San Francisco, Mar 18 (EFE).- Facebook said U.S. users would be able to link their e-mail accounts and the Messenger texting application to their debit cards, allowing them to make instant payments.

“Today we’re adding a new feature in Messenger that gives people a more convenient and secure way to send or receive money between friends,” the social network said on its Web site, adding that the tool would be available in the coming months in the United States.

Facebook said Messenger users would only need to initiate a new message with a friend to send money, click on the dollar sign, indicate how much money they want to send, click the “pay” option and add debit card information to complete the transfer.

“Money is transferred instantaneously,” Facebook said, adding that the actual funds could take between one and three days to be available depending on the user’s bank.

Some 500 million people around the world use the Messenger app.

Last year, Facebook paid almost $22 billion for WhatsApp, a messaging service with more than 700 million active subscribers around the world. EFE