Is there any way to send money to another person INSTANTLY?

Riczter on 22/07/2014 - 21:38

I believe the person that makes this possible, without having to be signed up to something first (ie so you can send to ANY person's bank account) will be very popular. But I think there are barriers in place with the processing of that person's bank etc. But in today's modern age there shouldn't be these barriers. The banks just like holding money for 'processing' so they get more interest… /conspiracy.

Anyway, I'm keen to know what are the best options out there available now. I think you can send money between paypal accounts immediately right? You just need to have a paypal account. Can you set up a paypal account to receive money straight away or do you need to link it to your bank account taking 2-3 days??

Square is another name that popped up but I know nothing about.

Any of the big 4 banks doing anything on this?

Any other options?

Discuss.

Financial

Comments

  • rambutann on 22/07/2014 - 21:42
    +3

    The only way I know how to send money to someone instantly is by using somebody's mobile number to send money via the Commbank app. But thats only between Commonwealth banks..

    • Riczter on 22/07/2014 - 21:50

      Ah i didn't know about that one, cheers for the info. Commbank seems to have a few nifty tricks like this. Wish the others would follow suit.

        • Riczter on 23/07/2014 - 23:25
          +11

          settle on mate. Thats the entire purpose of this thread, to learn the facts. and i didnt neg you ftr

        • Geewhizz on 24/07/2014 - 06:11
          +8

          NAB does this as well. Please check your facts first before commenting.

          The problem with making such 'assertive' comments is that you really need to make sure YOUR facts are right beforehand. Yes, it's instant with NAB if you have already transferred to that person in the past, but it's about 3 days otherwise.

        • kasp on 24/07/2014 - 15:26
          +7

          @Riczter:

          Nah screw you man for not fully understanding what every single bank in the country is capable of.

          What kind of person doesn't have that kind of fundamental knowledge on hand.

          :P

        • Riczter on 24/07/2014 - 15:58
          +1

          hahaha right!?

        • jamm on 24/07/2014 - 19:48

          @Geewhizz: Na it's instant from NAB to NAB accounts, even if you havn't done a transfer to them before. Takes a couple days to transfer to another bank

        • Geewhizz on 25/07/2014 - 16:46

          I had a friend returning some money for something I'd bought for her and she told me it may take 3 days. I figured she was having a lend of me, but simply let it go. It did take 3 days. The couple of subsequent times she has sent to my account it has been instant.

          And my daughter borrows money regularly, and we recently sent it from a different Nab account to the one we've always used. Again, 2 to 3 days instead of the instant transfer that it's usually been.

      • banzini on 24/07/2014 - 14:19
        +1

        ANZ also does this

      • cloudy on 24/07/2014 - 18:08

        All banks send to their own banks instantly.

        If you understand why there is a 3 day delay you will understand all that occurs.

        This topic of discussion was a podcast topic on planet money, google and listen.

    • aec on 22/07/2014 - 22:02
      +1

      HSBC client can transfer money to another hsbc account instantly from looooong time ago. big 4 suck.

      • Riczter on 22/07/2014 - 22:04
        +2

        no arguments there

      • Baysew on 23/07/2014 - 09:08

        HSBC would have about 1% market share in Australia.

        Payments via CBA's Netbank to another CBA account are also instant.

        • Moots on 23/07/2014 - 16:06
          +4

          CBA and westpac and maybe more that I don't know of have a feature called cardless transaction. You can send your money to an atm and have someone simply walk up to the atm input the transaction number and pin you get when you set up such a transaction.

          Instant money all over Australia without any fees.

          I actually used this feature today for myself as I left my wallet in the misses car and she's at work.

        • sintro on 25/07/2014 - 00:07

          1%?

          HSBC is a major shareholder in all 4 major Australian banks.
          http://blog.creditcardcompare.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014…

        • Goldberg on 03/08/2014 - 19:01

          @sintro:
          Wow, that is scary :-)

      • abh_gup on 23/07/2014 - 18:05
        -1

        Try the new tap n pay feature within apps for Commbank, Paypal, etc

      • cnrmlj on 23/07/2014 - 19:36

        CBA has done this for a few years too.

