What is Venmo?
Venmo is a mobile payment service which was founded in the United States in 2009 and is headquartered in New York City. The company was acquired by financial services giant PayPal in 2013 and recently reported increased growth of 40 million users between 2017 and 2020. Venmo payments are accepted at more than 2 million retailers in the US and the company’s revenue is worth an estimated $450 million.
What is Venmo used for?
Functioning primarily as a mobile app, Venmo is used to send money online and mirrors many of PayPal’s key features such as peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers, online payments and in-store purchases. Venmo emphasizes the importance of knowing and trusting the person you are sending money to, due to the fact it is not possible to cancel a payment; once you send a payment, the funds are immediately available to the recipient. For this reason, Venmo is best suited to customers who are sending and collecting casual payments among acquaintances.
Can I use Venmo to make an International Transfer?
Venmo is a big hit with US customers who wish to send money to others in the United States, but unfortunately, the app does not support international money transfers. In fact, Venmo transfer services are fairly limited as money can only be sent from one Venmo user to another.
What are the alternatives?
The core functionality of Venmo is providing a payments network whereby friends can send and receive money domestically (within the US) instead of having to deal with cash. In addition to this Venmo can also be used to make purchases with authorized retailers. With over 40 million active users, Venmo is considered easy to use and is popular with different demographics.
Therefore, existing Venmo customers are often disappointed to discover it is not possible to arrange international transfers using the app. For this reason, we have put together a list of the 3 best alternatives for those who need to send funds somewhere other than the US.
Xoom
Like Venmo, Xoom is owned by PayPal and primarily functions as a money transfer platform. The Xoom app offers features similar to Venmo but with the added bonus of supporting international transfers and payments. Registering for a Xoom account allows customers to send money, pay bills and reload mobile phones on a global scale. The benefits of using this remittance provider include…
Several ways to pay: Xoom accepts payments for international transfers using their PayPal balance, bank account, debit or credit card: lower fees are issued to those paying for their transfer with their PayPal balance or bank account. Recipients are able to collect funds via direct deposit, cash pickup and door-to-door cash delivery.
Wide disbursing network: Xoom facilitates international transfers to 131 countries around the world; 130 more than Venmo Cancellation is possible: Unlike many of its money transfer competitors, Xoom makes it possible to cancel international transfers, as long as they are yet to be collected by the recipient. This is a helpful and reassuring function and, as mentioned earlier, cancellation is not an option when sending funds with Venmo.
Wise
You will likely have heard of Wise, one of the leading money transfer operators known best for offering great value international remittance services. Wise regularly ranks highly against its competitors, due to its reliable and efficient international transfer and payment options. The benefits of using Wise to send money overseas include...
Mid-market rate: Wise prides itself on transparency and guarantees funds sent between foreign countries will receive the exact mid-market rate of exchange. For this reason, Wise often offers the best value for money on international transfers and payments.
Bank-beating fees: Unlike other companies who claim to be fee-free, instead adding excessive mark-ups to exchange rates, Wise is transparent about all fees and still manages to provide far cheaper transfer deals than most banks.
Great customer service: Wise is frequently praised for offering customer care which is quick and helpful when resolving issues, as well as multilingual. This makes Wise a great option for anyone arranging their first international payment or transfer.
WorldRemit
This affordable and reputable money transfer operator boasts extensive global reach, offering international payments to over 150 countries worldwide. There are many benefits of using WorldRemit for overseas remittances and these include…
Well placed pay-out locations: Irrespective of where your loved ones are, you can rely on WorldRemit to deliver the money to them in 30,000+ agent locations globally.
Speedy international transfers: When compared to services offered by MoneyGram, Western Union, Pangea, Wise and Transfast, WorldRemit proved to be the fastest. Even the slowest sending method WorldRemit offers is faster when compared to bank transfers
Safe and secure: WorldRemit is a legitimate money transfer service with layers of proprietary safety measures to ensure money arrives with the recipient in time and safely. Looking at its history, what customers are saying, the investors who’ve put their money in WorldRemit and the level of regulatory compliance, the company is extremely trustworthy.
Bottom line
As disappointing as it may be for Venmo users to discover international transfers and payments cannot be arranged through the US-based app, we hope this guide has presented multiple alternatives which support your financial needs. You can learn more about how specialist money transfer operators work by heading over to our company reviews page. You may also want to utilize our comparison engine to find out which service comes out on top. Regardless of the international money transfer company you choose, our goal is to ensure your hard-earning cash is protected and no money is wasted on unfavourable surcharges.
