Consumer complaint received 2023-10-12
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (MI)

Last Saturday, XX/XX/2023, I attempted to use Venmo to transfer {$2700.00} to an account I had previously transferred {$1000.00}. I kept getting an error message, " Payment declined. Try again later. '' I then tried smaller amounts but continued to get that error message.

I tried again on Sunday and experienced the same problem.

I had only used Venmo twice before, and the last time I used it was over one year ago, so I thought I had to transfer money to my Venmo account from my financial account tied to Venmo in order for the transfer to occur. I did a bank transfer for the amount and knew immediately that was the wrong course of action to take. I received an email from Venmo confirming the transaction and stating that, " If you did not make this request, or have any questions, please contact XXXX or call ( XXXX ) XXXX immediately. '' No where in the email did it state that a bank transfer could not be undone, nor was there any indication at the time I did the bank transfer that it could not be undone. 

I called Venmo support and spoke with a representative. The representative assured me that all I had to do to stop the transfer from happening was to remove the information for my financial account from my Venmo. I did this immediately ; I believe while the representative was still on the phone. Based on the assurances of this representative, I took no further action to prevent the bank transfer from going through. Had I known that Venmo could not cancel the transfer, I would have called my financial institution and told them not to authorize it. 

Yesterday, Wednesday, XX/XX/2023 at approximately XXXX p.m., I went to my financial institution to get a cashier 's check to send the money I needed to send. I was told the money was no longer in my account because Venmo had transferred the money earlier that day. I do not know how Venmo was able to transfer the money the day after I removed my account information from its records. 

After I left my financial institution, I called Venmo repeatedly ( I believe approximately 5 times ) in order to get the money returned because I obviously needed to send the money quickly last weekend ; otherwise, I would have not used Venmo in the first place. The representatives stated they were unable to help me, and I just had to wait for the money to reach my Venmo account on Monday, XX/XX/2023. 

I have a number of issues with this transaction : 1 ) The initial error message I received from Venmo was vague as to the cause of the problem. It should have been more clear, and I should have been allowed to send the smaller amount once I realized the initial amount would not go through, but Venmo apparently locked my account at that point.

2 ) Before the bank transfer went through, there should have been some notification that it could not be undone ( assuming that is truly the case ). Also, before the bank transfer is allowed to go through, Venmo should be required to notify the user of when the funds will reach their Venmo account in case the processing time is beyond the time in which they require the money.

3 ) I am greatly concerned that Venmo still had access to my financial institution information after I had removed it from their system before they completed the bank transfer the next day. From my experience working in software development, this tells me that they are not completing deleting the information from their system which could subject users who think their account information has been removed from Venmo to a data breach. 
4 ) It is illegal to withhold transferred money from its owner beyond the time necessary to receive it from their account. In this case, by the time Venmo has made the money available in my account, they will have had the money in their possession for 6 days. During this time period, I am unable to access it. There is no reason for Venmo to keep my money for such a lengthy period of time yet deny me access to it.

5 ) This entire episode is due to Venmo 's malfeasance yet they did nothing to remedy it. I believe they are in need of additional oversight to make sure they are handling their customers ' money properly.