Venmo Review

Venmo is the preferred peer-to-peer (p2p) payment app that allows you to easily send money to friends and family. It is widely used and you can send money via any payment method you want and the recipient receives the funds immediately.

Great payment apps offer fast transfers, small fees and a large user base. Our in-depth Venmo app review will detail the app’s features so you can confidently decide which option is right for you.

Full Venmo Review

Pros.
Fast and easy P2P payments
Free money transfers from bank accounts or debit cards
Low fees for credit card payments
Ability to pay with Venmo at select businesses
Debit, junior debit and credit cards available
Add a social element to sending and receiving money
Buy popular cryptocurrencies

Disadvantages
Payments are public by default
No way to cancel payments
No international transactions
Popular with scammers

What is Venmo and how does it work?
Venmo is a payment app for instant money transfers and collections. You can send money from your debit card, credit card, bank account or Venmo balance. When you receive money, it is added to your Venmo balance. You can transfer it to your bank account or keep it on Venmo.

Venmo lets you split bills and other expenses with multiple people. For example, you and your roommate can use Venmo to pay your Internet bill, or you and a few friends can use Venmo to split a bill at a restaurant.

Venmo adds a social media element to money transfers; Venmo users can add each other as friends. There’s a feed that shows payments between users, and you can add notes, emoticons, or animated stickers with each payment.Venmo also offers privacy settings. If you don’t want everyone to see your payments, you can set them to be visible only to your friends or only to you and the payee.

Top Benefits
Payments are fast and easy
Ease of use is a big reason for Venmo’s popularity. There is hardly any learning curve. You can download it and start sending or receiving money in minutes.Venmo also simplifies cost sharing – it provides an on-screen calculator when you send or receive money. If you split the bill with a group of people, you can request the same amount from everyone at the same time.

When you withdraw funds from your Venmo balance, it may take 1-3 business days for the funds to be transferred to your bank account. If you need your funds faster, Venmo offers instant transfers at a 1.75% fee with a minimum of $0.25 and a maximum of $25.

Free
Venmo has no regular fees, such as monthly or annual fees. There are no fees for sending money from a bank account, debit card, or Venmo balance. Credit card payments are subject to a 3% fee, which is standard in payment apps. There are no fees for receiving money or transferring it to your bank account unless you choose an instant transfer instead of a standard transfer.

Venmo payments can be used at specific businesses
You can pay with Venmo funds on multiple apps and websites, including Uber Eats, Hulu, and Poshmark, among others. Shopping at a business that accepts Venmo payments? The app can speed up your checkout process.

Debit, Teen Debit, and Credit Cards Available
Frequent Venmo users may be interested in one of their payment cards.The Venmo debit card is tied to your Venmo balance. It has no annual fee and offers cash back at certain stores.

Parents may be interested in applying for the Venmo Youth Debit Card on behalf of their teen. The card gives parents insight and control over their minor’s spending and allows teens to make payments anywhere MasterCard is accepted. There are no monthly fees and it’s free to sign up.

The Venmo Credit Card is a no annual fee rewards card. It categorizes your purchases into spending categories. Each month, you get 3% cash back on your top categories, 2% on the next largest spending category, and 1% on all other categories.

The Venmo credit card offers great benefits, but check out the best rewards credit cards before applying – there may be more valuable options out there.

Buying Popular Cryptocurrencies
Venmo allows you to purchase up to four popular cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash. venmo charges zero fees for this, and you can purchase it in increments of $1. Venmo provides users with short educational content about the basics of cryptocurrency, such as how it works.

What could be improved
Payments are public by default
Venmo’s privacy settings are not ideal. By default, non-teen account payments are public – any Venmo user can see them. When public, anyone can see your username, other people’s (sender/recipient) usernames, and additional messages.

You can change your privacy settings so that only your friends can see the payments, or set them to private. However, some consumers use the app without even realizing that their payments are public. This can be frustrating for those who like to keep their personal finances private.

No way to cancel a payment
Once you make a payment in Venmo, there is no way to cancel it. The recipient receives the money immediately. If you need a refund, Venmo recommends asking the payee for a refund. Another option is to have Venmo’s support staff reverse the payment for you, but they can only do so if the payee agrees, their account is in good standing, and they still have money in their account.

No International Transactions
Venmo does not support international payments. To open a Venmo account, you must live in the United States and have a U.S. cell phone number. You can only transfer Venmo balances to a U.S. bank account and can only log in to the Venmo app from within the United States. If you want to send money abroad, you will need a different payment app (see below for more information).

Popular with Scammers
Venmo is very popular, and it has its pros and cons. On the plus side, a lot of people you know are probably using Venmo, which makes it easy to send them money or ask them for money.

Unfortunately, Venmo scams are common. For example, let’s say you receive a random $500 Venmo payment from someone you don’t know. They contact you, say it was a mistake, and ask you to return it. Fraudsters often use stolen credit cards to commit this act. When the real cardholder reports the payment as fraudulent, Venmo deducts $500 from your account. If you’ve already sent $500 to the fraudster, you’ve already lost the money and Venmo can’t help you.

How much does it cost?
The Venmo app is free. You can send and receive money for free with Venmo. However, Venmo charges for “premium” features. These include the following:

Credit Card Transfers: There is a 3% fee for credit card payments. You can avoid this by paying with your debit card, bank account, or Venmo balance.
Fast withdrawals from Venmo to your bank account: Instant transfers are subject to a 1.75% fee with a minimum of $0.25 and a maximum of $25. You can avoid this by opting for a recurring withdrawal, which takes one to three business days to clear.
Buying and Selling Cryptocurrencies: Venmo charges users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies within the app. The exact fees vary, starting at less than $0.50 for small purchases and gradually increasing.
Venmo’s fees are standard for payment applications. You will almost always have to pay additional fees when sending money by credit card or making a quick withdrawal to your bank account. Other than these cases, you can use Venmo for free.

Venmo is suitable for:
People who want a convenient way to send and receive money with friends and family.

For peer-to-peer payments, Venmo ticks all the boxes. It offers debit card, credit card and bank account payments. It is fast and easy to use. Last but not least, it has a large user base, so many of your contacts are probably already using it. Considering its popularity, Venmo is a payment app worth installing on your smartphone.