Introducing Mint PayBack

43 points by mase 14 years ago | 23 comments

epikur 14 years ago |

$0.99/transaction is quite steep compared to Venmo (free).

ericd 14 years ago | |

Also, Paypal is free for personal transfers if you have a bank account hooked to it, even past $1000.

bdon 14 years ago | |

I love how the text "Mint collects $0.99 for each transaction" is the only thing on the entire page colored that particular shade of grey, which somehow makes it even more conspicuous (while obviously being intended to be the opposite)

tripzilch 14 years ago | | |

Yeah, I got exactly the same impression, as if they were trying to sneak it past me, or something.

Why not just be upfront and advertise your fees openly?

ajratner 14 years ago |

Sounds really cool. I like services that offer solutions that are easier along the dimension of horrible-awkward-interactions. I.e. I think that maybe the biggest appeal of this is not actual the time saved finding the person at a time when they have the right cash on hand, but the fact that Mint will send the email for you in a clean, impersonal but not menacing manner.

I haven't tried this or Venmo but I think it would be cool if they added some sort of group portal service, where you could email a group of friends, say for "Dinner: $96", and then Mint would email all of them with a link to a spreadsheet/form of some kind where they could list what they've already paid each other, other related grievances that would affect how much they owe, etc. And then once all had approved the resolved list of payments, the process would proceed on an individual level as normal with the correct amounts.

tripzilch 14 years ago |

How's this different from logging onto my online bank account, and transferring the amount to the account number of my friend via text message authentication? Except that it's not free but they take a $0.99 cut?

Why would I want to pay for the privilege of transferring money?

Now if it'd make international transfers easier... But still, $0.99 is pretty steep IMO.

pbreit 14 years ago |

Interesting that it's Mint branded as opposed to Intuit, Quicken or something new.

It looks like there's a decent chance that there is no service whatsoever behind the interest-collection and survey. Not a bad strategy for gauging interest, I guess.

TomGullen 14 years ago |

Yuck. Why should you need to do this with friends. I hate the idea

michaelbuckbee 14 years ago | |

Credit card transactions between friends still aren't that easy. Not everyone likes (or has) Paypal, etc.

Something like this would be extremely helpful for situations like multiple couples renting a beach house or people chipping in for an expensive gift for somebody else.

filiwickers 14 years ago | | |

I have used WePay (https://www.wepay.com/) in the past and really liked it. They charge less than Mint is planning on charging. For credit cards its 3.5% with a 50 cent min. The fee is less if you use your bank account.

pbreit 14 years ago | | |

Credit cards are the wrong payment method for paying friends. Credit cards make sense for strangers paying strangers where the payment needs to occur instantly and at least one party is willing to pay up to 3%, none of these being the case when paying friends.

ajratner 14 years ago | |

To be annoying by tacking a long, overly thought-out comment onto yours (sorry): Agree with this root sentiment, for many other things that used to be done casually and amicably in real life and are now replaced by process-driven, efficiency-focused and sterilized online versions. However I think that such a substitute is ok, or better- great, when (a) the thing just wouldn't happen at all in the first place because it's just too difficult (e.g. say keeping in regular touch with a very large group of far away friends) or (b) it's not pleasant in its real-life instantiation anyways. I think nagging friends to pay you back esp. for small amounts satisfies both of these criteria.

lsb 14 years ago | | |

Why are you friends with moochers? Won't they ever pick up the tab?

This tech looks really useful for lots of verticals, but not for friends. If you constantly pay for people who won't pay for you, stop doing that.

stephengillie 14 years ago | |

You would rather nag and hassle your forgetful friends to pay you back, instead of sending them a little message with an easy-to-pay link?

ed 14 years ago | | |

Probably. It seems very passive-aggressive to invoice a friend rather than just ask them to pay up.

ptl 14 years ago |

It seems like it's not live yet, but I'm curious how it differs from paybaq.com, other than layout, having the Mint name attached to it, and having a "ck" instead of a "Q".

was_fred 14 years ago |

Anybody seen paybaq.com? Similar, first 5 transactions free, and you have a little more control over the transaction. I've been using it for a couple months and like it.

mathgladiator 14 years ago |

Has anyone tried it? I wonder how it works for both the collector and the friend. I can't test it since I've learned not to loan money to people

dwynings 14 years ago | |

The product isn't live. Submitting the form just redirects you here: https://www.mint.com/payback-thanks/#public

  " Thanks for your interest in Mint PayBack!
  We're still in private beta, but we'll notify you as soon   
  we launch to the general public. In the mean time, help us 
  shape Mint PayBack by completing this short survey."

gonehome 14 years ago |

If simple would finally get out those cards - I'd be happy. I feel like it's been nearly a year since I signed up on their waiting list.

flyt 14 years ago |

USAA recently added this functionality to their iOS app: Anybody can send money to anybody else with an email address.

ilaksh 14 years ago |

I wish someone would make something like this but automatically transfer to your bank account. I don't see why PayPal doesn't have that option. Whenever I receive more than 50 bucks or whatever I always want to withdraw it to my bank account.

dangrossman 14 years ago | |

PayPal does have this option for premier and business accounts (which have no monthly fees). Under the withdraw tab, click "Settlement Withdrawal Preferences". Here you can enable automatic daily withdrawal to your bank account.

" Thanks for your interest in Mint PayBack! We're still in private beta, but we'll notify you as soon we launch to the general public. In the mean time, help us shape Mint PayBack by completing this short survey."