Venmo Review

What is Venmo?

Venmo is a money transfer and payment app that lets you split bills, make payments, receive direct deposits and transfer money. Users can buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency and make in-store payments with the Venmo Debit Card or Venmo Credit Card. The company also offers business payment solutions.

Users can customize transfers with Bitmojis, animated stickers, custom emojis and messages. Users’ payments and friends lists used to be shown in a public global social feed by default, but this feature was dropped in July 2021 in response to criticism over privacy.

Venmo has been owned by PayPal since 2013, when PayPal bought Venmo’s parent company, BrainTree, for $800 million. The year before, BrainTree had purchased the Venmo app for $26.2 million.

Venmo was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in New York City. It’s currently only available to US residents. Use it to send money across the US, but you can’t use it to send international money transfers.

How do I request and send money through the Venmo app?

It’s easy to request and send money through Venmo. Here’s how it works:

1. Login to your Venmo account.
2. Select the button that says Pay or Request at the bottom of the screen.
3. Select the recipient. There are 4 ways to do this: (1) Login with Facebook to access your Facebook contacts, (2) give the app permission to access your phone contacts, (3) scan your recipient’s unique Venmo QR code on their phone or (4) look up people’s names or usernames using the app’s search function, which can be located by tapping the hamburger icon at the top of the screen.
4. Add a custom message (optional).
5. Adjust the visibility settings of your transaction using the Privacy button, which appears above the Request/Pay buttons towards the bottom of the screen. You can allow the transaction to be visible to everyone, your friends or just yourself and the recipient (default).
6. Select either Request or Pay.
7. View your Venmo account balance. Funds will be taken from here first. If the balance is insufficient, the full amount will be taken from the bank account or card linked to your account. You can’t use multiple payment methods to fund a single payment.
8. Hit Send to submit the transaction.

How do I add funds to my Venmo account?

To transfer funds directly into your Venmo account, you have to have a Venmo Debit Card. Transfers take three to five business days. There’s no option to instantly transfer funds.

If you don’t have a Venmo Debit Card, your account balance is any funds you’re received through Venmo transfers from friends, assuming those funds haven’t been moved out of your account to a linked bank account or card.

Venmo limits

There is no Venmo limit per day. But there are weekly limits to the amount of money you can transfer and withdraw from your account.

By default, the Venmo transfer limit for person-to-person transfers is $299.99 per week. When you verify your identity, the Venmo limit raises to $4,999.99 per week for person-to-person transfers and $6,999.99 for all types of Venmo transactions (both purchases and person-to-person transfers).

Verify your identity in the app, but you must have a Social Security number (SSN) or Individual Tax Payer Identification Number (ITIN). Usually, the process only takes a few minutes.

Withdrawals from Venmo to a bank account are limited to $999.99. Once you’ve verified your identity, the Venmo weekly limit raises to $19,999, or $2,999.99 for each transfer.

What happens when someone sends me money through Venmo

Funds sent to your account via Venmo will appear in your account balance. Payments that appear in green show money that has entered your Venmo account, while payments in red show money that has left your Venmo account.

Withdraw funds from Venmo to a bank account, credit card, debit card or prepaid card. Prepaid cards must be branded by a network like American Express, Discover, Mastercard or Visa. You can’t link a PayPal account to Venmo.

Follow these steps to withdraw funds from your Venmo account:

1. Login to Venmo.
2. Select the menu (hamburger icon) on the top, right of the screen. You’ll be able to view your account balance.
3. Select the type of transfer you want. Instant transfers take up to 30 minutes but cost a fee. Standard transfers are free but take one to three business days to arrive.
4. Hit the green transfer button at the bottom of the screen. If successful, a green checkmark will appear.
5. Verify that funds have left your Venmo account by hitting the menu once again and viewing your account balance.

Venmo fees

The following fees apply to personal — nonbusiness — Venmo money transfers:

Fee type	Fee amount (USD)
Money transfer funded by Venmo balance, bank account or debit card	Free
Money transfer funded by credit card	3% of transfer amount
Standard electronic withdrawal (1-3 business days)	Free
Instant electronic withdrawal (up to 30 minutes)	1.5% (minimum $0.25, maximum $15.00)
Transaction declined (insufficient funds)	$0.00

Venmo pros and cons

Compare Venmo to other money transfer services

Is Venmo safe?

Venmo has a number of industry-standard security measures in place to protect your personal data and financial information. These include:

• Data encryption. Venmo uses encryption to block unauthorized access to your account info and prevent fraud.
• Multifactor authentication. When logging in, Venmo may ask users to submit a one-time code to access their accounts. This code is sent to the phone number associated with the account.
• Optional PIN and touch ID. Users can make it harder for unauthorized users to access their accounts by adding a personal identification number (PIN) and/or touch ID to the login process.
• Ability to block phone access to your account. If you lose your phone, you can login to Venmo on any web browser and block your phone from accessing your Venmo account. Finding a lost phone is hard enough—you don’t need to worry about thieves accessing your money too.
• Reporting system for fraud. Venmo has dedicated resources to handling user reports of phishing and fraudulent activity (real or suspected). Users can email Venmo support for help. (If you’re the victim of fraud, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which collects scam reports across the nation.)

Is Venmo international?

No. Currently, Venmo is only available to users who reside in the US, so you can only use it to send domestic money transfers. You can’t use Venmo to send an international money transfer.

Can I use Venmo for business?

Yes. Create a business profile with Venmo, so you can begin accepting payments from clients and customers online, in person or via Venmo’s app. Payments work the same for both personal and business transactions, so customers can continue using the app as they normally would.

How do I contact Venmo?

Venmo has multiple articles online to help you find answers to the most commonly asked questions and issues. Otherwise, you can get in touch with Venmo customer service directly by filling out an online form on the company’s website.

Bottom line

There’s a reason why millions of Americans use Venmo to send money transfers to friends and family across the US. With free transfers, seamless bill-splitting features and a user-friendly app, Venmo should be a go-to for domestic money transfers.

Need to send money outside the US? Check out our guide to international money transfers to compare your options.

Frequently asked questions

• What is Venmo’s transfer limit?

Users who haven’t verified their IDs can only send up to $299.99 per week. Send more by completing the in-app ID verification process.

• What’s the Venmo transaction fee?

There is no transaction fee or transfer fee for sending or receiving money using Venmo. There may be a fee for withdrawing funds to your bank account or card.