An upbeat lady enjoys breakfast in the fresh air while using her phone and holding her credit card over her notebook. To simplify their financial lives, more than 40 million people worldwide use the P2P payments app Venmo.
The app has become so popular that it may be used as a verb. Having to divide the bill at a meal with a pal?” It’s fine, just send the money via Venmo later. I’ll pay you with Venmo when I pick up the secondhand desk I bought from you on Facebook Marketplace.”
You may be curious about this if you’re one of the tens of millions of users using Venmo with their bank account or debit card and have been wondering if you can connect your credit card. Yes, you can use a credit card with Venmo; however, there are some essential details to remember first.
Is It Advisable to Use a Credit Card with Venmo?
Although there are certain limitations, you can use a credit card with Venmo. For instance, if your credit card is already associated with another Venmo account, you won’t be able to add it, and vice versa, when transferring funds from your Venmo balance to your credit card.
You should also know that your credit card company may charge you extra fees, usually a minimum of $5 or $10, if you pay friends and family with a credit card, as Venmo states. In addition, cash advances don’t have a 0% interest introductory period and instead start charging interest immediately, often at a higher APR.
Venmo transactions can be marked as purchases when making a purchase from a business, negating the need to pay any additional fees or interest. In any case, before adding a credit card to your Venmo account, it’s a good idea to double-check with the card’s issuer. No transaction fees will be applied when using Venmo to purchase from a company’s affiliated businesses. In that situation, you can use your credit card without worrying about paying additional fees; the company will cover them.
How to Use Venmo Securely
You should take some simple steps to protect your money and identity whenever you make a purchase using your bank account, debit card, Venmo balance, or credit card on Venmo. We’ve compiled six suggestions for keeping your Venmo account secure:
Make sure your password is secure by constructing a complex one. One of the easiest ways to protect your financial accounts is to set up a strong password. Use a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters, numerals, and symbols instead of actual words.
Boost safety precautions. Set up a personal identification number, biometrics, and multi-factor authentication, and you’ll make it far more challenging for fraudsters to access your account.
Don’t send money to anyone on Venmo; only people you know and trust. When using Venmo, only do business with “people you know and trust,” as stated in the service’s TOS. You may have difficulty recovering funds sent to an unknown recipient owing to an oversight or a fraudulent scheme. Keep up with your alerts. Consider signing up for text alerts that notify you immediately of any suspicious behavior on your accounts, such as a transfer or an unsuccessful login attempt.
When possible, stay away from free public Wi-Fi. You should never access your Venmo account when using a public Wi-Fi connection. The theft of login credentials and other sensitive information is a common reason hackers create fake networks or compromise legitimate ones.
A Comparison of 4 Mobile Payment Options
Do you find Venmo to be less than satisfactory? No problem; many alternative mobile payment options are available to you. Other options for online communities include:
Payment with Google Wallet
Though Google Pay is most commonly used for making purchases online or in-store, it can also be used to transfer funds to friends and family. However, you can’t use a credit card to pay for peer-to-peer deals. Only bank transfers and debit cards are accepted and incur no fees.
Zelle
In contrast to other mobile payment apps, Zelle enables instantaneous funds transfer between bank accounts. You can send money to anyone with a bank account with one of Zelle’s partner banks without needing the app. The best part is that there are no costs associated with using a credit card to make a payment (though the company recommends checking with your bank or credit union to find out if they charge any extra fees).
PayPal
Using your PayPal balance or a bank transfer to send money to loved ones is free; however, using a credit or debit card incurs a 2.9% fee (plus a flat charge that can vary). For those using the US dollar, there is a single fee of 30 cents.
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