How to send money to a person using just their mobile phone number.
You might have heard in the news today about mobile to mobile payments that don’t need sort codes or bank account numbers, just phone numbers. It’s called Paym and it’s meant to make life easier for all of us.
I tried it earlier on. Straight away the problem seemed to be none of the official guides or articles out there told you how to register!
Once I’d found out where (in my online banking), setting it up with Santander was all very easy. They also promise £3 once I’d register, sent money and received money. Unfortunately registering is as far as I got. My guinea pig thought they were already registered as they use Barclay’s Pingit, but they need to update their app and confirm they’ll join the new system. However once they were it went through quickly and easily. I’m a fan!
Here’s our guide of how to use Paym.
Who’s Involved
Currently it only works if you bank with:
Bank Of Scotland
Barclays
Cumberland Building Society
Danse Bank
Halifax
HSBC
Lloyds
Santander
TSB
More will join later in 2014.
Setting Up
– You need to register directly with your bank and you’ll need to be using online banking too.
– You’ll also need a smart phone where you can download apps. Make sure you update it to the latest version.
– You can only have one account linked to your mobile phone number, so if you have more than one bank you’ll need to choose.
The process was very easy on Santander. I updated the app, clicked to register and was sent a code by text. Once that was entered I was good to go.
Barclays customers who already use their Pingit App need to update the app and confirm they want to use the new service.
Paying Someone
The main problem you’ll face here is that you can’t send money if the other person isn’t set up. If they are it should be easy.
– Look within the app for the relevant button. There’s a Mobile to Mobile tab on Santander, while HSBC has a PayM button. Others might be hidden with menus.
– Select your person from contacts. You don’t need to let it access your contacts of your phone if you know the persons number. However I’d recommend it as if you mistype the number, who knows where the money will go! Looking at the guides for Halifax, TSB and Lloyds (who all seem to run the same software) it looks like you may have to input the number manually.
– Enter the amount you want to transfer. Each bank differs but there is a daily limit to what you can send.
– Confirm the number and amount, then press send.
Receiving Money
Once you are set up anyone also registered will be able to send you money. If someone says they’re going to send it to you, make sure you check it’s been received!