Online wallets and payment apps have grown increasingly popular over the last few years, with many different options becoming available to consumers. Online wallets allow consumers to transfer money from their account for any number of reasons, whether it?s for buying products online, payment for services, loans, and more. They provide both consumers and online businesses with an alternative way to pay other than via credit cards. Many of these online wallet services also provide payment apps, which allow you to use your online wallet in store via your smart phone. The following are a few of the more popular online wallets and payment apps out there, as well as a description of pros and cons for each to help you make an informed decision about using any of them:

• Square Cash?? Square Cash is the brainchild of one of Twitter?s co-founders and has recently become one of the more popular online wallets due to its free Android, iPhone and iPad card readers, not to mention its cheap merchant fees and the elimination of all transfer fees. Basically, Square Cash is completely free and there are no hidden costs. The way it works is that you attach your debit card to your Square account and then manually write up email messages to the recipient and put the dollar amount in the subject line. There are, however, a few downsides to Square Cash. First of all, you can only use your debit card ? no credit cards. There is a weekly limit of $250 unless you verify your account using a mobile phone number and Facebook account or your birth date and a part of your social security number.
• Venmo?? Venmo is unique in that it is an online wallet with social network-like features. You?ll be able to make transfers from your debit card or bank account for free as long as the recipient is a Venmo friend. You?ll even be able to post the transaction to a newsfeed along with a personal message or comment. However, there is a 3 percent fee on credit card transactions. There?s also a $3,000 transfer limit per week.
• Google Wallet?– Use of Google Wallet is incredibly easy, whether it?s the NFC tap-to-pay technology on mobile devices or sending money through your computer. Basically, all you have to do is have an account on Gmail. When composing an email, click the money sign in the attachment options and select what linked funds you want to send money from. Of course, you?ll need to have Google Wallet to use this feature. There are a few drawbacks: there is a 2.9 percent charge for debit and credit card transactions, you can only send money in the U.S. and once money has been deposited in your Google Wallet account, it has to be then withdrawn to your bank account.
• Paypal?? Paypal is one of the oldest and most used online wallets available. By using PayPal, you?ll be able to send money from your credit card account, debit card account or checking account and lets you keep money in your PayPal account as well. Although easy to use, PayPal does have a few negatives to its service, including the $0.30 and 2.9 percent transaction fees. While you can make international transactions, you?ll have to pay larger transaction fees to do so.

These are four of the most popular online wallets that are available. There are a number of pros and cons to using each one, from transfer limits to in-country only transactions as well as transaction fees. It?s important that you review all of the pros and cons for each online wallet before you make a decision on which will best fit the needs of your business.