    • Baysew on 23/07/2014 - 08:57

      ANZ has ANZ goMoney. You can transfer to a mobile number-

      Pay to Mobile can be used to send money to anyone who has an active Australian mobile phone number and bank account with any Australian financial institution. Once you’ve made the payment using ANZ goMoney™:

      Recipients who are registered ANZ goMoney™ users will receive an SMS notification confirming a mobile payment has been made (from you) into their ANZ account.

      Recipients who are not registered ANZ goMoney™ users and non-ANZ bank account holders will receive an SMS notification from ANZ advising them that you’ve sent them a mobile payment.

      You’ll then need to pass on the recipient’s secure one-off Collection Code. (You’ll receive this when you make the payment and can view this in the ‘Uncollected Payments’ screen within the app)

      The recipient then needs to visit the secure ANZ goMoney™ Claim Payment site at collect.anz.com. To collect the payment they will require the Collection Code, the payment details as outlined in the SMS and their BSB and account number to collect the payment. The timing of when funds are available in the recipient’s account will ultimately be dependent on the recipient’s financial institution.

      • ronnknee on 24/07/2014 - 17:47

        Very interesting. I'm an ANZ customer and I didn't know this haha.

    • p1 ama on 24/07/2014 - 16:18

      Intrabank transfers are definitely different because they don't have to go through the payments clearing system. Most banks process transfers between two of their customers almost instantaneously.

    • Shwayne on 25/07/2014 - 10:08

      You can actually send money to an ATM now, which is good enough for an recipient that doesn't even bank with CBA.

  • qwerty on 22/07/2014 - 21:48

    You can send money straight away if you have a paypal and they dont - they will have to add details and make an account

    I dont think having a linked bank or credit card is an issue unless you want to withdraw the money but spending should be fine

    • Riczter on 22/07/2014 - 21:51
      +1

      But what proof have they got that you have sent them money? Do they get an email or something saying they have funds against their name and need to create a paypal account to access it?

      • gevidian on 22/07/2014 - 22:07
        -2

        They need to create an acount before you send the funds.

        • Riczter on 22/07/2014 - 22:15

          ah I'm with you now.

        • TrendyTim on 23/07/2014 - 13:44

          No they don't.

          I was sent money to a different email account than i usually get it through, had to add that email address to my existing account.

          Of course with paypal yes they get the money pretty quickly, but if they want it in their account it will still take a few days (even longer if they haven't already linked it), but they can spend it via paypal purchase immediately.

        • qwerty on 24/07/2014 - 13:40

          They get an email from paypal

          Hi So and so sent you X AUD

          Without an account

  • p1 ama on 22/07/2014 - 22:07
    +13

    Any of the big 4 banks doing anything on this?

    No and probably not in a really long time. The reason why isn't actually the banks' fault. It's because in Australia, and in basically all parts of the world, retail transactions aren't settled in real time. What this means is that when you transfer money to somebody else who uses a different bank, that transaction isn't processed straight away. It goes to a queue. At the end of the day, the banks will settle all their retail accounts with the RBA.

    So as an example, let's say person A from CBA sends person B from NAB $100 and person C from NAB sends person D from CBA $50. Obviously, what happens is CBA needs to send NAB only $50. Imagine thousands of such transactions occuring every day. Every time someone transfers money. Every time someone goes and pays with EFTPOS. Every time someone pays a bill…etc. It's a lot of transactions. Thus, it's just simply too expensive and too error-prone to settle these transactions in real time.

    If you want to read more about this, it's called deferred net settlement, or something like that, it's been a while since I did all of this, though.

    Anyway, pretty much like you've said, the only way to do this is through 3rd party organisations such as PayPal who make money through other ways. But, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter anyway because you'll have to transfer from PayPal back to the bank, so it's pretty much the same problem again.

    • Riczter on 22/07/2014 - 22:14
      +2

      Yeah it makes sense to balance the numbers at the end of the day, but surely we have the technology now to let the computers do all the heavy lifting and move to real time settlement. I mean its not like its real stores of value changing hands anymore, its just numbers and computers.

      But yeah, changing the entire banking system, probably not going to happen any time soon. The very suggestion would probably cause a run on the banks and cripple the economy.

      • p1 ama on 22/07/2014 - 22:24
        +5

        Maybe, but you see, there are several issues with that.

