Person-to-person payment, PayPal's new API

SAN FRANCISCO, US: Discover and PayPal have teamed up to create Money Messenger, a tool that enables customers to use their Discover cards to pay virtually any person. The offering will enhance the cardmember experience and provide new functionality that empowers them as they make purchasing and payment decisions.

Using the new built-in feature which harnesses PayPal’s new Adaptive Payments APIs, Discover cardmembers can send money to another person via Discover.com or a smart phone using only the recipient’s email address or mobile phone number. Cardmembers will earn Cashback Bonus on every transaction, which will be treated as a purchase on their Discover account.

Money Messenger is simple and easy to use because there’s no set up or enrollment required for cardmembers who use the Discover Account Center — the recipient must have a PayPal account or will receive simple instructions on how to open one, says a press release. There are no fees for Discover cardmembers to use this service.

“The Money Messenger application will provide Discover cardmembers with a unique payment alternative that delivers real value,” said Mike Boush, vice president of E-Business at Discover. “It will simplify person-to-person payments, provide cardmembers with another way to earn rewards, and ensure the recipient gets the funds.”

“Discover’s work is a great example of how third-party developers can use PayPal X to create a new generation of payment options,” said Dan Schatt, PayPal’s general manager of financial innovations. “PayPal X makes it possible for developers to monetize their great ideas by affording them security and connectivity through 27 financial networks and 15,000 local banks.”

Part of the PayPal X platform, the Adaptive Payments API is a set of building blocks that gives developers the tools to create highly customized payment services. The API will change where and how people can make payments, how recipients get compensated, and more.