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All You Need to Know About Venmo
We will be discussing all you need to know about Venmo as a beginner. This includes asking basic questions that you might be too shy to ask your friends. You should be equipped with everything you need to know to begin by the end of the article. Let’s start!
What is Venmo?
In all you need to know about Venmo, the first order of business is discussing what it is. Venmo is a payment platform that aims to make financial transactions fun and light. This is achieved by letting users attach small notes and emojis for when they’re asking for payment. It’s a peer-to-peer payment app that’s available on Android. This app makes it easy for you to send money or split bills with your friends when you go out and eat or do other activities. It also makes it easier for you to pay for online purchases and other transactions. If you’re paying for products and services with partner businesses, you’ll be able to pay quickly and hassle-free. As for growth and popularity, Venmo is currently one of the most popular P2P payment services in the U.S. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the total payment volume of Venmo was 60.6 billion U.S. dollars. Compared to the previous year’s performance, we can see a 29% year-on-year growth. We can therefore conclude that Venmo will only be growing as the years come.
Who are Eligible to Use Venmo?
Unfortunately, Venmo isn’t that widely available globally. Here are the general requirements you need to be eligible to use Venmo:
You have to be located in the U.S. Both the sender and the receiver must be located in the U.S.You need a phone number from the U.S. that can send or receive text messages.In most cases, you have to be at least 18 years old.U.S. bank account or a debit or credit card in the U.S.
How Does Venmo Work?
Once you have installed the Venmo app on your phone, you need to link your Venmo account to your credit card, debit card, or bank. This is where your funds will be coming from. You can think of Venmo as simply a virtual fiscal intermediary. It’s also important to mention that with Venmo, you don’t need to maintain a balance in your account. If you send money during a transaction and you don’t have money on your Venmo, it will be charged directly to your linked cards. Requestion for money or making a payment is easy once you’ve linked your cards. Just open the app and tap on the Pay or Request button on the home screen. It’s represented by a pencil and a square. You can then enter the username, phone number, or email of the person you’re sending to or receiving money from. If you’re sending the money to a lot of people, you can just enter as many names so you don’t have to do it separately. As mentioned earlier, you can make sending money more fun by adding emojis to your transaction. Each Venmo user is assigned a personal QR code. To make transactions even faster, you can just scan the QR code for the person’s or the business’ information then proceed with the transaction. If you’re paying someone, they’ll get an email that will ask them to accept the payment. Once they’ve confirmed this, you will also get an email confirmation of the transaction. The same process applies if you’re requesting money. The person will receive an email for the request and you’ll get a confirmation email once you’ve been paid.
What are the Fees of Venmo?
Most transactions in Venmo are actually free. But of course, Venmo has to earn too so not all actions in Venmo are free. If you’re sending money to other people using your Venmo balance or your bank account, there will be no fees charged. But if you’re using your credit card to send money, Venmo will charge you a fee of 3% of the transaction. For example, you’re sending your friend $10 for a snack you guys shared and you used your credit card to pay for the transfer. Venmo will charge you $10.3 instead of $10 because of the 3% fee. Venmo also charges you a fee if you’re using the Instant Transfer feature. Usually, a transfer takes quite some time. We’ll be discussing this more in detail in a later part of the article. But if you’re using the Instant transfer feature, your money will arrive at your bank in around 30 minutes or so. The fee that Venmo will charge you is a 1% fee of the transaction. The minimum of this 1% though is $0.25 and the maximum is $10. Finally, Venmo also charges a fee of $2.50 if you use your Venmo debit card in an out-of-network ATM. Aside from that, Venmo also charges $2.50 for using an ATM that is not in the MoneyPass network. If you’re withdrawing over-the-counter cash at a bank, Venmo also charges $3 for that. To avoid all of these fees, use a MoneyPass ATM if you’re withdrawing money.
How Long Does it Take to Process Money with Venmo?
Venmo doesn’t work instantly when you’re transferring money. It can be somewhat annoying since you can’t use it instantly, but then again, it at least saves you from the inconvenience of having to process a bank transfer or withdrawing from an ATM. As a general rule of thumb, it takes 1 to 3 business days for your money to be transferred from your Venmo account to your bank account. As for the specific factors that influence the arrival of your transfer, it’s specified on Venmo’s official website. Here’s a quick summary of them:
How Safe is Venmo?
Venmo makes sure that security is one of its top priorities. This is why it uses data encryption technology to protect its users from unauthorized transactions. It also makes sure that all user information is stored on servers that are in secure locations. The app also asks users to set up their PIN codes to avoid unauthorized transactions on their end. It also has a service that allows users to log out of their accounts in case their phones get lost or stolen. Unfortunately, like all other internet-connected applications, Venmo is still vulnerable to security breaches from time to time. Hackers and scammers still find ways to get around these security features. There’s also always the threat of phishing and identity fraud if users are not careful enough. Another concern for lots of users is that Venmo’s social feed shows you transactions by default. This means that your friends and other people will be able to see your transactions. This can be a security issue for lots of people. But this can easily be resolved by changing it in the settings.
Does Venmo Have Transfer Limits?
Once you successfully register an account in Venmo, the person-to-person limit is $299.99. Once you verify your identity in Venmo, your person-to-person limit increases to $4,999.99. Once you’ve verified your identity, the cumulative limit for person-to-person transactions per week is $6,999.99 per week. For more details, you can check out the official page of Venmo.
Key Takeaway
Venmo is a fun, fast, convenient, and easy way to send money to family and friends. Knowing all you need to know about Venmo will help you get started on your journey. You can use it to pay for products and services to partner businesses. It may take time to transfer your money from your Venmo account to your bank account but it saves you all the hassle of a bank transfer. You have to be living in the U.S. to be able to use Venmo. Aside from that, you also need a credit card, debit card, or bank account registered in the U.S. Using the app is very simple because of its user-friendly interface. It’s quick to pick up and get used to. You usually only need to wait for 1 to 3 business days for your transactions to push through. As for security, Venmo uses multiple data security measures to make sure that your information and transactions are safe. Finally, the transfer limits of Venmo depend on a lot of factors. Whoo! That was a lot to cover but here are all you need to know about Venmo. Do you want to know anything more about Venmo? Let us know in the comments what other aspects of Venmo should we cover!