        1. Hundreds of thousands of transactions made daily are reduced to very few transactions. Imagine all of the transactions which occur between ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac - now imagine if ALL of those transactions could be resolved down to just 4 transactions. The main issue here is cost, it becomes prohibitively expensive for the RBA to be processing transactions like that.

        2. It will actually reduce reliability. Right now, there needs to be no "constant connection" between the banks. Imagine the disasters if there were computer issues with the other method.

        3. You're right about the bank run, that's a problem too.

        But at the end of the day, remember this, yeah, the banks could pony up and implement these systems, but the one who will be paying is you - they'll probably bump up the cost of the account or they'll make you pay an "instant transaction" fee.

      • hj0809 on 24/07/2014 - 03:00

        In NZ, bank transfers are near instant. Something similar with UK as well. Haven't look at what RBA are doing but they need to step their game up.

  • dongerluo on 22/07/2014 - 22:53

    Commonwealth has this new feature that allows ur friend to take money from a CBA ATM machine without using ur card. I haven't tried myself though.

  • Almost Banned on 22/07/2014 - 23:43
    +17

    There is this amazing new product called C.A.S.H
    If you hand it to another person they instantly have the value you have just transferred.
    Amazing really - can't think why no-one thought of it before.

    • Riczter on 23/07/2014 - 09:37
      +4

      Yes cash is good, except when the other person is across the other side of the town/country/world

      • happysound on 23/07/2014 - 11:27
        +1

        They still have some remnants of the old world with bank branches in some areas… if you can their bank locally, cash over the counter is the quickest way to go…

        • Riczter on 23/07/2014 - 11:57

          yeah another guy mentioned if you deposit cash into their account at one of their bank's branches that's instant so that is a good option.

        • rodericb on 23/07/2014 - 15:03

          @Riczter:
          But if none of their banks branches are near you then you're knackered!

      • [Deactivated] on 24/07/2014 - 19:58
        +3

        Just fax it to them

  • retiredfeline on 23/07/2014 - 00:11
    +1

    Wait for the Star Trek transporter to be invented.

  • Cheaparoo on 23/07/2014 - 00:40
    +9

    Get other persons BSB, bank details. Withdraw cash from your account. Go to a branch of their bank. Fill out deposit slip, deposit cash into their account. The funds are available immediately.

    • Riczter on 23/07/2014 - 09:37

      Ah I didn't know about this one, thats a good idea during banking hours at least

      • lolmao on 23/07/2014 - 19:32

        and if you do this at a branch for a transfer within the same bank you can withdraw and then deposit the money without actually touching the money. I did this for a large transfer

  • Shadowsfury on 23/07/2014 - 07:21
    +2

    Was having a discussion with one of the Partners at work yesterday (I'm an auditor) and he mentioned that instant payments between people is in the pipeline, should be available commercially by 2017.

    I have no idea what it was called, he did mention it but I don't work in our banking area so didn't pay too much attention to it.

  • affable on 23/07/2014 - 07:35

    If interbank tx were to embrace real time settlement, they'd also need to also embrace hourly interest and the can of worms that entails. However I feel the biggest reason to keep the status quo is fraud and mistakes. Batching allows for better QA/control.

  • hazzad on 23/07/2014 - 07:54

    Isn't PayPal pretty instant, give or take a minute or two. As Lon as you have funds in your PayPal account. About as good as it gets for now.

  • aocal on 23/07/2014 - 08:22
    +2

    If you use paypal "pay a friend or relative" with cash from your paypal account, there are no fees for either party, it is instant, the receiver gets an email re payment. Both parties need a paypal account.

    • Peck on 23/07/2014 - 10:15

      Good tip. I looked into it and this is what Paypal Aust. web site says:-
      "Within Australia using your PayPal balance or bank account - Free
      Within Australia using your Australian credit or debit card 2.4% + $0.30 (you choose who’ll pay this fee)
      Overseas using your PayPal balance or bank account **From 0.5% - 3.3%, varied by country
      Overseas using your credit or debit card **From 3.9% - 7.4% plus a fixed fee, varied by country."
      **A currency conversion fee may apply to either the sender or recipient.

