How to Venmo Someone: An In-Depth Guide with Visuals

Since bursting onto the payments scene in 2012, Venmo has become a sensation – amassing over 60 million registered users as of 2021 who transacted nearly $159 billion over the app.

So what explains Venmo‘s meteoric rise to dominate peer-to-peer payments? At its core, Venmo mastered convenience and practicality for the mobile era. Getting cash from friends or awkwardly asking to be paid back now seems antiquated.

As this comprehensive guide will demonstrate, paying people back has never been simpler than firing off some quick Venmos. Let‘s dive in!

The Backstory Behind Venmo‘s Runaway Success

In 2009, Venmo began its journey as an idea conceptualized by Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, college friends at the University of Pennsylvania. Their big vision? To shift clunky bank transfers for money between friends into quick seamless payments.

The premise attracted enough attention to win funding from RRE Ventures and participate in the Seedcamp startup competition. With the initial $50k investment secured, Kortina and Magdon-Ismail spent 2010 developing a beta of their peer-to-peer payment network.

In 2012 Venmo officially launched, yielding immediate viral adoption first across college campuses and then mainstream audiences. By 2013, $50 million had already flowed through Venmo payments as organic growth exploded.

Venmo Daily Active Spend

Data Source: Statista

Ultimately, Venmo achieved escape velocity growth not just because of the app‘s convenient money transfers but also thanks to tactful leveraging of social & discovery features. The public feed of humorously-noted payments between friends became a hit that brought payments out into the open.

In 2018, PayPal officially acquired Venmo to integrate it into their wider payments ecosystem while keeping the app‘s branding and culture intact. Under this new ownership, Venmo accelerated adoption further to nearly double its userbase by 2021.

So in summary, Venmo‘s ability to nail the user experience around seamless sharing of payments led to today‘s juggernaut handling $44 billion in transaction volume annually. Not bad for an app started by two college friends!

Next let‘s get hands-on with how to master Venmo for all your payment needs…

Step 1: Seamlessly Send Money

Thanks to Venmo‘s meteoric popularity, chances are decent your friends are already active users. This network effect means paying people back for something or settling shared bills can happen immediately.

Let‘s run through Venmo‘s dead-simple steps for sending money with added context at each click:

Venmo launches right to the main Pay or Request screen – tap here to initiate sending funds.
Click in the search bar then type your friend‘s name, phone, or Venmo handle to add them as the payment recipient.

Got ‘em! With your friend now selected, let‘s enter the amount you wish to pay. Ensure you put the dollars and cents correctly.

Including a payment note is optional but handy context for them. Pick something memorable related to the money purpose.

If desired, toggle the privacy settings between public, friends, or private based on your preferences.
Lastly, verify all looks accurate then hit Pay! funds begin moving instantly to your grateful friend 🙂

Watch quick 1-minute video walking through sending money:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pmo-zLuwXq0

And that‘s truly all there is to it – Venmo makes firing off payments incredibly easy. Choosing recipients from your contacts and entering dollars/notes takes seconds.

Much simpler than the infinitely more painful cash exchange or bank transfer dance!

Now that we‘ve covered sending…

Step 2: Smoothly Request Money

In addition to sending payments, Venmo offers an equally streamlined process for requesting money to get paid back or collect owed funds.

Maybe your roommate forgot to Venmo for utilities or a friend still owes their share of brunch. Whatever the reason, requesting money through Venmo takes the awkwardness out of asking to be paid back.

The steps mirror those involved with sending funds. Check it out:

Tap the Pay or Request button then search for whichever contact you need to ask funds from.
Input how much you are requesting rather than sending – double check it‘s accurate!
Including a quick notes reminder is clutch for jogging their memory why dollars are owed.
Now just click the Request button in the top right corner to fire it off.

And the receiver will get notified instantly of the request on their end of the Venmo app. Hopefully they‘ll pay up quick!

One cool advantage to Requesting versus only sending invoices directly is that:

Recipients can pay back your request in literally 2 clicks right within Venmo
No paying external invoices, copying bank details, etc etc. Total convenience!

So in summary, whether you need to pay someone back or have them pay you, Venmo offers equal efficiency. Money flying in both directions achieves unmatched simplicity compared to old school cash or check transactions.

Up next, let‘s explore tackling group payments…

Step 3: Split the Bill Across Groups

Venmo unleashes maximum potential for gatherings between friends, family members, roommates/housemates, coworkers and more thanks to seamless group payments.

No longer does one person have to front the money then chase individuals to pay them back. Now splitting shared bills or services between multiple people happens in one flow.

Some examples include:

Dividing up the beach house Airbnb 4 ways
Splitting the happy hour tab across 10 coworkers
Sharing dog walking fees between roommates
Even churches, sports teams, and other organizations use Venmo Collections to gather funds

You get the idea – anytime funds need distributing across a group for a joint bill or purpose, Venmo is perfect for evenly dividing without hassle.

Let‘s run through the simple steps to knock out group payments:

Initiate a new payment then select your first recipient from contacts as normal
See the handy "+" icon next to their name? Tap here to add more people into one payment.

Continue searching/adding the other folks from the group you need to include – super intuitive!
Once everyone is added as recipients, click "Next" to move onto payment details.

From this screen you can input the amount that will send to each person evenly.
Add any relevant notes as well for context, then approve sending to the group!

