Do you have friends or roommates that seem to be constantly in a jam and end up asking you for money to bail them out, but never pay you back? Or maybe you just made a bet on a NCAA game and when your friend’s team loses and it’s time for them to pay up, conveniently the cash is nowhere to be found. Or just maybe you’re throwing a crazy campus shindig and you want the party goers that are usually moochers to help contribute, but they usually have a million and one excuses why they don’t have the cash on them at the moment. Well, worry no more. The days of you shelling out moolah for others and receiving nothing in return is over and you can thank Square and Squareup.com.
Square is a free application that you can download on your android and iOS (iPhone) devices that enables you and anyone else to easily accept credit and debit cards at any time. To get started, you will first need to either, sign up on the website or on your phone, then submit your bank routing and account numbers along with your address, in order to receive the Square swiper. Once you obtain the Square swiper – a small plug with a credit card swiping slot on the top of the device that attaches into the headphone jack of your smart phone and tablet, you can start making transactions in minutes. After your friend’s card is swiped and charged for a transaction, buyers can sign off by touching or scribbling on the screen. Receipts are even emailed to both the seller and buyer, ensuring that transactions remain explicit and simple. The receipts include a basic statement listing the date, time, item, price, and merchant, as well as a map of the transaction’s location. It just doesn’t get more easier than that. I know initially, it may seem like your signing your life away, but the end results (money) and your friends’ faces will be ironically priceless, when you wipe out this little addition and start collecting. Finally, you can make your friends put their money where their mouth is.
The only downsides to Square is that there is a $1,000 daily limit and $3,000 per month limit on the totals you can deposit via virtual check and their is a processing fee of 2.75% for swiped transactions and 3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in transactions, which is normal for doing any business involving the plastic. So, even if your the campus loan shark and the app only allows you to cash a fraction of your profit through each month, the feature that Squre provides, still is hassle free way to manage money and to reinforce your friends to make good on all of their debts. So, sign up today and in months, you will most likely see a decline in friends having financial emergencies or making frivolous bets.