  • felipe1982 on 23/07/2014 - 08:32
    +17

    Bitcoin

  • conan2000 on 23/07/2014 - 08:51

    You can do a telegraphic transfer. It clears immediately into the account you are depositing to. I had to do this when placing a deposit for my house. There is a fee associated with it though and for some reason I couldn't do it in the ANZ branch. I had to go into their foreign exchange next door.

    • sparkles on 23/07/2014 - 13:49

      A telegraphic transfer needs to be RTGS (real time gross settlement) to be instant. This costs more than a normal one.

      • conan2000 on 23/07/2014 - 15:25

        Okay, makes sense, I have heard the term before. So essentially we have answered the original question, the ability already exists, you just have to pay for it!

  • stevednj48 on 23/07/2014 - 09:43

    I have paid people cash into their TAB account before is instant and can be withdrawn straight away.

  • Peck on 23/07/2014 - 10:27

    Citibank Global Transfers to participating countries.
    Timing - Sending funds instantly between Citibank accounts in participating countries - Instant.

    T & C's. Citibank Global Transfers available from Citibank Australia to eligible Citibank accounts in selected countries/destinations. Daily transfer limit applies. Funds are converted to the destination account currency at the exchange rate specified to you on Citibank Online before you confirm your transaction. This exchange rate includes a commission for the conversion service. Subject to local regulations, transfers will normally reach destination account immediately, but in some cases may take 24 hours.

  • arameda on 23/07/2014 - 10:32
    +4

    It's actually being developed right now by the RBA/Banks - It's called the New Payments Platform and it should be in place by 2016.

    http://www.apca.com.au/about-payments/future-of-payments/new…

    • Riczter on 23/07/2014 - 10:49

      Ah we've actually got a timeline! Very Cool.
      Hope they know what they doing, if they crash the system its gonna be fun times.

  • McFly on 23/07/2014 - 10:37
    +3

    Surely all Nigerian Princes accept all major credit cards?

    • Riczter on 23/07/2014 - 10:50

      I know the UK Lottery Does! Just gave them my details coz i won 2 trillion pounds! Again!!!

  • sund00bie on 23/07/2014 - 11:57
    +3

    BTC (Bitcoin) is much faster then traditional banking :)

  • suti on 23/07/2014 - 12:31
    +2

    You can already send money to people using other banks same day, its called 'real time gross settlement' (RTGS), and usually it 'hits' the other persons account within an hour or two. RTGS is already used by big businesses for large transactions, but if you and I wanted to do it, your bank would charge you around $30 to do so.

  • AlanHB on 23/07/2014 - 12:33
    +3

    I'm pretty sure you can send money via Western Union pretty much instantly. It comes with a hefty fee however.

    Kinda related, I was in a situation in South America where I lost my credit cards. The only way I could access money for a couple of days was by wiring my parents cash via netbank, and having them send it back to me in South America via Western Union.

  • Weezle on 23/07/2014 - 13:29

    If the recipient is using the same bank as you then the funds should be available to use by them immediately.
    E.g. Commonwealth to Commonwealth, ANZ to ANZ, ING to ING etc etc.

    If the banks are different, it takes 1-2 business days.

  • dfr on 23/07/2014 - 13:32
    +1

    If you have the other persons bank account details, you can walk into a branch office of their bank and deposit cash into their account. It will be available instantly.

  • defined on 23/07/2014 - 14:42

    For bank transfers within the UK, most UK banks have almost instant transfers (in my personal experience, within 15 minutes) 24/7.

    Edit: see this -http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Payments_Service

  • bich.light on 23/07/2014 - 14:59
    +3

    Meet them and hand them the cash.
    Instant transfer.

    • McFly on 23/07/2014 - 15:24

      Read the title properly! It says 'send money' so therefore your solution is not applicable.

      Meet them and throw them the cash.

      Fixed.

  • scyth3r on 23/07/2014 - 16:03
    +8

    Bitcoin…gets popcorn

  • auna on 23/07/2014 - 17:29
    -1

    Western Union.

