How to send out money through a payment gateway?

Question

I'm writing a web app that pays out money to customers on a regular basis... is there any kind of payment gateway for sending out money to customers' bank accounts, or do I need to talk to my bank about that (or just write checks once a month)? Poked around but all I could find were gateways for accepting money...

Answer 1

The PayPal API can do that, though probably only between paypal accounts.

Answer 2

It depends on few things.

1. Which country you are planning to send money
2. From where you are sending money

There are many payment gateways.You will have to contact them and sign a contract. Once this is done you will have to implement their gateway (Depends on the language you use).

I have worked with few gateways in UK and India. Tell us more about your requirement.

Answer 3

If by payment gateway you mean a company like Authorize.Net you won't be able to do this as there are strict rules about how money can be transferred using credit cards. Both by the credit card companies (Visa, MasterCard, etc) and the payment gateways themselves. The only way to send money to someone through a credit card is to issue a refund which can only be done for valid transactions. Putting money on a credit card that wasn't initially from a sale to you prior to that refund will get you in plenty of trouble with your merchant account provider. I also suspect this may run into legal issues as well (potential money laundering).

You may be able to do this through ACH functionality where you can deposit and withdraw funds from a user's bank account. You'll need to talk to an ACH provider to see what they offer and what you are allowed to do with their services.