What is Beem It and how does it work?

Beem It is an instant payment app that lets you pay, receive and request money from other users. So how does the app work? And is it worth downloading?

The other night, my housemate’s younger brother dropped in for dinner. After a short debate about whether to order pizza or burgers (burgers ended up winning), the question then turned to how they should split the bill. My housemate’s brother suggested they just ‘Beem It’.

Beem It, I soon learned, is an app that allows you to send and receive money in seconds. Since launching in May 2018, it has been downloaded over a million times. I decided to give Beem It a try and see how it stacks up against other payment methods.

How does Beem It work?

Beem It is a free instant payment app. Through the app you can pay, request, transfer and split money.  Money is sent and received in a matter of seconds, regardless of who you bank with. You can find and pay people by typing in their username, which eliminates the need for BSB and account numbers.

Beem It can be downloaded on the App Store or Google Play Store. You can connect a debit or credit card to your account, but you can only make payments and interbank transfers with a debit card.

What are the features?

In addition to sending and receiving money, other notable features include the ability to send requests for money and automatic reminders. According to Beem it, this is designed to help avoid awkward money chats and get rid of the need for IOUs.

You can also track and split expenses between a group of people, which could come in handy for holidays or to split bills between housemates or partners. Beem It also supports BPAY. That means one person can pay the electricity bill with BPAY, for instance, and then request payments from their housemates within the app.

If you have multiple bank accounts, you can also use the app to move money between your accounts in real-time. Beem It lets you transfer between up to five debit cards and send up to $2,000 daily.

Beem It also recently launched Beem Rewards, which allows you to earn cashback when you shop with partner retailers such as The Iconic. You can then cash out your ‘Beembucks’ to your nominated debit card.

You can also store your loyalty cards in the app and buy and send digital gift cards using the app.

Is Beem It safe to use?

Beem It says it encrypts your information (like your card details) so that people can’t access it. It also says it authenticates each transaction that is made through the app and has real-time fraud monitoring.

Beem It says it’s important to keep your details secure and not to send money to people you personally don’t know and trust. Beem It payments are also instant, so once you send them, they cannot be reversed.

How does Beem It stack up against its competitors?

Beem It’s main competitor is Osko, which also allows users to transfer money ‘instantly’. Osko, which is owned by BPAY, was launched in 2018 and was one of the first services to operate using the New Payment Platform (NPP).

Osko allows you to make payments using a PayID or your traditional BSB and account details. It works within your financial institution’s banking app or website and it is currently offered by over 85 Australian institutions. That means you don’t need to download and set-up an extra app, as is the case with Beem It.

Aside from instant payments, the obvious difference between Beem It and Osko is that Beem It offers additional features such as bill splitting, requests and rewards.

Another difference is the daily payment limits. Beem It has a limit of $2,000 per day on payments, with a $10,000 rolling 30-day limit. Through Osko, your daily payment limit is generally the same as your online and mobile bank limits, which is typically higher. But this might not be a huge issue for Beem It users if they are only making relatively small payments.

Is Beem It worth downloading?

One of Beem It’s drawcards is that you can pay someone by simply tagging their username. This would generally be quicker than entering someone’s BSB number and account details. The caveat is that the person you are paying will also need to have Beem It. If you already had your payee’s details saved within your bank app or they had a PayID, then it probably wouldn’t make too much of a difference timewise.

For me, Beem It was worth downloading because my bank doesn’t currently support Osko. At the moment, it can take me up to three business days to transfer money. With Beem It, payments can happen in seconds. Beem It’s request and bill splitting features could also come in handy down the track and could make it easier to split and chase up money. That being said, if you already have Osko and instant payments are the main feature you want to use, you may not find much added value in downloading Beem It.

This article was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated. Cover image source: GaudiLab/Shutterstock.com.