1-Google Wallet

We may as well ride the news' coattails and start here. Google's entry into the money space allows anyone with a Google account to send cash to anyone with an email account. It's pretty neat! And, in fact, you can send the money from just about any of your financial institutions. Wallet allows you to add bank accounts, debit cards, or credit cards to fund your Wallet balance with. It's not perfect, though. Pros It's simple to send money. Just add an email address, an amount, and which account you'd like to send it from. No fees for transferring from a bank account or Wallet balance. You can potentially incur a fee if you send from a debit or credit card, but the rest are fee-free. Everyone knows Google. If you send money to someone who doesn't have a Wallet account, convincing them to sign up to receive your money won't be as hard as explaining why they need an account with some obscure company. Cons Getting money out is hard. You can use your Google Wallet account to pay for things online (or in select stores with the right phone). Transferring to a bank account is harder. Maybe even impossible. Some versions of Google's help docs show that this is possible while others have been edited to remove such references. If you're thinking of accepting money to Wallet, be sure you can spend it or get it out first. There are fees for debit and credit cards. The standard fee for sending money via a debit or credit card is 2.9%. This isn't the most money in the world, but if you need to pay someone for rent, it could be a nice chunk of change. Google Wallet is having a hard time. Google's been pushing to make Wallet a staple of online and retail commerce for a while, but virtually every company that Google needs support from has pushed back. Carriers, retailers, credit card companies, smartphone manufacturers, even Larry Page at times. While the service is pretty neat right now, it may not get better and some features could end up getting the dreaded Google Axe. Google Wallet is a pretty good option if you're deep in Google's ecosystem and if you don't plan on sending a lot of money. Unless you know you can get the cash out, you won't want to send someone rent money with it.