Research
Our idea have evolved from establishing a payment system for people within a flatting situation to a way to share bill payments while travelling with friends. This was due to reaching out to people who are currently flatting and finding that they generally have a shared account already in place - which is essentially what our app would have been functioning as. This idea could still be valuable when attached to a bank as an additional feature and could possibly be revisited.
I’ve been looking into different payment gateways internationally online and they all have their pros and cons.
Bitcoin: international digital currency.
- Pros
Not vulnerable to economic collapse, immune to inflation. Online currency. Encrypted. Can be exchanged for currency.
- Cons
No regulatory agency which sets the value, meaning that the value changes. There are security issues for the banks which deal in bitcoin. Not trackable so you can’t find out who stole your money...
Paypal
-Pros
You can have a paypal credit card which is able to be used within stores. Internationally recognised in 20 countries, 6 currencies. A trusted name, gives users perceived security. You are able to make a shared account. Quick transactions.
-Cons
2.9% transaction fee, with an addition $0.30USD fee per transaction, we are looking for a more affordable way to manage funds overseas which works out to be cheaper than making a one-off withdrawal of a large sum of money as that has security risks... But if people wanted to make a paypal, why wouldn’t they just use that service and leave us out as the middle man? Even though at this point it seems like the best option..
American express
-Pros
No transaction fee internationally, also a small exchange rate fee. Can be used internationally, and can be a shared account.
-Cons
Annual fee of $395 at a 19.95% interest rate as it is a credit card... Really not affordable.
Even if people who are in flats already have a system in place, there are always new flats coming together which leads me to believe we could still run with that idea that cuts the hassle by sussing out a joint account for you and automatically sends off the payment once all parties have joined their funds for that bill. A SMART ACCOUNT. Or something...