The harassing emails, the knocking on doors and the checks in the mailbox – the hassle of collecting money from a group of friends is frustrating and difficult.  Whether it is a hen/stag party, gift for a parting colleague, party for a good friend’s 30th birthday or a group weekend get-away, collecting money to achieve these goals is strenuous.

But your life as a leader of a group does not have to be stressful anymore. In today’s post, Leetchi.com discusses the pros and cons of various techniques that help collect money from a group of friends and colleagues.

best way to collect money from a group

Bank transfers

Though bank transfer method is secure, convenient and reliable, people find it difficult and time-consuming to share account details with all the recipients. It is also stressful to monitor the transactions to determine who paid and who didn’t, and some banks might even deduct fees for transfers coming from different countries or various currencies.

Another disadvantage with bank transfers is that all group members must have actual bank accounts to enable direct transfer of money. Also, bank-to-bank transfers can be slow and available only during business hours.

Paper envelopes

This old-fashioned method for collecting money for a common gift or expense is easy to organise and widely used in work offices. Here, each member of the group drops puts voluntary or agreed amount of money into a common paper envelope usually kept on the organisor’s desk.

Since most people tend to rely on paying with bank/credit cards, they rarely carry cash on them. This makes it even more difficult to chase people up to make contributions through paper envelopes. And even if you’re luck and they have the cash available, then there’s the issue of finding the exact change as well as the risk of loosing or misplacing the paper envelop.

collect money online, paper envelope

Sending personal checks

People can also pay their part by sending personal checks through traditional mail or courier service. Checks are a convenient method of sending money, except that they are time consuming, can get misplaced, must be deposited in a bank account and it’s difficult to account for all of them.

Sending checks is cheap and easy but there’s always a risk of mail fraud if you decide to send it by postal service.  And checks can only be cashed during business hours.

collect money online, no to personal check

Splitting bills apps

One way to save yourself the pain of getting reimbursed for common expenses and having heated arguments is to divide the cost among everyone using mobile apps. These apps will sort out the total of who owes who and when you’re ready to pay up, a simple PayPal or bank transfer will settle the bills. However, there’s still one person that needs to fork out the money and ask others for a reimbursement via this app.

This method is great to back back a friend for a beer, dinner or house related expense but doesn’t solve the issue of collecting money from a group of people in advance, in a transparent way.

collect money online, split bills and expenses

Retail wire transfers

Traditionally, retail wire transfers such as Western Union and Moneygram have been used to send money from different parts of the world. Members of the group have an option to contribute with cash or debit card and the recipient will receive the cash by presenting a form of approved verification.

This method of collecting money for a group is available both online and offline, however; it’s time-consuming on both ends (sending and receiving money at designated retail points) and expensive.

Online money pots

It’s a new way to easily collect money from a group of people online into one secure and easy-to-manage place, the online money pot. This service is proposed by Leetchi.com and designed to take the headache out of organising and contributing to common expenses and purchases. How to use it? Simple! An organisor can create an online money pot page in just 1 click, describe the purpose of the money collection activity, invite participants to chip in and even set up a contribution amount per person. Group members then make a contribution online, on their own time using their bank or credit card.

With Leetchi.com you can even send a gentle reminder to the ones who forgot to pay their part. Once you’ve reached your financial goal, you can shop for a gift to celebrate an occasion or send the money to the beneficiary’s bank account(s).

Online money pot sites like Leetchi.com offer the best way to collect money for groups because they are reliable, secure and convenient.  The organiser has full access to the account, but all group members can monitor the account activity, balance and transaction history. This enhances transparency and accountability.

Collect money online easily with Leetchi.com!

Here are some ideas as for what you can collect money from a group for:

  • Parties- birthday, hen/stag, baby shower, holiday parties and private parties
  • Events- group dinners, theater outings, day or evening cruises, popular events in town and more
  • Group holidays or weekend get-aways
  • Office coffee runs
  • Group gifts- appreciation gifts, special occasion gifts and more.

Create an online money pot on Leetchi.com and collect money from a group easily without being unprofessional and nagging people to put up their share!