Facebook users who use the Facebook Messenger app will now be able to send money directly to other app users. The company announced on March 17 that the new feature will give people a more convenient and secure way to send or receive money between friends.
However, it seems that at the moment, the money transfer option will only be available for those in the U.S. as verification requires those who will transfer money to provide a Visa or MasterCard debit card issued by a U.S. bank. This new tool for the FB Messenger app will be gradually rolled out in the coming months until all kinks are sorted out. The release will be across all desktops and Google's and Apple's mobile platforms.
The integration of the money transfer service came after the California-based company signed on David Marcus, Paypal's former president, to be the social networking site's separate messaging group's top man. Marcus said that his inspiration came from Tencent's WeChat, providing fund-focused services like payments and car-hailing services. Tencent is the largest social networking company in China, with WeChat its leading messaging app.
Facebook separated the Messenger app from its main social networking app in November last year, and FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg is quoted as saying that he would not be interested in generating revenues from FB Messenger until it reaches at least a billion users. To date, the social network's messaging app already has 500 million users. This means that Facebook will probably not plan to charge money transfer transactions in the meantime. Being a free-of-charge service, the money transfer option will help Facebook tackle other social apps that already offer fund exchange options, such as Ebay's Paypal, Snapchat, and Venmo.
For Messenger friends to use the service, they can just start a message with a friend, tap the $ icon and enter the amount to send, and then tap Pay. For friends to receive funds, they must open the conversation and tap Add Card in the message thread. The Add Card option is a security feature that will add the funds to a debit card. The money will be transferred immediately, although availability will still depend on the bank's policies.
