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  • Requesting solution for payment request to former bunq users

I am asking for a solution so that I can still sent a payment request to my recipient’s email and phone number, even though the recipient might have been a bunq premium user once upon a time. Now, the request seems to disapear into the void.


When you create a payment request (or want to sent money to a contact), the app automatically recognises fellow bunq users and the request is received via the bunq app of the recipient. This saves time.

However, I encounter issues if the recipient is a former bunq user. Now his email and mobile phone number are still bound to his bunq account. Either an account-without-subscription or a downgraded-to Travel account; both cannot accept my payment request.

I am asking for a solution so that I can still sent a payment request to my recipient’s email and phone number, even though the recipient might have been a bunq premium user once upon a time.

I am not sure if this would be helped by removing IBAN’s aliassen, but regardless, asking them to remove their aliassen is not really an option because from their perspective it “is not their problem”; they closed their account and see no point in or are reluctant to logging in again.

In the case of a former-premium-now-downgraded-to-travel-card subscription, aliases and recognition by my (premium) bunq app no longer serve a purpose, right?
Because the receiving user cannot approve a payment request, why am I even able to sent a payment request to a travel card user? Wouldn’t it make more sense for that request to be sent to their e-mail or mobile number instead of the app, being a dead-end-street in-app in their situation?


I used the share link option within payment request to get around it for now, but that is more work and only works with request to 1 person, not to a whole table where normally you would just enter people’s names and bunq takes care of it. (Split-function.)

    Yes requesting money from the bunq app doesn’t work that well when you request from people that have or once had a bunq account.

    Even if people would have access to their bunq account but had no money on it or wanted to pay it from a different bank account they would be frustrated. And I would not get my money.

    I stopped using it because of that.

    It would be great if there would be a solution where you can request it in a way that the receiver can decide how they pay it. Whether they now have or had bunq in the past or not.

    As a workaround I created a keyboard shortcut / keyword that would automatically replace my typed keyword with the URL of my bunq.me payment request. I can use it in WhatsApp or iMessage or email or any other app I am typing in.

    This can be done in iOS and macOS. I can imagine Android has the same functionality.

      @Patrick-P#186214 Great thinking, with the keyboard auto-replace action and bunq.me. 😊 I will keep that in mind.

      I would still prefer the split function in same cases. It also calculates stuff for me 😆😇

      It is a shame though, we have problems using request because others are offboarding.

      So please bunq, put this on the list.

      If the binding between recipient wouldn’t be that strong, I could choose between Friend #1 via text, Friend #1 via email, Friend #1 via bunq, then at least it can be self-healing because the user can choose how a request is transmitted.

      You don’t have to design a whole offboarding flow per se, in the example, the core idea is to allow the users to choose the medium per recipient over which to request will be sent.

        20 days later

        I ran into it again:
        I tried to use the split the bill feature with multiple contacts; among them one ex-bunq-user with deactivated/terminated account.

        He was so kind to login to his old account again, which worked, but the only thing he could do was reactivate his account again, he could not prevent payments requests to be sent to his deactivated bunq account.

        Such a drag!

          To think towards a solution:

          I have two:

          1:
          Implement a business rule: if an account’s subscription is not active and a user’s account receives a payment request, forward it (the request with ideal link ) to their email so that they at least can pay it.

          2:
          In split the bill use case, Enable the “share the link” feature for bunq contacts too. Ironically, after I sent the payment request, the never-bunq users payments request’s progress is trackable in my bunq app and also have a extra button to share the link/request again via other means.

          This button does not exist for (ex-) bunq users.

          Enabling it would help a bit.

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