Facebook will soon let users send money to friends through its Messenger chat service, the company has now officially announced.
Rumors that Facebook Messenger would allow users to send money to each other have been making rounds for quite some time now, and the social networking company has now officially confirmed such plans.
"Today we're adding a new feature in Messenger that gives people a more convenient and secure way to send or receive money between friends," Facebook announced on Tuesday, March 17. "This feature will be rolling out over the coming months in the US. It's easy and free."
To take advantage of this new feature, users will be able to link their debit card to their Facebook account. When the feature is ready to roll out, the Facebook Messenger app will have a new "$" icon just above the keyboard. Tapping that icon will bring up a payments screen, allowing users to enter the amount of money they want to send to a certain contact.
According to the announcement, the money will be send through Facebook, which will transfer it to the selected contact within seconds. It's worth pointing out that the recipient must have a card linked to their Facebook account as well in order to receive the money, and Facebook will hold the money until then.
"The money you send is transferred right away. It may take one to three business days to make the money available to you depending on your bank, just as it does with other deposits," Facebook further explained in its announcement.
Many Facebook users already have their cards linked to their account so they can pay for games, gifts, or advertisements, but this new feature may help determine more users to follow suit.
Authenticating money transfers will require a PIN code, but iPhone owners will also be able to use Touch ID to authorize the payment. No transfer will work without a PIN or Touch ID authorization. As Facebook itself mentioned, this feature will be available for free, which means that the social network will not charge any fees.
The updated Facebook Messenger app will be available first for iOS and Android users in the U.S., and it remains unclear at this point just when it will become available globally. We'll keep you up to date as soon as we learn more, so stay tuned.
