Every year on December 31, we come up with our resolutions for the New Year. When it comes to our financial resolutions, year-after-year we resolve to save more, square away debts – whether we owe them or they are owed to us – and give back to causes close to our hearts.
Too often, however, resolutions are hard to keep. Asking a friend to finally pay back a loan or to split the cost of a holiday trip can be awkward. For those of us who owe debts, finding the time to write and mail a check or to stop by an ATM to get out exact change to pay back a friend can end up being too much of a hassle. And though we want to give back and do good, figuring out how, when and where to donate oftentimes ends up at the bottom of our to-do list.
But PayPal can help us find ways to stick to our financial resolutions this year.
Collect On Your Debts
We all have those friends who promise to “pay you back later!” for every shared cab ride, dinner party or trip. A recent
PayPal study found that adults surveyed globally are owed more than $51 billion by their friends and family and that one third of people surveyed
had lost a friendship over money. It’s not that people don’t want to make good on their debts. The same survey found that most people prefer being owed money rather than owing money themselves. Oftentimes, people simply forget about the debts they owe, and friends feel too awkward to ask for repayment.
PayPal takes the awkwardness away by making it simple to request money. How? The
PayPal app enables people to easily request a specific amount of money from contacts without any of the awkwardness. Once you send the request, the person gets an alert that you have requested money, and they can quickly and securely pay you back without even needing to stop by the ATM.
Make Good On Your IOUs
The ski trips, shared gifts and holiday dinners may be winding down as the year comes to a close, but oftentimes the payment piece still isn’t settled. For those of us who have debts we haven’t yet settled, there may be many obstacles standing in the way of settling our IOUs. Not wanting to wait in line at the bank or not being able to find your checkbook, however, are no longer valid obstacles.
With the PayPal app, it’s just as easy to
send money as it is to
request money -- and you can even leave a funny, personal note (or emojis) to the person you’re paying back. Just open the PayPal app, log-in, type the email or phone number of the person you want to pay (so that the funds get deposited into their PayPal account), enter the amount, select what the payment is for, confirm, and voila – you’re done. Debt squared, resolution achieved.
Give Back
The holiday season isn’t only about getting gifts, it’s also a time for giving back and for donating to causes we care about most.
This holiday season, we’ve already seen a spike in charitable giving. This year,
Giving Tuesday, which is a day to give back and donate to charities, was our biggest online day of giving on record. If one of your resolutions is to give back and to contribute to causes close to your heart, you can
donate to your favorite charity here. The best part is that PayPal will add
1% to your donation of $10 or more if you donate today.
Want to know how many millions of people donated and how much money has been raised this holiday season? Check out our
holiday giving tracker and find out.
Happy New Year!