How To Transfer Money Safely: 6 Ways To Send Money (2024)

Whether you want to split a bill with friends, send a gift or buy an item, sending money digitally is more convenient than using a check or cash. But being able to transfer funds quickly also comes with risks, including potentially getting scammed or having your financial information stolen. That’s why choosing a secure payment method is crucial.

In this article, we at the MarketWatch Guides team explain what you should know about transferring money safely and identifying common scams. You’ll also learn about six safe money-transfer methods, including traditional wire transfers and several payment apps.

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In some ways, transferring funds electronically can be safer than handling physical payments. If you carry cash to pay someone, you could lose it, or someone could steal it. A paper check has a privacy risk since the recipient can see your routing number and bank account number. They may try to change the check amount, too.

But with a money transfer, you might worry about someone stealing your account information. After all, there’s a bank account or card linked to your digital payment. So to help avoid identity theft and lost funds, you need a money-transfer method that verifies your identity, keeps your data private and gives you ways to protect your account.

You might also have concerns about losing money by being scammed or just accidentally sending money to the wrong person. Since canceling payments is often impossible after the recipient gets the money, you have to be extra careful to verify the recipient and enter the correct information.

There are several secure ways to transfer money digitally. For example, you could use a traditional bank wire transfer if you have the recipient’s bank account information. Another option involves transferring funds between bank accounts through online banking.

Peer-to-peer payment apps are popular tools for transferring money. These apps let you send cash fast from multiple types of accounts without revealing your sensitive payment information. If the person you’re paying doesn’t have an account with the service you use, they’ll typically receive a text or email with directions for creating an account and getting their funds.

To determine which secure payment method fits your needs, learn about the six options below, including how they work, how much they cost and which situations they’re useful for.

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Owned by PayPal, Venmo is a money transfer app that’s popular for splitting bills with family and friends within the U.S. It supports fast and secure transfers using the funding source you choose:

• Venmo balance
• A U.S. bank account
• A debit or card

Sending money to someone is free with Venmo unless you use a credit card, which requires you to pay a 3% fee.

How To Transfer Money With Venmo

You can use Venmo’s website or mobile app to register for a personal account. This requires giving a valid phone number and email address and completing a bank account verification step. You’ll also give your debit or credit card details if you want to add them as payment options.

The Venmo app allows you to pay one or multiple recipients at the same time. You can add a recipient using any of these details about them:

• Phone number
• Name
• Venmo username
• Email address

You’ll then specify the payment amount and source. The money goes to the recipient’s Venmo balance, which they can transfer to their linked bank account within a few days for free or instantly for a 1.75% fee (with a minimum of 25 cents and a maximum of $25). If the person you’re paying isn’t already a Venmo user, they’ll need to verify their phone number or email address to open an account and access the money.

Venmo limits you to spending $299.99 per week until you verify your identity. Once you complete that step, the cap is raised to $60,000 per week for sending money to people and $7,000 per week for transactions such as in-store purchases.

Pros and Cons of Venmo

Besides its flexibility, high sending limit and inexpensive transfers, Venmo offers payment cards for teens and adults, cash-back deals and an option to buy cryptocurrency in the app.

It doesn’t support international money transfers or let you cancel payments once they’re received, though. Because of its social focus, Venmo also lists transactions publicly in the app unless you change your privacy settings.

Cash App lets you transfer money, bitcoin and stocks to others in the U.S. and the U.K. This mobile app keeps your transactions private and lets you use any of these options to fund payments:

• Bank account
• Cash App balance
• Most prepaid cards
• Debit and credit cards from American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa

Like Venmo, Cash App charges a 3% fee for using a credit card to send money.

How To Transfer Money With Cash App

To register for a Cash App account, you’ll give your email address or phone number and a debit card in the app. Cash App will also ask you to choose a username (known as a $Cashtag) that identifies you on the platform. Once you finish registration, you can add money to your Cash App balance and begin sending payments.

To send funds through Cash App, you can look the recipient up with their email address, $Cashtag or phone number and then type the amount to deduct from your balance. While there’s a $1,000 limit for sending and receiving funds every 30 days, you can get the cap raised by verifying your identity. After doing that, you’ll have to check your account to find out what your new limit is.

