[marknutter]

So I tried Dwolla last week to pay somebody back for some concert tickets and it was not a good experience. I, naively I suppose, thought that maybe Dwolla had come up with some clever new workflow for on-boarding people you wanted to send money to. Alas, I got a few angry texts from the person complaining about having had to input their social security and bank account numbers and, after feeling uncomfortable about having done that, not knowing how to cancel their account. The transaction did eventually go through after I convinced them to be patient, but it's not a rousing endorsement of the platform.

I echo some of the other concerns in this thread that there just may not be an easy way to transfer money to people given all the security concerns. I still far and away would prefer to have my bank send a physical check to somebody I owe money too because at least that doesn't require them divulge sensitive information to an entity they don't know.

[wahsd]

Come on. That may have been a bit of an uncomfortable situation, but it was primarily your fault. Just forcing some unknown service on someone you owe money to that they then have to provide all kinds of rather sensitive information to is not good etiquette. If someone owes you money and you offer that they transfer it using Dwolla, and tell them they'll have to sign up for an account and add their SSN of security, sure. But I would then also suggest explaining what Dwolla is.

Also, transferring money from bank to bank or even using checks is not a fair comparison in any way, shape, or form. When you create a bank account you have to provide your social and all kinds of information too. And if you don't have an account and try to cash a check they even take your finger print and then gouge the heck out of you where they can.

You are being kind of ignorant in your gripe about how the service didn't work out well for you because it was your fault and you are comparing two incomparable scenarios.

[jebeng]

I think he understands this. But believed Dwolla was the different based on reading all the hype that has been posted here over the years.

I believed it once. Even Dwolla believed they were going to be different than PayPal, but now I'm sure they realise the reality they live in.

[jessedhillon]

Capital One 360, formerly ING Direct, has nailed this on the sending side. The sender needs to know the recipient's email addr and the last four of their bank acct # -- the recipient will receive an email which takes them to a page where they enter the full account # and, if those match, money transferred.

[abawany]

SSN to receive money from Dwolla!? Holy cow. Yes, I like the ING solution very much as well though for repeated (but not recurring) transfers, the need to re-enter the bank account number gets a bit cumbersome.