As a leading payment app, Venmo offers a lot of possibilities for its users, but can Venmo send money to a prepaid card? And if it can, how can you link a gift or prepaid card to your Venmo account? These and more questions we will provide in the following article.
Can Venmo send money to a prepaid card? The answer is no. You can add certain brands of prepaid cards to your Venmo account and make purchases, but you can not send money from Venmo funds to a prepaid card.
However, there are other options you can use to cash out your Venmo balance, but first, let’s see how you can use prepaid cards on Venmo.
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Can Venmo Send Money to a Prepaid Card?
If you have prepaid or gift cards, you probably know that these cards can be funded through ATMs and other means. But what if you are in situations where you have money on your Venmo balance and wish to cash out that money, but all you have is a prepaid card? Unfortunately, if this is the situation, you will not be able to transfer that balance to that prepaid card.
This is due to the fact that a prepaid card, even if it’s MasterCard, is not linked to any bank account, meaning it is impossible to wire money to that card using Venmo and probably other similar payment apps. But this doesn’t mean that you can not use these cards with Venmo. You can link them to your Venmo account to transfer money from them to Venmo. Here are prepaid cards that Venmo supports:
- Credit cards,
- Debit cards,
- Prepaid cards from American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa.
Adding a Prepaid Card on Venmo Is Simple
If you wish to add a prepaid card to your Venmo account, the process is quite simple, and it is done in a couple of steps. Note that it can happen that your card is declined due to fraud prevention either from Venmo or the card issuer. For some cards, you may have to add a zip code to your account. Also, some card providers may charge you cash advance fees if you use the card to make payments to friends on Venmo. Here is how to add a prepaid card to Venmo.
| Step 1 | Open the Venmo app |
| Step 2 | Tap on three horizontal lines in top left corner |
| Step 3 | Go to settings and find “Payment Methods” |
| Step 4 | Open the preference section menu |
| Step 5 | Choose add bank or credit card |
| Step 6 | Enter card details and zip code if needed |
| Step 7 | Press add |
How You Can Use Prepaid Cards on Venmo?
Once you add a prepaid card to your account, you will be able to use the money from the card through your Venmo account. You will be able to send money to friends and family and complete purchases. When sending money, the process is the same as with other credit or debit cards. All you have to do is highlight the prepaid card as the payment method for that transaction. Click pay, and the funds from your prepaid card will be transferred through Venmo to another Venmo user.
You can use Venmo to make online purchases or in stores that support Venmo as a payment method. If you are shopping at the retailer, you can scan a QR code and complete the payment this way. And once you have added a prepaid card to your Venmo, the payment process will be automated. But you will need to set up your Venmo account for online store purchases. Here are the steps to follow:
- Step 1 – Open Venmo and go to three horizontal lines in the top left corner
- Step 2 – Find settings and scroll to the “Buying” option
- Step 3 – Choose “Enable Mobile Web Purchase”
- Step 4 – Your default browser will pop up
- Step 5 – Go back to the app and click connect browser
The Best Way to Cash Out Your Venmo Balance
As promised, we will quickly explain how you can cash out from Venmo not directly to prepaid cards but indirectly. As you know, Venmo is linked to your bank account, and if it’s not, this should be your first step. You can then transfer funds from Venmo to your bank account and then from that bank account to your prepaid card. Here is how to do this:
- Step 1 – Add bank account to Venmo
- Step 2 – Tap on the single-person icon on Venmo
- Step 3 – Choose Manage Balance
- Step 4 – Tap transfer to bank
- Step 5 – Enter the amount
- Step 6 – Choose between instant and standard transfer
- Step 7 – Click transfer
Main Benefits of Prepaid Credit Cards on Venmo
Even though you can not use prepaid cards to send money from Venmo to them, adding these cards will not be a mistake. Prepaid cards can be an excellent way to transfer money to your friends. But probably one of the greatest benefits is that you will not be charged any fees when transferring money from prepaid cards, while the same process with debit or credit cards will be charged 3% for each transaction. Maybe this seems like a negligible sum, but if you make frequent transactions, these can save you a lot of money. Also, you can easily fund these cards with cash on ATMs and then transfer those funds to Venmo, which is one of the benefits as well.