    Bitcoin atms that allow you to withdraw fiat are the future way to do it almost free. If it's over $1000 chances are its not worth it due to fees.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/07/2014 - 17:44

    Without reading through the whole thing, you could:

    1 - if you're with the same bank and you've sent money before (recently) you can do a transfer that should reach their acc within minutes

    2 - take cash into that person's bank and deposit direct to their account

    As far as it being a bank problem - it's not. The banks aren't always responsible and the big bad people everyone makes them out to be. Payments are regulated by the APCA (Australian payments clearing association) - they don't do RTS (real time settlement) between banks. That's not the bank's fault. That's Australia's fault for having such an outdated payment system.

    Now before you say "well just change it", no, it's not that simple. Firstly consider the millions of transactions done per day. Then consider the billions required to design, build, test, implement and maintain this new system. It's not an overnight fix, but it is likely to be on the way.

    The RBA have been working on it for years, but there's still a long way to go. They are hoping to have it ready by 2016.

    Here's the latest proposal I could find.

    http://apca.com.au/docs/real-time-payments/real-time-payment…

  • Sveta on 23/07/2014 - 17:50
    +4

    While I fear this may not be what you're looking for, both Bitcoin and Dogecoin have been useful for me in this context. I forget the transaction fee for Bitcoin but for Dogecoin I remember it was less than a cent and I commissioned a painting from a woman in Brazil for $20 worth of Dogecoin. Came out beautiful and on my side it was completely anonymous.

    • This Guy on 23/07/2014 - 19:23
      -2

      Wait, you're Metis from SA? I thought you paid $US 500 for that 'painting.'

  • srhardy on 23/07/2014 - 19:03

    CASH

  • da1andonly on 24/07/2014 - 11:21
    +1

    Western union? I don't see any flaws with a western union money transfer. Accepted in so many places around the world, It's quick and in an instant.

    • Baysew on 24/07/2014 - 12:44

      Any idea of fees for Western Union ?

      • Peck on 24/07/2014 - 16:04

        I did a couple of trial runs for sending Aust to the Phils. Fees including skimming on the exchange rate = approx 7% on $A200 approx 12.4% on $A100

    • p1 ama on 24/07/2014 - 13:20
      +1

      Cost is the flaw here.

  • ilostnemo on 24/07/2014 - 16:37
    +1

    TAB cards, no fees, just have to do it when the TABs are open

  • TtiGeR on 24/07/2014 - 20:22

    The national realtime payment platform (not the current RTGS) will be available in 2016.

  • digitalbargain on 24/07/2014 - 22:25
    +1

    the real time aspect of payments is something that decreases a banks ability to detect fraud.. plus they are all still basically running on old mainframes which do batching

  • cristobaljamesy on 24/07/2014 - 22:56

    I'm with Citibank and Im able to send money instantly from my account to my wife's Citibank account without any delay.

    Not sure if it's been mentioned but the accounts are also fee free so there is no dramas if you dont keep it topped up with funds from your income.

    The only problem is finding branches, they are few and far between, especially here on the West Coast.

    • Randxyz123 on 25/07/2014 - 11:13

      deleted.

    • jparga on 25/07/2014 - 14:54

      this also works with citibank accounts around the world……citibank let you use other banks ATM free….one is Westpac….

  • Randxyz123 on 25/07/2014 - 11:16

    Commbank has this feature as does ANZ I believe not sure about the others.

    You are also able to do it instantly between linked accounts with any bank I believe.

  • yannyrjl on 25/07/2014 - 14:14
    +1

    Someone has already mentioned this above, but in a bit more detail. Just off the top of my head, and based on what I recall when working in this space.

    Basically in Nov 13, the major banks implemented intraday settlement between themselves. I.e. previously all transfers are processed overnight, now this occurs several times a day (6 times if I recall correctly). So a transfer in the morning should be in the target account by noon (from transferring between the big four banks e.g. CBA to NAB)

    Smaller banks usually utilise one of the major's infrastructure for transfers and settlement. So there is currently a lot of work between the majors and minors to setup this capability.

    Future direction is real time payments (~few seconds delay), which is part of the New Payment Platform. It is expected (by timeline outlined by RBA) in late 2016.

  • hksmaso on 25/07/2014 - 21:07

    Why dont you hand them in person or send via a post card or greetings card

  • PVA on 25/07/2014 - 21:13

    what about an online money order from the post office?

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