Signing up for Venmo takes about five minutes. You need a smartphone, a phone number, an email address, and a bank account or debit card to get started. The app is free to download, and sending money from your bank account or debit card costs nothing. Here’s how to get set up and ready to send your first payment.
What You Need Before You Start
Venmo is a mobile-only platform, so you’ll need an iPhone or Android phone to create an account. You’ll also need a U.S. phone number and an email address, both of which Venmo will ask you to verify during signup. Have your bank account details or a debit card handy so you can link a funding source right away.
Creating Your Account Step by Step
Download the Venmo app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android). Open the app, then choose how you want to sign up. You can register with your email address, phone number, or an existing account like Apple or Google.
Next, create a password. Venmo requires passwords between 8 and 20 characters, and you need at least one number or symbol (like !, @, #, $, or %). After that, the app will send a verification code to your phone number and ask you to confirm your email address. Enter the codes when prompted.
The final setup step is adding a funding source. Venmo will walk you through linking a bank account, which you can do by signing into your bank directly through the app or by entering your routing and account numbers manually. If you link manually, Venmo may send two small deposits to your bank account over the next one to three business days, and you’ll confirm the exact amounts to verify the connection.
Linking a Payment Method
You can connect a bank account, debit card, or credit card to your Venmo account. The costs vary depending on which one you use to send money:
- Bank account or debit card: Free. No fee to send money to another Venmo user.
- Credit card: 3% fee on every payment. A $100 payment funded by credit card costs you $103.
You can link multiple funding sources and choose which one to use each time you send money. Most people stick with a bank account or debit card to avoid the credit card surcharge. If you want to add cash to your Venmo balance at a physical store using a Venmo Debit Card, that carries a $3.74 fee per transaction.
Sending money to a non-U.S. PayPal account (Venmo’s sister platform) costs 5%, with a minimum fee of $0.99 and a maximum of $4.99. If you fund that transfer with a credit card, the 3% credit card fee stacks on top.
Change Your Privacy Settings Right Away
Venmo defaults to making your transactions visible to other users. That means anyone on the platform can see that you paid someone, along with whatever note you attached. Most people prefer to turn this off immediately.
To switch your default to private, go to the Me tab, tap the Settings gear in the top right corner, then tap Privacy. You’ll see three options: Public, Friends, or Private. Select Private if you want only you and the person you’re paying to see the transaction. This setting applies to all future payments, so you only need to do it once.
Setting Up a Business Profile
If you’re accepting payments for goods or services, Venmo offers a separate business profile. You can create one from within the app after setting up your personal account.
During business profile setup, Venmo asks whether your business uses an EIN (Employer Identification Number, the tax ID assigned to businesses by the IRS) or your personal Social Security number. Sole proprietors without an EIN can sign up using their SSN or ITIN instead. You’ll also provide your business mailing address, a customer-facing address (which can be just a city and state), a phone number, and any social media links.
Venmo verifies your identity during this process. For EIN-based signups, it checks your business name, physical address, and tax ID. For SSN-based signups, it validates your legal name, date of birth, SSN, and home address. If automatic verification fails, Venmo may ask you to upload supporting documents. Registered businesses (not sole proprietors) also need to provide information about beneficial owners, meaning anyone who owns a significant stake in the company.
What You Can Do Once You’re Set Up
With your account active and a bank account linked, you can send and receive money from other Venmo users, split bills with groups, and pay at merchants that accept Venmo. Your Venmo balance can be transferred to your linked bank account. Standard transfers take one to three business days and are free. Instant transfers to an eligible debit card carry a small fee.
You can also request money from other users, which is useful for splitting rent, dinner tabs, or shared subscriptions. The other person gets a notification and can approve or decline the request. There’s no fee for receiving money from another Venmo user on a personal account.