Speeding Up Venmo Cash Outs
We want to make this faster, too! Here’s a video explaining the way cash-outs currently work and why they can take a long time:
Here’s the summary in case you prefer reading to watching the video:
Verifying a Bank Account with Venmo
1. Add your bank account information (account number and routing number) to your Venmo account.
2. Venmo issues a small deposit to your bank account using an ACH transfer, which takes 3-5 business days (so 5-7 actual days) to reach your account.
3. As soon as you see the deposit in your account, confirm the amount on Venmo.com. Once your account is verified, you can request a withdrawal from your Venmo account to your bank account at any time.
Withdrawing Money from Venmo
1. Once you’ve verified your bank account, request a withdrawal from Venmo.
2. Venmo immediately issues an ACH transfer to your bank account for the amount requested. This transfer takes 3-5 business days.
Here’s the annoying part: if you wait until you want to withdraw your funds to verify your bank account information, first you have to wait 3-5 business days for the account verification deposit, then, once you confirm the amount deposited, you have to wait another 3-5 business days for the transfer your requested. That’s a long time, and there’s unfortunately nothing we can do to speed up the ACH process!
So, here’s what we can both do to make this faster:
1. We’re working on a solution that will enable us to instantly verify your bank routing and account numbers, which will cut your cash out time in half! We hope to have this done in January, 2009.
2. Verify your bank account information as soon as possible, even if you have nothing to cash out! This way, when you do cash out, you’ll only have to wait for the ACH transfer of the amount you requested.
3. If you forget to do (2) before you decide you want to cash out, email us to schedule a call and we’ll confirm your bank account information over the phone.
Why do you need to “verify” my bank account at all?
Good question. Suppose we did not verify your bank account, and you made a typo when you entered your account information. Then, you request a withdrawal of $100, and we transfer it to the bank account you entered with a typo–someone else would get your $100 in their account! Neither of us wants that (though, it might make someone else’s day), so that’s why we verify all bank accounts before allowing withdrawals to them.
So, we’ll keep working on speeding up the verification process, and in the mean time, please make sure to verify your banking details as soon as you can.