Cash App provides a few ways to access money someone sends you, but every method requires you to have the app:

• Keeping the money in your Cash App balance to use for transfers
• Use a Cash App debit card to spend the funds or make ATM withdrawals
• Move the funds to your linked debit card

If you don’t want to wait one to three business days for the money to be transferred to your debit card, you’ll pay a fee ranging from 0.5% to 1.75% (with a minimum of 25 cents) to get it instantly.

Pros and Cons of Cash App

Cash App stands out for its fast and cheap payments, debit card and investment options. It also allows teens to be added as authorized users, giving the adult account holders control of the Cash App features they can access. Other perks include support for direct deposit, online purchases at certain stores and discounts.

Downsides include its relatively low 30-day transaction limit, the inability to cancel payments in most cases and the fact that it’s only available in the U.S. and U.K.

Google Pay is capable of sending money to your contacts on both Android and Apple devices, as well as paying at retailers. It supports paying individuals and splitting group payments using your linked debit card, bank account or Google Pay balance. You can send money to people within the U.S. and India, and domestic transfers are free.

How To Transfer Money With Google Pay

Setting the Google Pay app up involves using your Google account and completing a step to verify your phone number. You’ll then choose your privacy settings and add your payment method so you can make purchases and transfers.

Google Pay requires you to verify your identity to add money to your Google Pay balance and to increase your seven-day limit for friends-and-family transactions from $500 to $5,000.

In the U.S., you can use one of these identifiers to find the person you want to send money to:

• QR code
• Name
• Email address
• Phone number

If the recipient is in India, you’ll find them with their phone number and then complete extra steps to make a Wise account, provide the person’s name and banking information and agree to any transfer fees.

A recipient must have a Google Pay account to accept transfers. The payment notification they receive by text or email will prompt them to create an account, and if they don’t claim the payment within seven days, it will be sent back to you.

The amount of time it takes to send money with Google Pay depends on the payment method you use:

• Bank account: up to three to five business days
• Debit card: a few minutes or up to 24 hours
• Google Pay balance: a few minutes

You can transfer money from your Google Pay balance to your bank account for free, and it may take one to five business days. To send money to your debit card instantly, you’ll pay a 1.5% fee (with a minimum of 31 cents).

Pros and Cons of Google Pay

Along with a high transfer limit for verified accounts, Google Pay offers an option for disputing payments. However, it’s not the app for you if you want to use a credit card as a payment method or send money to someone who isn’t in the U.S. or India.

Featuring a large network of over 1,800 U.S. banks and credit unions, the Zelle money transfer service is ideal for sending money from your bank account to a recipient’s bank account. They can generally get the money within a few minutes. Zelle doesn’t charge a fee, but you’ll need to check whether your financial institution does.

How To Transfer Money With Zelle

You can usually access Zelle through your financial institution’s mobile app. If not, you can download the standalone Zelle app for Android and iOS. Registering requires your email address or phone number. You’ll also need to link a Mastercard or Visa debit card if you’re using the standalone app.

Once you’re registered, you can provide the recipient’s phone number or email address to send funds to them. They’ll need to be enrolled in Zelle through their bank or credit union or register with the standalone app to claim the payment.

Your bank might place limits on how much you can send or receive through Zelle. With the standalone Zelle app, there are weekly limits of $500 for sending money and $5,000 for receiving money.

Pros and Cons of Zelle

While Zelle can be a fast, convenient and free money transfer method, it has some limitations. You can’t use a credit card to send money, and the weekly sending limit that’s imposed when you use the Zelle app instead of your bank’s may not be enough for your needs.

You can only cancel a payment if the recipient doesn’t already have Zelle. Plus, you’d need a different option to send international money transfers.

>> Related: Learn more about how to use Zelle

PayPal is a popular payment service that works in more than 200 countries. It’s suitable for small and very large transfers alike, and you can send money using several types of payment methods in your digital wallet:

• PayPal balance
• PayPal Credit
• Linked bank account, debit card or credit card
• Card rewards balance

It also features its own savings account and offers cryptocurrency investments.

