Trying to send money to someone, and Venmo instant transfer is not working? We have your back. Undoubtedly, Venmo is one of the most popular money transfer apps, with a whopping 83+ million users in the U.S.
Venmo services are limited to the United States, meaning you cannot use it in any other country unless you’re a citizen of the U.S.
Its Instant transfer is an optional service that allows you to send money within 30 minutes for a 1.75% fee ($0.25 – $25). However, if you’re unable to pull it off, you may be facing an issue that we will list in this article with 100% working solutions. Let’s cut to the chase.
What is Venmo?
Venmo is a Paypal-owned peer-to-peer money transfer app founded in 2009 to make personal transactions hassle-free. It allows you to send and receive cash between your family, friends, or anyone using the Venmo app via bank account, debit, credit, or prepaid card.
Besides, users can share their pie of bills when going out for lunch or dinner or paying rent and utilities. This feature is called bill splitting. Another standout feature allows you to write a personalized memo with each transaction to make your moments memorable: send cash for groceries or a gift.
Unlike traditional banking, where transfer amounts can go as high as $100,000, Venmo restricts its transaction to $3,999 monthly. On the flip side, non-verified members can only transfer smaller than $299 in a month.
But Venmo is more than a peer-to-peer money transfer app; it provides a Visa touch-free credit card to send, receive and invest your cash. Plus, you earn up to 3% cash back on eligible stores when spending with the Venmo credit card, with no annual fee.
Why is Venmo instant transfer not working?
There are certain criteria for using instant transfer within the app. First off, you must have an eligible U.S. bank account or Visa/Mastercard debit card and sufficient balance in your bank to pull off the transaction successfully. It might take 30 minutes to reach the fund into the recipient account, so wait a while.
However, these are requirements that Venmo users have to follow to process transactions. In case these tactics don’t work, your account could be affected by Venmo service disruptions. There is no need to panic because it will not happen until you seriously violate the app’s policy.
There could be other reasons why your Venmo instant transfer is not working and what you should do to make it work.
Your transfers are being declined.
This is the most common reason that many users may not know of. When you send money to the recipient, it doesn’t go straight away to the bank account. First, it is reviewed, and then if the transfer is found to be valid, it is further sent to the recipient’s bank account.
If your transfer is invalid or inappropriate, it could be declined, blocked, or even freeze your Venmo account, which is rare. In case you have everything set up perfectly and are still unable to transfer instant cash, contact the customer support team. They’ll surely get you out of this trap.
Your bank doesn’t support instant transfers.
Although your bank is top-notch and houses many cutting-edge services, it is possible that your bank has not yet participated in the Fast transfer service.
Provided that, if you can make a standard transaction but see an instant transfer button greyed out, you have to upgrade to another bank. Or you can reach out to your card issuer or bank and appeal to them to enroll in a fast transfer service.
You’re not using an eligible card/bank account.
It’s possible that you’re being rejected while adding payment details to enroll in the Venmo app. Venmo backs more than 1500+ banks across the U.S. and accepts Visa/Mastercard debit/credit or prepaid cards issued in the U.S. When you link your card or bank, make sure it is one of those the app supports.
And your card must be registered under your own legal name to be able to process a transaction. However, if the above solution doesn’t work, even if your bank and card are in line with the app, let’s move to the next step.
You don’t have sufficient balance for instant transfer.
When initiating a transfer, your bank account must have an adequate balance to pull out the amount and transaction fee, which is now 1.75%, $25 maximum, and $0.25 minimum.
For instance, if you want to transfer $25 instantly to the recipient, your account must have at least $25.25 to process the transaction successfully. And for larger instant transfers, a fee can go as high as $25 per transaction.
So before initiating a transaction, check how much money is in your bank account or if you’re using a Venmo balance check by tapping your Profile icon, and then go to the “You’ tab. You can see the money left in your Venmo account in the personal transaction feed.
Note: The app will pull your bank account balance when you’ve no Venmo cash during the transaction.
Wait for a while
Although some transfers can be made in a flash, not every time; some may take more than 30 minutes to reflect funds in a bank account. So the only solution is to wait until you see a green mark indicating “successful.”
There are millions of transfers going on when you’re trying to send someone out money, so delay in a process is normal and can happen all the time.
However, if you always experience such an issue, we advise you to contact your bank and get it fixed.
Your app needs an update.
Your smartphone is not just a one-time setup; it needs constant updates and modifications to function without errors or issues. Therefore, apps like Venmo also require constant updates to catch up with the latest technology. So developers put in hours of hard work to make the app run flawlessly across different devices and software while weeding out bugs and common problems.
So updating your Venmo app provides a smooth experience and eliminates any bugs or issues causing an error or a crash. An outdated version can slow down your overall smartphone or the application itself. So keep your apps up-to-date.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Why my Venmo Instant transfer is taking longer?
A. When you are unable to send funds instantly to your contacts or friends, chances are your bank is having server issues or a temporary down. Try to send cash via the standard transfer option and check if the issue persists with it too. However, the only way is to wait until your bank servers are back to normal.
Why did I get charged for sending fast money with Venmo?
A. If you’re moving your funds to the recipient’s account using the fast transfer option, Venmo will waive a 1.75% fee per transaction. However, the fee structure can be altered on any day. So if you have been charged a little extra fee than usual, it’s likely that the fee structure has been updated.
Why is my Venmo Instant transfer button greyed out?
A. If you can send funds using the standard method, but the Instant transfer option is unavailable or greyed out, your bank doesn’t support the fast transfer service. Reach out to your bank and card issuer, and tell them to enroll for a fast transfer so you can use the Venmo instant transfer option. Also, switching to another bank can hammer out this issue.
Why my Venmo Fast transfer is pending?
A. Generally, Venmo Instant transfers are so quick that you don’t have to wait more than a minute to get your funds into the recipient’s account. But it may take up to 30 minutes as the maximum time duration to reach the fund successfully. In case the transfer is still showing “Pending” after 30 minutes, you’ll get an app notification about your transaction status. If the transaction is successful and you don’t receive your cash, head to your bank branch and explain why you didn’t receive a real-time payment or original credit transaction (OCT) through the app.
Wrapping it up
That’s there to it. Here are all the crucial reasons why your Venmo instant transfer is not working. Follow through with each point and figure out the real cause of this problem. We want to highlight that this problem has less to do with your smartphone or internet and more to do with your bank or card issuer. Sometimes an issue can arise from Venmo’s end too.
