Venmo is a mobile payment system that facilitates sending money between individuals. This application is oriented to allow both installment payments and the sending of small amounts. All that is required is a cell phone number and a text message.
It is a payment gateway owned by PayPal that began offering its services in 2009. It is one of the oldest payment applications among the many apps that have emerged for this type of function.
The operation is simple. Once you have installed the application on your mobile device, you must link a credit card, debit card, or bank account. From that moment, it is possible to send and receive payments to anyone with the application installed.
This way, sending and receiving money between individuals is possible. It is also possible to use this formula to purchase products through those stores or businesses that authorize it. For example, it is quite common in some food delivery applications associated with Venmo.
It is important to note that when you first register on the platform, there is a maximum sending and receiving limit of $299.99 per week. It is possible to increase this amount by providing the last four numbers of your social security number, zip code, and date of birth. Upon verification, the sending and receiving limit increases to $2999.99 per week.
What fees does Venmo charge?
Venmo does not charge any fees. It is, therefore, a free service. That means sending money between individuals using your debit card or bank account is free. However, there is a fee for processing credit card payments: in this case, the charge is 3% for each credit card transaction.
It is important to note that once the request is made, the balance is not automatically confirmed. Depending on the bank account, it may be credited within three to five days. Therefore, you will not be able to access your funds during this period.
On the other hand, some factors can influence the time it takes for the money to be credited. The first of these is the day on which the request is made. Since it is a bank transaction, it may be slightly delayed if you make it on a public holiday.
The use of credit cards must be considered since this fee will be applied to each payment made. If additional transactions are made on the same day, the commission will be charged on each.
If you wish to avoid these fees, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- First, this application will not apply fees when you receive or send money to authorized companies. For example, no fee is applied if you buy a good or hire a service from a company that offers you payment authorization with Venmo.
- In addition, there is also no fee if you send money from your Venmo account balance, debit card, or bank account.
Therefore, if you use this payment system a lot, it may be more advisable to associate it with a credit card and a payment method that does not apply a fee.
Venmo Security
As a payment management application that partners with our financial products, Venmo offers security and protection tools.
First, we find some basic protection features common to legitimate financial services, such as the ability to add a PIN code and the option to set up multi-factor authentication. These elements are sufficient for the basic security of our associated products.
In addition, it is possible to set up bank accounts linked exclusively to the application to avoid fees and compromise our regular deposits. Another option is to use debit cards with a rechargeable balance option. These cards only respond with the balance that has been previously recharged.
All the protection elements are the usual ones and make the application one of the safest on the market.
Therefore, although the service will not apply commissions initially, remember that if you use a credit card to make payments, a 3% commission will be applied for each operation.
On the other hand, we should also remember that the initial limits are low, not reaching $300 per week. This amount can be increased simply by the identification and verification of the user.