I'd suggest people use
Venmo.
This payment system has no transaction fees for the consumer, it is funded when people use it with merchants. I was able to transfer funds from Venmo to my checking account in two days.
Bitcoin Bonus provides 50 cents USD worth of Bitcoin when you sign up for it via the link above and fully complete your Venmo profile, and then
Claim your
Venmo Bonus by entering in your Venmo username. (You'll also get a dollar from Venmo).
You also can go social with Venmo and
optionally let other people know that you're buying bitcoin,
helping promote it, but you can keep your transactions private as well. Here are some more details from the Venmo website:
Venmo: The story.
Venmo was built by two friends that found it incredibly frustrating to pay each other and their friends back. I'll get you, you get me back hardly ever works out, and eventually the missing cash starts to add up. Venmo was built to solve this problem by allowing anyone with a phone to settle mini debts between friends in person, securely and instantly. But that's not all. Venmo is designed to be social and fun, just like the times you have when you're spending money with your friends. You can share your payments, keep track of the places you're spending money, and leave personal notes with every payment you make. We think of Venmo as the best payment service for friends.
What is Venmo?
Venmo is an iPhone, Android and Blackberry App that lots of people use to pay back their friends. It's completely FREE (no transaction fees) to use, and it makes splitting the bill at a restaurant between a group of friends very easy, and kind of fun. There are plenty of other ways to use Venmo, for example paying your roommates back for living expenses like rent, utilities and groceries, or getting your co-workers back for lunch runs or coffee runs. It's even useful to send friends birthday cash, or other cash gifts instead of writing checks. Whenever a friend owes you money, just use Venmo.
How big is Venmo?
Tens of thousands of people in America use Venmo, and we've processed millions of dollars in transaction volume between friends. And, we're still in Private Beta. That's awesome, right?
What are some ways to use Venmo?
The most frequent use case is splitting up a lunch or dinner bill at a restaurant with 2 or more friends. We've all been there before, one person gets the bill and has to figure out how to collect the money from everyone. Venmo saves the day in this situation. Other ways people use Venmo are to settle living expenses with roommates like rent, utilities or cable; to get money for concert tickets and trips; to pay co-workers back for coffee or lunch runs. Basically, whenever someone owes you money, or you owe someone money, just settle it up with Venmo.
How do I pay someone, where does the money come from?
It comes from a credit card or a debit card that you link to your phone number. Once you signup, we walk you through the whole process, and it only takes a couple minutes.
If I receive money, how does it get into my personal Bank Account?
That's easy. Just setup Direct Deposit when you signup, and we automatically transfer all the money you receive on Venmo into your bank account every two weeks. You can always cash out manually if you'd like, but rolling deposits make it really convenient for you to get your money. To setup Direct Deposit, you need to know your bank's routing number and account number (you can find it on a check from your bank or in your online banking portal), that's all! We designed it this way so you don't have to worry about maintaining an extra balance somewhere.
What banks does Venmo work with?
We've partnered up with all the major banks in the country.
Is Venmo Secure?
Absolutely. Venmo uses Bank Grade Security and 256-bit SSL to encrypt and transmit all of your data. Venmo is also certified by Verisign, the leading SSL provider in world.
Venmo is certified by Verisign
What makes Venmo better than other payment services?
For starters, we're completely free to use and there are no transaction fees when you make a payment.
There are lots of other reasons too:
* Direct Deposit. You can setup direct deposit and we'll automatically transfer any money you receive on Venmo into your bank account every two weeks. You're free with your cash, and we're not trying to earn interest on the float.
* It's Social. Venmo is the first social payments service. On Venmo, you can share select payments with your friends on Venmo, Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare as a way of telling them what you're up to. This is a fun way to engage with Venmo, and you get to leave comments on shared payments. Don't worry, only friends you explicitly accept can see the payments you share.
* Realtime Statistics. We give you detailed statistics after every payment you make. This keeps you informed about how much you're spending with your friends, and if you add your location to a payment, we tell you how many times you've visited that place and how much you're spending there.
* Your Phone Comes First. You can do everything on your phone. That includes signing up, adding your credit card and making your first payment. This makes it so easy to get your friends to use Venmo with you, especially when your hanging out with each other!
How much does it cost to use Venmo?
It's completely free to use Venmo. There are no fees to signup, and there are no transaction fees.
If it's free to use, how does Venmo make money?
While Venmo does not work with any service providers, or businesses right now, it has plans to work with them in the future. There will be standard transaction fees charged to any business that uses Venmo. This will allow Venmo to remain free for friends to use with each other.
How do I get an invite to Venmo?
Just join our waiting list, or ask a friend that's on there to invite you. We're constantly sending out invitations to new users.
I have more questions
Not a problem! Just use our contact form to get in touch with us, and we'll be happy to answer any of your questions.
. Getting bitcoins into mtgox takes ~1 hour, since they have to wait for confirmation from the network. Selling at mtgox for LR is about a minute. LR buyers are nearly instantaneous.