You can enable users to transfer their available balance to another account – for example, to top up a friend's or relative’s balance so they can continue using services or to pay a local shop owner for goods. This feature is especially useful in regions with limited access to traditional banking or payment systems, providing a fast and convenient alternative to cash and credit cards.
End users with debit (or credit accounts with individual credit limits) can transfer their balance from a self-care app or web portal. You can offer your customers PortaOne's mobile account self-care app (available via the Add-on Mart) or add this functionality to your own app or web portal using the PortaBilling API (the Account/make_transaction method).
Say Richard Roe visits a grocery store near his home and buys $35 worth of goods. When he gets to the checkout, he realizes he has forgotten his wallet. Since a store owner is also a customer of the same service provider, Richard agrees with the store owner to pay via balance transfer.
Richard opens his mobile self-care app and confirms that he has enough funds – $50. The owner has $125 on their balance. To transfer the money to the store owner’s account, he enters the owner’s phone number and the transfer amount: $35. The system processes the request, deducting $35 from his account.
Richard then receives an SMS with a verification code, which he enters into the mobile app. Once the code is accepted, the transfer is completed. The grocery store owner receives $35, so his balance becomes $160, and Richard’s remaining balance is now $15.
Requirements
To enable balance transfer, the following conditions should be met:
- The sender and recipient should have accounts with the same service provider
- Both accounts must:
- be created within the same virtual environment
- be either debit or credit with individual credit limit accounts
- have an active status
- be allowed to transfer funds
Configuration
To allow accounts to transfer and receive funds, enable the Subscriber-to-subscriber transfers option at either the customer or customer class level.
