PayPal revives money-pooling feature so friends & family can save up on trips and presents together

[Garth Gator]

Image: Santiaga | Dreamstime.com

 

PayPal has brought back its group funding feature, making split bills and shared expenses for those group trips or presents easier for everyone involved.

 

After an initial debut in 2017, the feature was put on pause in 2021. Now, it's making a return, with improvements aimed at better user experience and wider accessibility.

 

This reintroduction lets users create a pool within the PayPal app or online, inviting friends and family to chip in for shared costs. Whether it’s a gift for a friend, a vacation fund, or just splitting dinner expenses, pooling can now be done in a few taps.

 

To set up a money pool, users assign a title, description, goal amount, and even a target date, making it convenient to manage contributions. What’s more, contributors don’t even need a PayPal account to participate—just a link sent via text, email, or WhatsApp can get them started.

Image: PayPal

 

The feature, currently rolling out in the United States, Germany, Italy, and Spain, comes at a time when group expenses are increasingly common and people want easy ways to manage them. This iteration aims to offer a straightforward solution for handling pooled money, complete with safety features like fraud monitoring and encryption. Transactions remain secure while giving people an easy way to monitor contributions and transfer funds for spending or withdrawal.

Image: PayPal

 

PayPal isn’t alone in this space. Venmo, a fellow PayPal-owned platform, introduced its own group expense management feature in 2023, and other apps like Settle Up offer similar services. The demand for these tools reflects a growing need for simple, safe methods to manage shared expenses, whether it's for community events or big family trips.

 

By making this option widely accessible, PayPal is ensuring that collective financial tasks are not only possible but easy to navigate, regardless of who’s contributing or where they are.

 

• https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/19/paypal-revives-its-money-pooling-feature/ 
• https://www.howtogeek.com/paypal-money-pooling/ 
• https://www.pymnts.com/news/payments-innovation/2024/paypal-begins-rollout-of-pool-money-feature-for-shared-expenses/