Venmo is a highly efficient cash management app, but perhaps you’ve realized that it’s simply not working for you. Perhaps you’ve found a better peer-to-peer application, or you’ve simply come to the conclusion that you have no need for such an app. Regardless of your reason for leaving, there’s no reason why you should have a hard time deleting your account. Allow us to show you how to delete your Venmo account in a few easy steps.
Reasons Why You May Want to Delete Your Venmo Account
Preliminary Steps (Prior to Deleting Venmo Account)
Deleting your Venmo account is a straightforward process, and you can do it either through a computer or a mobile device. But before you can proceed with deleting your account, you need to make sure that you have no incomplete transactions and that you have no money left in the account. Here are the steps:
1. Check for Incomplete Transactions
The first thing you need to do before deleting your account is to make sure that you have no pending or incomplete transactions. To check whether you have any pending transactions, click on the “Incomplete” option on the home page.
2. Clear out Your Venmo Account Balance
You also have to make sure that your balance is set to zero before you delete your account. You can do this either by returning everything to your bank account or sending your balance to other people that you owe. Note that you will not be able to access any money left in your account following deletion.
Venmo will also prompt you to transfer your funds before allowing you to delete your account. However, the process is not automatic and has to be initiated by you. If you select the bank transfer option, it will take a couple of days for the balance to transfer to the bank. Having said this, you may want to do this in advance.
To transfer your remaining balance back to your bank account, click on the “Transfer Money” option on the home page.
How to Delete Your Venmo Account: Quick and Easy Steps
Note that once you have deleted your account, everything from your transaction history to personal details will be deleted by the system. Venmo normally sends you an email copy of every transaction, and they will also send you a copy of your final transaction after closing your account. In other words, you should have a copy of all of your transactions with Venmo, but they will not be in a single document.
Should you encounter an error while attempting to delete your account, it could mean that an issue needs to be addressed. If this happens, contact Venmo’s customer support team for assistance. Without further delay, here are the steps you need to take in order to delete your Venmo account for good:
Delete Venmo Account via Desktop
After you have already transferred your remaining balance back to your bank account and made sure that you have no pending transactions, you can finally proceed to delete your account. Here’s how:
- Visit the Venmo official webpage and log into your account.
- Once you’ve signed in, select Settings from the menu on the left.
- Scroll to the very bottom of the page and select the option “Close My Venmo Account.”
- If you have yet to transfer your remaining balance, the app will prompt you to transfer your balance to your bank account, as well as to review and download your most recent statement. Click on “Next” to proceed with the request.
Note: The transfer may take a few days to complete, and you may need to come back to the page to close your account. - A final page will load to make sure you want to close your account. Select “Close Account.”
- Once your account is closed, Venmo will send you an email confirmation of the fact, and it will include a copy of your final transaction history.
Delete Venmo Account via Mobile
- Open the Venmo app on your mobile phone and sign in. Select the person icon on the home page.
- Go to the upper-right section of the page and select the “Settings” tab followed by “Account” under “Preferences.”
- Scroll to the bottom and click on “Close Venmo Account.”
How to Delete Someone Else’s Venmo Account
Alternatively, you may find yourself in a situation where you need to close the Venmo account of another person. The need for an intermediary normally arises following the death of a family member. Or, in some cases, upon the request of a person with a disability or a computer-illiterate individual.
Either way, closing a Venmo account that is no longer in use is essential. Venmo accounts are always tied to bank accounts, and this financial nature makes them hot targets for hackers and cybercriminals. The only real way to clear the risk is to delete the account permanently.
Whatever reason you may have for having to take over on behalf of someone else, there are two ways you can go about closing the account. You can either try to log into the account of the person to close the account. The other will require you to contact Venmo to have them close the account for you.
Log in with Their User Information
The easiest way to close someone’s account is to log in the normal way using their log-in information. If possible, ask for the person’s username and password, and then follow the steps detailed above. If you have access to the email they used to sign up for Venmo, then you can reset the password in order to access the account. Here’s how:
- Open the Venmo app or webpage and input the email address of the person whose account you need to delete. Click on the “Forgot password” option at the bottom of the page and allow the system to send an email.
- Venmo will send an email containing a link in which you can reset the password of the account. Note that you will need to type the password twice.
- Once you have reset the password, you can already go back to the Venmo main page and log in with the newly reset password.
- Follow through with the steps for deleting a Venmo account as highlighted above.
Contact Venmo
Venmo neither encourages nor prevents people from closing someone else’s account. That is for as long as they can prove their identity as well establish a logical reason for closing the account. If you can’t access your loved one’s account via the username and password provided, you should try to contact Venmo via 855-812-4430 to request the shutdown on their end. Be prepared to send them a copy of important documents, like your ID or a disability card, or a death certificate.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Which Application Is Safer to Use: Desktop or Mobile?
As mentioned, Venmo has a mobile application and a web-based application. When it comes to keeping your account safe, it would be much safer to use their official website rather than the mobile app. This has something to do with the level of security, as mobile apps, in general, are more susceptible to bugs and are easier to hack than websites.
Naturally, it would also help to have a reliable antivirus program installed on your computer, as well as a reliable VPN service like ExpressVPN.
2. How Do I Delete Banking Information on Venmo?
Venmo allows you to update your banking information anytime, and that usually involves deleting your existing banking information and replacing it with your new one. Here is how you can remove your banking information:
- Open the Venmo application (desktop or mobile app) and log into your account.
- Click on the Options toolbar from the right-hand section of the home page and click on “Settings.”
- Select the “Payment Methods” option, then select the particular bank account or payment information that you want to erase.
- Select the “Remove Bank” option, and you’re all set.
3. How Do I Delete My Transaction History on Venmo?
Venmo is an excellent tool for making micropayments to people that you know. But at the same time, it can expose your activities to other people through its social features. One thing to note is that you can’t delete your transactions on Venmo. However, you can make them private so that only you and the person you are transacting with will know about the details of your transaction.
- Log into your account and go to “Settings.” This lets you navigate into the “Privacy” section of your account. Adjust your settings to make your transactions private.
- Click on the “Audience” option under the “Future Transactions” tab. Select your choice of audience: Public, Friends, or Participants Only. The latter option means that only you and the person you are transacting with will be able to see your transaction history.
- From the “Privacy” page, you can select who can share transactions involving you. You can set it to either everyone or just you. Alternatively, you can limit the viewership of your past transactions to make them visible to your friends or only to you.
- How do I delete my transaction history on Venmo?
Final Thoughts on How to Delete Venmo Account
This concludes our guide on how to delete a Venmo account, whether that account is your own or someone else’s. Notice that the process is quite simple, except that you have to clear out your balance as well as any pending transactions. Everything else, including your account details and transaction history, are to be handled with discretion by Venmo. By deleting the app you no longer want or need, you are eliminating the risk of intrusion by cybercriminals. But as all things go, you can always restart your account using the same details.
If you are on the lookout for other apps to help you send and receive money, check out this list of the best mobile payment apps for safe transactions.