Venmo is one of the most popular apps that make transactions between friends and family easy.
It is well known for its ability to enable easy transfer and receiving of money, sending and requesting money from your bank account, and other money-related businesses. There is no way a user won’t be devastated when they receive an email informing them that their account is frozen.
An email divulging information that your account is frozen can be frustrating especially if you have pending transactions or payments to complete. While this is not uncommon, it is good to know the reasons why an account can get frozen so that you can prevent it from happening.
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Reasons Why Your Venmo Account Might Be Frozen
Users getting an email that their Venmo account has been frozen is quite a common factor with the use of Venmo. Venmo is a financial app and while it might seem paranoid for them to freeze accounts, it is in the best interest of the users of the app. Freezing accounts help to protect and infuse security, here are the reasons why your Venmo account might be frozen;
- Engaging in Activities that Raise Suspicion
This may be unintentional by the user but certain activities raise an alarm to Venmo and one of such activities might be the reason your account gets frozen.
An example is using your Venmo App in a different location from the US. The Venmo app is a strictly US-based app, it is important that the user lives in the US and uses a US phone number. However, if you attempt to use your Venmo account outside the vicinity of the US, your account will probably get blocked.
Another suspicious activity that may cause your account to be blocked is the use of another device, not frequently used, to log in to your account. Venmo recognizes this as a suspicious act. Even if it is you that tries to log in to your account with an unusual device, Venmo wouldn’t see it that way. They may suspect that someone else is trying to hack your account and the account gets frozen immediately for security.
One more activity that is considered suspicious is the use of the wrong PIN to log in to a Venmo account. This act triggers Venmo to freeze the account temporarily to ensure that the person trying to log in is indeed the owner.
- Making transactions with a low or empty account:
Research has shown that this is the most common reason why Venmo accounts get temporarily frozen. If you try to make payments, transfer money, or buy online using your Venmo card but you do not have enough funds in your wallet, your account will be frozen.
Although Venmo credits the person to whom you have made the transfer, it is pegged as a debt on your account which causes the account to get frozen until you pay back the debt.
- Doing activities that are against the User Agreement:
User agreements are a set of rules and guidelines set by Venmo to ensure a smooth and hitch-free running of the system. Going against any of these rules is enough to raise an alarm and cause Venmo to freeze the account of such a user.
Some of the rules laid down in the Use agreement include, not having two Venmo accounts, verifying the identity of the user of an account, meeting the requirements of owning a Venmo account, and ensuring that one doesn’t get involved in fraudulent acts with a Venmo account.
Once Venmo realizes that a user has gone against any of these agreements, the account is frozen.
- Going Beyond the Transfer Limit
Venmo has set in place several total transfers that a user can make each day. If this number of transfers is exceeded for any reason, the Venmo account gets frozen.
Guide on How To Get Money Out of a Frozen Venmo Account
Sadly, retrieving money out of a frozen Venmo account is impossible. Once Venmo freezes an account, no form of transaction can take place on such an account until it is unfrozen. It is important to understand that Venmo freezes account to protect the user or other users and hence, it is impossible to make any further use of the account.
If you need to get your money out of the frozen Venmo account, what you need to do is unfreeze your account and restore it to normal working conditions. A guide to getting your money out of a frozen Venmo account would rather be a guide to unfreezing your frozen Venmo account. Here are ways to unfreeze your Venmo account.
If your Venmo account was frozen due to a Venmo debt incurred by insufficient funds, this is one of the easiest to resolve. All you have to transfer money to your account from your bank account and your account will be unfrozen. Follow the steps below to make the transfer;
- Go to venmo.com/add funds
- Select the bank you want to make the transfer from
- Select the amount of money you want to transfer (must be enough to cover the debt and keep enough money in your Venmo account)
- Your Venmo account will be unfrozen in two to three business days.
If your Venmo account was frozen due to a breach of the User Agreement or due to suspicious activities in your account or any of the other reasons, the best and only thing to do is contact Venmo. This is best done by replying to the email that was sent to inform you that your account was frozen.
However, if you no longer have access to the email that was sent, another way to contact Venmo is shown in the following steps;
- Go to the Venmo app and in the menu icon, click on Get help.
- In Get help, you will see the icon “Contact Us“, click on it.
- You can either send an email, chat, or make a call to the Venmo support team. Whichever option you choose, please inform them of the problem, which is that your account is frozen. And make sure to explain your situation in specific detail, do not try to hold back any information. This is the only way your account can get attended to and unfrozen as soon as possible.
When you reach out to Venmo, either by transferring more funds or telling them about your situation by contacting the support team or replying to the email, your account will be unfrozen in no time and you will be able to get your money out of the account when you need it. In case you’re wondering how long it takes for Venmo to unfreeze an account, keep reading to find your answers.
How Long Does A Venmo Account Stay Frozen?
The moment Venmo freezes a user’s account, they send an email informing the user of the action that has been taken on the account. For as long as the user remains silent on the issue and doesn’t do a follow-up, the account will stay frozen. It doesn’t matter if it is for years, worse still, the account could move from being temporarily frozen to being permanently frozen.
If you are concerned about your frozen account, you need to step up and respond to the action. Venmo will not process a frozen account until the user requests for that to be done.
For newly created accounts that get frozen, this might be due to a lack of verification, it takes about 180 days for the account to be unfrozen.
Taking action on the email notifying you of your frozen account, however, doesn’t mean that your account will be unfrozen immediately.
If your account was frozen due to insufficient funds though, it will take about two to three business days for your account to be restored. This is after you have followed the steps involved to unfreeze your account blocked because of insufficient balance as explained earlier in this article.
However, if your account is frozen for any other reason apart from insufficient funds, the duration for which it remains frozen is solely dependent on Venmo.
At certain times, it takes between 2 – 5 business days after the user complains but in other circumstances, it takes longer and worse still, Venmo can decide to permanently freeze the account. Worry not though, the amount of money remaining in the account can be transferred to your bank if the account gets permanently frozen. You can still get your money.
In other cases, it might be long because Venmo has to do another identity verification. They may ask for your ID to confirm that you are indeed the owner. Remember that the reason it is frozen in the first place may be because Venmo suspects that someone else other than you tried to access the account.
Meanwhile, to ensure that your account isn’t frozen or doesn’t get frozen, ensure to take note of the rules and User Agreement of Venmo. This saves you a lot of stress and agitation. You wouldn’t have to worry about how long a Venmo account stays frozen.
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Conclusion
No one wants their digital wallet to get frozen. No one wants to find it difficult to continue transactions as usual. You have gained knowledge about what causes a Venmo account to be frozen and how to stop this from happening. You have also learned how to unfreeze your account if such ever befalls you.
However, the best thing is to safeguard your account and keep it funded always. Do not risk your account being frozen so that it doesn’t get permanently frozen. Have a splendid time using Venmo.