How many times have you needed a friend or client to pay you and the only way they could was with a check. Checks are a pain in the butt. First, you gotta go to your bank, go to the ATM and deposit the check. Sometimes it can take days to clear! Just wish you could click on your phone and make a payment or have someone make a payment to you, just like that?

There are a couple of new solutions to pay by phone I have researched and wanted to share with you:

Mastercard MoneySend is a solution that offers:

- transfers $ person to person
-one time registration, enter a card number for transactions
-has you create a pin # and password for security
-only catch, to get/receive, both parties must use MoneySend software

You can receive $ for FREE, but it cost to send it (similar to Paypal’s setup)
0-$50 = $0.29
$50-200 =  $0.99
$200+ =  $2.95

Venmo seems like a nice alternative to Mastercard (the indie version of exchanging $ via phone). It features:

-Allowing you to create a free account
-iPhone or Android preferred, but can use SMS commands
-links up to a bank account
-No processing fees, 100% free when it’s friend to friend
-Business Use – Small percentage of payment
-Send up to $1,000/day of payment, withdraw up to $500
-If someone isn’t on Venmo, pay or charge anyone with a phone number or email via txt or email.

Have any of you had experience using either? How would your life be simplified if you could take payments over your phone?