Venmo Promotions: $10 Bonus, 1% – 5% Cash Back Offers

Find Venmo promotions and bonus offers here.

• Update 10/11/2023: You can still earn $10 from Venmo.

Owned by online payments giant PayPal, Venmo is a personal cash transfer service which lets you easily make direct bank transfers or credit card payments to your friends and family using a mobile phone app. While bank and debit transfers are free, you’ll have to pay a per-transaction fee for credit card payments.

Also, see promotions for Cash App, Remitly and Wise. See all money transfer service offers here.

Venmo Promotions

Venmo has had a variety of promotions that are constantly updated. They’ve had a $1 bonus for making referrals in the past. Recently they’ve been having a variety of Cash Back promotions. See their incentives page here.

$10 Sign-Up Bonus

Join Venmo with this referral link to earn $10 for signing up after you make a bank- or card-funded payment of at least $5 within 14 days.

1% Cash Back (Up To $20)

Earn 1% cash back (up to $20) on anything you buy with the Venmo card. Your buys must be made within 30 days of your first eligible purchase. See their incentives page for updated offers.

5% Cash Back (Up To $20)

This offer is available for eligible purchases such as:

• Restaurants
• Grocery Stores
• Select Merchants: Trader Joe’s, Chipotle, CVS, 7-Eleven

Earn 5% cash back (up to $20) on eligible purchases made with your Venmo card. Your restaurant purchases must be made within 30 days of your first Venmo card purchase. See their incentives page for updated offers.

[Expired] Signup For Venmo Debit Card & Get a $50 Bonus With a $500 Spend (Targeted)

Get $50 back when you spend with the Venmo Debit Card.

• Venmo was sending out the following targeted email offer with the following subject ‘Earn $50 back, on us, when you spend $500’
• Plus, earn automatic cashback along the way.
• Apply by May 16, 2022 and spend $500 or more within the first 60 days of activating your Debit Card or no later than July 31, 2022.

Venmo: How It Works

Venmo lets you send money to and request money from anyone with a Venmo account. It’s a great option for instances when you have to pay someone back, like when a coworker spotted you for lunch or when a friend covered concert tickets.

After signing up, start by linking a credit card, debit card or checking account to your Venmo account. Then, you can either send a request to a friend (who owes you money) or send money to a friend.

If you receive funds, you can store the money in your Venmo balance for later use or you can transfer it to your bank account. Because Venmo is not FDIC-insured, I recommend you transfer any money out. If the company ever goes under, you can kiss your Venmo balance goodbye.

What’s So Special About Venmo?

While there are plenty of other mobile payment services out there, Venmo stands out from the crowd by making the process social. Venmo analyzes your phone’s contact list to find other Venmo users. You can also import your Facebook profile to add to your potential friends list and invite anyone to try out the service.

When you request money, you can send your friend a note that includes an emoji (like a winged stack of cash or a wine glass), which makes asking someone to pay you back a little less awkward and a little more fun. When you send money to a friend, you can also use emojis if you’re not feeling particularly verbose in the moment.

Another social aspect to Venmo is that your transactions can be seen by everyone on your friend’s list. If you’re uncomfortable with this amount of visibility, you can restrict the information you share in your settings (set to Participants Only).

Venmo Fees

You don’t have to pay any fees if you fund the transaction with your Venmo balance, bank account or a debit card. However, sending money with Venmo via a credit card comes with the standard 3% fee which originates from the credit card company.  

For each Instant Transfer, you’ll be subject to a 1% fee (minimum $0.25, maximum $10), which will be deducted from the transfer amount.

Venmo Debit Card

Offered by Mastercard, this debit card draws directly from your Venmo balance and can be used at any business that accepts Mastercard. This feature expanded Venmo’s offerings from a purely peer-to-peer platform to also include online and retail points of sale. When merchants accept a transaction via Venmo debit card, they are charged a 2.9% + $0.30 per-transaction fee.

Bottom Line

Venmo is quite popular in the peer-to-peer payment services industry, and that’s with good reason. Its service is low-cost with a short transfer time, and the app is easy to install with widespread compatibility. Most importantly, Venmo makes payments between friends a social interaction instead of an uncomfortable one.

READ MORE: SEE THE BEST BANK BONUSES HERE AND THE BEST INVESTING BONUSES HERE.