Circle: Send Money Like a Text

It’s the time of year for gift-giving and dinners out with friends. . . how do you handle it when it comes time to chip in for that big gift or to split the bill at a fancy dinner? I know in my own experience, I never have cash, and throwing seven credit cards into the middle of the table can be annoying and awkward all around.

If you find yourself wishing that sending money was as easy as sending a text, take a look at Circle, the new, easy and free way to send money no matter where your recipient is.

I was able to quickly set up the Circle app on my phone, and it makes it easy to connect cards and bank accounts, along with allowing you to add in friends from your phone contacts, super convenient especially if you have a group you’ll be eating or traveling with often!

I recently got to try Circle out for a blogger dinner, which I sadly missed due to an everlasting flu. But I still got to test the app out with other participants and got an idea of how it works.

The app is also a lot of fun, perhaps taking away some of the uncomfortable-ness that money transfers can bring about. You can send messages and chat in GIFs as you can see in the screenshot below.

One occasion where I wish I had this app was on my recent trip to Sonoma County with a group of friends. We bought a TON of wine and joined our fair share of wine clubs, some of which we split. We took turns paying along the way and waited until after the trip to figure out how to settle up.  Had we all used Circle, we could have paid in the tasting room and remembered who actually bought what!

A few Circle perks include the fact that there is no fee, even when transferring currencies, which is handy for a family as spread out in the world as ours is. Your account information is encrypted and requires two factor authentication, so your money is safe in the app as well. If you live on your phone like I do and have many occasions where you need to easily send money, Circle is definitely worth giving a whirl.

You can learn more about the Circle app and the story behind it here.