And just like that everyone receives their split portion simultaneously without hassle. Much simpler than paying each one-by-one or emails/texts bouncing around.

The key constraint to note with Venmo group payments is that everyone must get paid the same amount. So best application is splitting things equally like $100 campsite 4 ways to $25 each.

If amounts would vary per person, unfortunately multiple individual payments would still be needed. But knocking out even splits across organizations and gatherings is a total breeze!

Up next, an important topic – controlling your payment privacy…

Adjusting Payment Privacy

Part of what propelled Venmo into mainstream adoption was the playful social feed showing flowing payments between friends. It facilitated discovery by spotlighting who‘s paying who for what.

However, reasonably soon it became clear many desired more privacy controls rather than a purely public feed of all transactions.

Thankfully, Venmo provided the flexibility to hide both past and future payments from public visibility. Let‘s break down how to leverage these privacy adjustments to your comfort level:

Making Existing Payments Private

Perhaps you acted in haste sending a payment publically that seemed funny at the time between friends, but no longer want so public.

Luckily, fixing privacy on past transactions is straightforward:

Tap the profile icon in the top right corner then choose Settings > Privacy
Under "Past Payments", toggle the switch left to "Friends" or "Private"
And done! Old transactions now become more discreet from the wider world

Setting Default Payment Privacy

In addition to adjusting visibility of existing payments, you can dictate privacy on new payments.

Here‘s how to set a default level for future:

Under the Privacy settings, choose "Default Privacy Controls"
Select your preference from the options:
- Public: Anyone can view your payments
- Friends: Only added connections can view
- Private: Payments totally invisible to all
Payments will now default to that setting without changing each time

So in summary, dialing in privacy to your comfort allows continuing to leverage Venmo‘s benefits without overexposing financial interactions.

Balancing discoverability to spur engagement vs enabling discretion remains an ongoing priority for Venmo in appeasing diverse preferences.

But luckily the controls are there! Now let‘s address the speed of money movement…

Pace of Venmo Money Transfers

Given Venmo‘s entire value proposition centers on quick peer-to-peer payments, naturally transfer speed is imperative. Slow settlement would defeat the purpose!

Velocity varies based on the type of connected funding account:

Transfer From	Estimated Duration
Bank Account	3-5 business days
Debit Card	Instant – 1 business day
Credit Card	Instant – 1 business day

Generally, amounts paid from a standard bank account take the typical 3-5 days to change hands and settle via ACH transfer, absent weekends or holidays.

However, card-funded payments unlock instantaneous transfers thanks to direct integration with Visa, Mastercard, Discover and AMEX settlement networks.

So if getting money to recipients quickly is imperative, attaching debit or credit cards ensures near real-time payment finality. Whereas bank accounts align with conventional money movement timelines.

Just remember that upon receiving money, the recipient‘s bank may take another 1-2 days to reflect the new balance even after Venmo releases the funds. But still faster than mailing physical checks!

Additional Tips for Venmo Mastery

We‘ve now covered the critical processes for paying people back, requesting owed dollars, controlling privacy, and transfer timing.

Here are some final tips for taking your Venmo skills to the next level:

Stay Protected Against Scams

Unfortunately, Venmo‘s meteoric rise has attracted some ill-intentioned hands looking to perpetuate scams.

Be vigilant for any communications asking you to send money for a "deal" that seems too good to be true. Verify requests directly with the contact before sending payments.

Enable strong authentication requirements for account logins like multi-factor authentication using your mobile number or email.

And as always, think twice before sending money to people you don‘t know well or trust!

Avoid Credit Card Fees

When using a credit card to fund payments, Venmo charges a 3% fee. Debit cards and bank accounts do NOT incur fees.

So if you notice more than expected leaving your account, double check that you didn‘t accidentally select a credit card as the payment method. Stick to debit or bank transfers to dodge surcharges.

Boost Limits Through ID Verification

Venmo establishes $2,999.99 weekly and $4,999.99 monthly send limits without ID verification.

However, completing identity confirmation allows drastically higher ceilings approaching $20,000+ monthly.

So if you find yourself bumping against restrictions, verify your ID! Just need a government-issues photo ID and usually takes 1-2 days for approval.

Access Venmo At Stores

In addition to paying back friends who forgot their wallets, Venmo can be used at approved retailers!

When checking out, open your Venmo app and display the QR code for the cashier to scan. Also works vice versa by scanning their code.

This unlocks rewards, coupons, and personalized offers as you shop store-to-door. Expanding easier in-person usage remains an important Venmo priority going forward!

Conclusion: Venmo Delivers Payment Nirvana

In closing, I hope this guide provided an extensive demonstration for how Venmo empowers painless peer-to-peer payments.

Whether needing to pay your share of the beach house rental or request owed dollars from a forgetful roommate, Venmo brings the process into the 21st century.

The app continues cementing itself as the undisputed leader in friend payments thanks to an unrivaled blend of convenience, mobile experience, and transfer speed.

And ongoing innovation promises expanding use cases between individuals and businesses over coming years thanks to Venmo‘s explosive early growth.

So next time it comes time to settle up between friends or organize group collection, hopefully this piece illuminated why Venmo should be your first stop! No more IOUs or cash exchanges necessary.

Let me know if any other questions come up on mastering Venmo‘s capabilities. Happy paying!