn't done here; maybe not enough money to be made with it. I'm looking forward to the day we can do all banking and payment through our devices. Seems the going is slow.
ADS
Quote:
Anyone using any bank can register to recieve money though.
It works by linking your bank account to your current mobile phone number.
I guess it depends on where this linking is done, and who keeps those records. Seems to me that that Barclays would have to have this massive directory of phone number that have wire transfer information attached, which means they have both pieces of the puzzle. Wow, I hope their IT guys are on top of things and they don't get hacked AGAIN.
Massive directory yes, but in effect they're just storing a list of numbers. We all hope banks don't get hacked any of the time, whichever bank you're with. But then you could just as easily have your wallet stolen, just the nature of the world we live in.
Barclays are a massive organisation. If you can't trust your bank to look after your money though what do you do with it? Just something we have to live with I guess
Pingit reminds me of...
PINGAS!
All I could think of was "Oooops sorry wrong number. Can I have my $500 back?"
How about Barclays release an actual mobile banking app like any sensible European bank has had for years? Gods, I miss Sweden sometimes.