What Is Circle Pay?
Circle Pay is a website/app that allows it’s users to send money to other users. When they first launched, all transactions were tied to Bitcoin but this is no longer the case (you can now send traditional fiat currency like USD). You can link a bank account, debit card or credit card to you account and send/withdraw cash from there. Circle doesn’t charge any fees for these payments, although credit cards are run as a cash advance.
Because there are no fees for debit cards, it can be useful for meeting debit card transactions (something that a lot of bank account bonuses require).
[Read:Â How To Meet Minimum Debit & Credit Transaction Requirements]
What Cards Are Supported?
This page gives a nice explanation of what cards are accepted. Basically all U.S issued Visa & Mastercard debit cards will work (credit cards will also work but are run as a cash advance). All American Express cards, gift cards, netspend cards & paypal accounts don’t work.
Referral Program
They have a referral program, you can refer up to 100 people. If you use a referral code, you’ll receive a $10 credit after you sign up, link a debit card and send at least $25. The person who refers you will also receive a $10 bonus. Here is how to find your referral code:
- Go to Friends > Invite Friends
Apparently not everybody can invite people at the moment. You can share your referral codes in this linked page, please do not share them in the comments below as we are keeping those for questions/comments/reviews from readers. More information about their referral program can be found here.
I contacted Circle to see if they’d be interested in giving readers a higher sign up bonus with no referral commissions, but they never got back to us.
Our Verdict
Seems like a pretty good way to rack up debit card transactions and also score a $10 sign up bonus, how useful the actual service is largely depends on if you’re friends are also using it or not. I like the fact that I can just easily text message friends money, but it only works if we’re all on the same platform. Let me know your thoughts on Circle Pay in the comments below.
Hat tip to reader Don
Thanks, updated
Can I just send money to myself?
I dont have a bank account… What prepaid cards can use to load circle pay?
i have mixed feelings about circle pay. they do NOT honor the referral code (they said my referee had his account closed), but my dashboard still showed the notice “send $25 so you and XX get $10.”
also, they do a manual account verification AFTER you’ve transferred money a few times. SMH they should do account verification before allowing you to open the account.
they have a max weekly transfer limit of $400, but that can be increased by providing and ID/address.
that being said, transfers are incredibly quick, “instant” and fee-free.
Just got my shutdown notice from Circle pay. I signed up sometime last year and only used it once or twice, just enough to get some spend on a debit card for a bonus, and get my sign up bonus w/ Circle.
Last week I decided to use Circle pay to pull $100 via debit card from a new bank and deposit that $100 as soon as it hit into another new bank account via ACH. Since all my accounts that I had linked were no longer valid I had no choice but to link new ones. I set off some sort alarm. They froze the circle account for a few days and now are refunding the $100 back to the original debited account. The email I received lacked details other than it was a fraud alert. I probably violated some rule in their terms of service. I don’t guess they expect someone to change out all the accounts linked, and then use it as a conduit to move money from one bank to another. I’m not too worried about it. Just a warning to the bank churners that Circle pay doesn’t like our type. I wasn’t trying to hide anything, but I guess they think I’m laundering money. Great! Oh well.
The link which says “More information about their referral program can be found here” is not working anymore. That page has moved to https://support.circle.com/hc/en-us/articles/213560543
Also, the limit has increased from 50 to 100 people.
Thanks, updated post.
(TARGETED)
Just received another targeted $5 for entering a code (+ chance to win)
https://www.circle.com/en/moneywellsent
Took a little while to originally signup for the Circle account, but at this point this account has generated $30 in bonuses from Circle plus free debit card transactions.
This says that I can send money to “any phone number or email address”. Does that mean the recipient doesn’t need a Circle Pay account? How does the recipient actually receive the money?
Fairly certain the receipent would need to signup for Circle, despite confusing language.
It’s their promotion to get more people to use their payment network
That’s not what I meant. If I sign up for Circle Pay and do this promo does the recipient of my money need to belong to Circle Pay? If I send it a family member’s email address how do they actually cash out the money that I sent with my debit card?
Hey Don,
Any idea if you can send this to a friend and then have them use your referral link to sign up? Or does this kind of try to replace the referral bonus?
@Don L is there still a sign up bonus offered? Can you email me at Pauline the bean at yahoo ?
If using Circle Pay and Square Cash is as easy as many of you make it sound why would anyone ever do an Amazon reload rather than this? Is there some kind of limit per month before you get banned? Is sending money to someone against the TOS?
You can automate the Amazon reloads a little easier and some people use Amazon credit quickly.
Are you saying if I do say 50 $.50 Circle Pay transfers per month I wouldn’t be going against their TOS and risk getting banned? Can you send Circle Pay to yourself with a different email address or do they confirm the recipient is a different person?
Does Square Cash work the same way? Do you have a post on that?
Does anyone have an active referral to Circle Pay as I may be interested in signing up?
I do the Amazon method, sorry I can’t be of more help! Hopefully somebody will be able to answer and also send you a referral.
Did someone say referral?
I’m on the job 🙂 [Just joking I didn’t post my link on the referral page]
With Circle one way to send to yourself is to debit upload and then ACH out. I’ve done this without any adverse action – but per this community I’m probably a fairly light user, and most movement is between Circle accts. I think multiple emails might be challenging with Circle because they ask for identification.
With Square I believe it is all debit (no ACH out functionality) so that method shouldn’t work. Multiple email accounts might be possible, if you stay under small monthly transfer limits. Not a 100% sure.
Are you saying that use your debit card to add funds to your account and then simply ACH to a bank account? How many transactions do you do per month?
If that’s the case why do people here use Square Cash? How do they get their money back?
I forgot the word “you” in the first sentence.
Square Cash isn’t easier than Amazon.
Yes, I agree. I’ve tried to automate with iMacros the transactions, but the cell verification codes make it challenging.
I did see that Circle will now be supported in iMessage
http://www.coindesk.com/circle-brings-blockchain-payments-iphone-ios-10-update/
Not sure if there is a way to automate transactions through this interface.
The only reason I am looking for something besides Amazon to use is I already have plenty of Amazon credit so every time I do a $.50 reload I am possibly costing myself $.50 or at the very least giving a 0% loan to Amazon for many months or years. Of course after paying the debit card fees Amazon is probably losing money too in this exchange.
What do you think of Circle Pay or Venmo?
Note that to see your referral code, you need to use the app (Android/iOS), not their website.
Will this trigger the 1% cash back for PPBDC?