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February 4, 2014

Cheddar Up – Settle the Tab

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Collecting money from a group of friends for joint gifts, trips, or dinners is usually a trying experience. In almost every case, someone needs change for a large bill, someone claims he’s already paid his portion of the tab, and someone asks if he can pay at a later date. Cheddar Up is a web-based tool that simplifies the process of settling group payments without relying on cash or checks.

If you’re fronting the money for a large purchase—like a group gift for a birthday party or a home rental when vacationing with friends—then Cheddar Up has developed a way to help track who owes you money and get paid back in full. Login to Cheddar Up with the email address associated with your Paypal account. Create a “tab” for the purchase you’re tracking and attach a receipt to your tab for your friends to review. Next, you’ll need to invite your friends to pay you back for the purchase via the Cheddar Up app. You also have the choice to make your tab “optional,” which means recipients can choose whether to opt out of making a payment. Clicking on the Cheddar Up tab allows your friends to pay you immediately through PayPal. Then, it’s up to you to collect your money by clicking the “Get My Money” button on the Cheddar Up tab page.

Prevent stragglers from holding up the payback process by sending automated reminders each day or week until the entire group’s tab is settled. Cheddar Up offers a number of advanced features for tracking the process of a group tab. Cheddar Up also gives you the option of manually marking certain people as “paid” when they’ve settled their tabs offline using cash or check.

Practical Uses:

  • Collect money from friends for a group birthday present
  • Buy a class gift for your teacher
  • Pay for a group dinner at a restaurant
  • Split the cost of rent with your roommates

Insider Tips:

  • Cheddar Up integrates with Paypal for processing payments
  • Mark tab recipients as “paid offline” if they settle their tabs in cash
  • Transfer money directly from Paypal to your bank account
  • Use Cheddar Up to pay and collect on international transactions

What we liked:

  • Automated reminders let people know that they still need to pay a bill
  • Users can track group activity
  • Attached receipts ensure the legitimacy of the tabs users are collecting on
  • The opposite party never sees a user’s payment information

What we didn’t like:

  • Cheddar Up charges an additional fee for users who pay with a credit card

Alternatives:

Company Info:

Costs:

  • Free to pay via bank account, Paypal, or cash
  • 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction when paying via credit card

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