How To Transfer Money With PayPal

PayPal has both a website and mobile app. After you register, link a payment method and confirm the PayPal account, you can start using the account. PayPal sets a sending limit for you. Completing the company’s verification process gets you a limit of $10,000 to $60,000 per transaction.

To send money to someone, you can enter any of these options:

• PayPal username
• Email address
• Phone number
• Name

You’ll need to choose the currency when you set the amount. You won’t pay a fee for domestic personal transactions from your bank account or PayPal balance. Making personal payments by credit or debit card requires a 2.9% transaction fee plus a 30-cent fixed fee in the U.S. International PayPal transfers to another person have a 5% fee with a minimum of 99 cents and a maximum of $4.99.

The recipient will need to have or create a PayPal account to accept payments. The funds will then go to their PayPal balance, which they can spend online or access through their PayPal debit card. They can also move the money to their bank account for free, which takes one to three business days, or pay 1.75% of the transfer amount to instantly send it to their debit card.

Pros and Cons of PayPal

You might find PayPal ideal for its high transfer limit and support for international transfers. It also offers fraud protection for certain transactions and has a money transfer service called Xoom that’s an alternative to regular international PayPal transfers.

Although PayPal supports several payment methods, you might find the fees a disadvantage. There’s also no way to cancel personal transfers.

A more traditional option, a wire transfer at a bank lets you move money between bank accounts within or outside the U.S. It’s fit for making large transfers and doesn’t require using a third-party app or service. Transfer times can be within 24 hours for U.S. banks or one to five business days for international ones.

How To Send a Wire Transfer

You can usually do a wire transfer on your bank’s website or at one of its branches. You’ll give the recipient’s name, contact information and bank account details. When setting the amount to send, consider exchange rates if you’re making an international transfer.

Also, consider that your bank likely sets transfer limits and charges fees for wire transfers. For example, Wells Fargo charges $25 minimum, and U.S. Bank charges $30 for outgoing domestic transfers and $50 for outgoing international transfers.

Pros and Cons of Wire Transfers

The cost and possibly slower transfer time are downsides of a wire transfer. However, it’s a safe way to transfer large sums, and it lets you send money directly to bank accounts worldwide. And in some cases, you can reverse an international wire transfer if you do so quickly.

Unfortunately, electronic money transfer methods are targets for scams because payments usually can’t be canceled. Many schemes involve receiving an unsolicited email or message from someone you don’t know. They might ask or even threaten you to send them money for an unusual or unexpected purpose.

For example, they might claim you won a lottery or contest but say you must pay a fee to receive your prize. A scammer might also offer you a work-from-home or mystery-shopping job where they send you money up front and ask you to send some back. Other scams involve the person blackmailing you or claiming one of your relatives is in danger until you pay up.

You may also come across money transfer scams when you buy things online through social media or classified sites. The seller may request payment through a wire transfer or money transfer app. The problem is you never get the item.

The Federal Trade Commission warns of scams where someone impersonates a customer service rep from your payment service. The scammer says there’s something wrong with your account and then asks you to transfer money or give them your account information to fix the problem.

Recognizing these scams can help you avoid becoming a victim. You can also use the following tips to protect yourself:

• Be suspicious of any unusual, urgent requests for cash.
• If someone promises you money if you send some first, don’t do it.
• If a stranger claims to have sent you money by accident, don’t send them any.
• Don’t send cash to people you don’t know.
• Double-check that the person and payment reason are legitimate.
• Look for poor grammar or spelling since these are common with scam requests.
• Only use a well-known and secure payment method.
• Don’t provide your financial account information.
• Take advantage of your mobile payment app’s security features, including multifactor authentication.
• Contact banks and payment providers directly if you suspect an impersonator or account issues.
• Report potential scams to the service you’re asked to use.

>> Related: Learn more about how to transfer money between banks

*Data accurate at time of publication

Editor’s Note: Before making significant financial decisions, consider reviewing your options with someoneyou trust, such as a financial adviser, credit counselor or financial professional, since every person’s situation and needs are different.