How Long Can I Keep Money in Venmo?
Generally, any place where people keep and store money, they want to be secure, long-term (if not permanent), and reliable.
In short, they want it to be everything they expect from their bank. Venmo is a social payment program, and it is unique in that regard. It is designed to excel at making payments between friends and family into a socially relevant feed that can be viewed and reviewed by anyone.
So, the quick answer is, that you should use Venmo as a launch pad for making payments. You should put money in there for the purpose of firing it at someone, not for long-term storage.
The best answer we have at this time is that keeping money in your Venmo account is possible but that it isn’t a good idea.
This is because Venmo is not a bank. It is not insured the same way and it is not regulated the same way. In other words, it is possible to put money into your Venmo account, leave it in there too long, and lose it.
How Long Should I Keep Money in Venmo?
When it comes to understanding Venmo as compared to your bank, the best analogy might be the kitchen. Think of the bank as being like your refrigerator, a good place to store food long term.
Yeah, it can still go bad in there, but the risks are minimized, especially with a good savings account.
Conversely, think of the kitchen counter as being like Venmo. You don’t put food out on the kitchen counter and expect it to stay in good condition. You put food on the kitchen counter to serve or eat immediately.
This is the best way to treat your Venmo account.
You put money in there in order to make a payment on the social payment platform that Venmo is.
The reigning wisdom is that 30 days is the maximum amount of time you should keep money in a Venmo account.
Is There Any Benefit to Keeping Money in Venmo?
There is one and only one possible benefit from keeping money in Venmo, and it is the same as keeping it in the bank. But the risks of doing this far outweigh the possible benefit of using the payment platform as a piggy bank.
For a start, Venmo is not a savings account. You don’t collect any interest on the money you leave in there.
Second, the government does not require Venmo to insure the balances its users keep in the system. So, if you put money in Venmo and it vanishes, Venmo cannot be held accountable.
Think about your bank. Banks get hacked into and robbed by cyber criminals every day. But the bank puts that money back and keeps their mouths shut about it.
Why can they do this?
Because the money is insured by the federal government. Venmo is not insured in the same way, and if your account is hacked, they are not obligated to replace it.
Finally, Venmo transfers do not complete the same way, or in the same time frame as normal payments do. They take time. When you make a Venmo payment to another Venmo user, the social feed says a payment was made, and everyone is very impressed.
But in reality, the money doesn’t move until Venmo can back it up, which could be days or even weeks.
That means if you try to use Venmo to pay your bills, you might not be able to pay them on time, and you could get hit with fees.
So the final answer is that there really is no good reason to keep money in your Venmo account.
Venmo User Agreement
When you sign up for a Venmo account, the user agreement should warn you about all of the reasons you should not use it as a bank account. Of course, Venmo may be reluctant to say that you should not keep money in their coffers because they want to hold your money.
But their user agreement will technically say this, even if it uses overly complex legalese to do so.
Of course, if you haven’t read the user agreement, you’re not alone. Few people do. But if you did, you would know that your money could go poof at any time. And that is why you should not keep money in your Venmo account.
Is It Safe to Keep Large Amounts of Money in Venmo?
In reality, there is no place where you can put your money where it might not vaporize. Even if you put it in a safe under your house, a sinkhole might swallow it, or a nuclear blast might obliterate it.
But if you set your money on the sidewalk in front of your house, it is all but certain to vanish very quickly. Someplace in between is best, like a bank. In a bank, you may earn interest on your balance and it is insured. Venmo has neither of these benefits.
The money in your Venmo account may be unlikely to vanish, but if it does there is nothing backing it up. So, no, Venmo is not safe for long-term storage.
Final Thoughts
It is understandable why people want to use Venmo as a bank. It doesn’t feel nice to have money all over the place. You want it all in one secure location. So, for those who use Venmo, the temptation is to use it as a bank.
But using Venmo as a bank is a bad idea. You gain no interest on your balance, the money is not insured, and transfers take time.