It can be disheartening when you want to send money on Venmo but you are met with a ‘payment declined’ message. Not being able to send money or make payments can be an inconvenience especially during emergencies. So, we have explored the most common reasons why this occurs to individuals and how a person can deal with this situation.
Venmo payment declined? Here are some reasons why your Venmo payment may be declined:
- The bank is declining the transaction outside Venmo
- The transaction triggered a Venmo red flag
- A temporarily frozen account
- Exceeding the sending limits
- Lack of enough funds in the Venmo account.
In terms of peer to peer transactions Venmo is among the most recognized apps especially by millennials and the younger generation. It has more than 60 million users which is a great achievement considering the app is not available internationally.
Venmo is owned by PayPal since its purchase in 2013. Before then it was an app created to make it easy for people to split bills and since then it has exceeded expectations. Its social interaction feature makes it quite unique and appeals to its target users who are millennials, and young adults.
There is some confusion about whether or not Venmo reports to the IRS. Some people believe that it is a bank, but it is actually a mobile payments app.
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Why Your Venmo Payment Might be Declined
When your Venmo payment gets declined it is an indication that there is an issue with your account. Most of the time it is something you can sort out and hence we have provided the various possibilities you can invite in such a situation.
Insufficient Funds in Your Venmo Account
It’s common for users to mistake the balance they have in their account. So, when a person tries to send more money than is available in the balance, the payment becomes declined. Sending money through Venmo is free and so a user does not have to worry about calculating charges, just what is in their account.
If this is the case then the user can top up their account or link a bank account with enough funds to facilitate the transaction.
Payment Limits Have Been Exceeded
Venmo has various limits for users in making payments on transactions like;
- Peer to peer payments
- Online purchases from the account
- Venmo card purchases
- Venmo QR code purchases in stores.
Once you create your payment account, you are limited to sending about $299.99 every week and a maximum of the same on making purchases from merchants. So, if you try to transact even $1 over the weekly limit the payment will be declined.
Venmo gives users a choice to increase their limits by simply verifying their identities on the app. The process requires them to provide some basic information such as,
- Legal name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Social security number /Tax identification number
Once you complete the verification process your limit rises to about $6999.99 weekly for total transactions and $4999.99 for peer to peer payments. However, it is easy to achieve this figure since they do not have a restriction on how much you can transact in a day. So, be sure to check whether you might have exceeded your limit when experiencing a declined payment.
There are many great things you can do with Venmo – like sending or receiving money, or even splitting a bill. But what if your account gets frozen? Don’t worry, we’ll show you how to unfreeze Venmo.
If a Payment Triggers a Venmo Automated Security Flag
Sometimes a Venmo payment might fail because a Venmo security flag has been triggered. Venmo aims to protect its users and so when a transaction seems suspicious or suspected of fraud, one is likely to have their payment declined.
Note that a security flag does not necessarily mean that you are committing a fraudulent transaction, it is just their system trying to be thorough. In such a case contacting Venmo customer support is the best way forward.
A Temporarily Frozen Account
Your Venmo account can be frozen if some flags are raised concerning activity that might be against their user agreement policies. It is mostly related to the linked bank account whereby bank payments are frozen. It can be for different reasons including having insufficient funds in the account or exceeding the ACH transfers allocated.
Temporarily frozen accounts are usually reinstated after Venmo receives the funds from the bank. Currently, users cannot unfreeze accounts on their own and will need to contact Venmo via the email [email protected] for guidance.
The Bank Declining the Payment on Their End
Sometimes the issue is usually on the linked bank’s side whereby they might not let a transaction go through outside Venmo. As a result the Venmo payment will not go through. In this case, you need to contact the bank and get to the bottom of the issue.
How to Unfreeze a Temporarily Frozen Account
When a user’s Venmo account is frozen, they are sent an email saying that the transaction they attempted from the bank has failed.
From here, a user needs to use a computer or phone to login in via https://www.venmo.com/recover and recover their account.
The account remains frozen until the funds are paid.
As mentioned earlier, the bank transaction can fail either because of insufficient funds or exceeding ACH transfer limits. Contacting Venmo in this situation might not be helpful because they don’t have visibility as to why the transaction has failed and thus cannot override it. Contacting the bank can confirm what the problem is and you can proceed from there. Normally the account will be reinstated after payment. There are different ways of getting the account reinstated including;
- Paying the amount using your debit card
- Paying through the bank
Keep in mind that bank payments will sometimes take days to be processed and thus you might have to wait depending on your bank. Venmo will provide an estimate of when the funds will arrive if you choose to fund the amount with a bank account. Any amount that Venmo receives will automatically be deducted from what you owe Venmo thus reducing what you owe.
Final Thoughts
Venmo is a great tool in our times where carrying money seems to be a thing of the past. It makes minor expenditures easier to manage and will even let you communicate with people you’re sending money to. Even though the social feature is not for everyone, there are options within the app to make your transactions private.