Venmo temporarily halts instant money transfers

Did you need a friend to pay you back on Venmo as soon as humanly possible? You might have to twiddle your thumbs for a little while. Venmo has temporarily pulled its instant transfer feature in order to make a “few changes” to the service. You can still use regular bank transfers, but that won’t help much if you need that money to pay a bill.

Venmo didn’t go into detail when asked about the pause, but said it was done to handle “technical issues.” Some users should already see it coming back.

This isn’t the first hiccup with the service. The Verge noted that Venmo took the feature down in February due to a “brief disruption.” It’s not a good look for Venmo to freeze one of its most valuable features, however, and the removal comes when PayPal, Square and Zelle all have their own instant money transfer options. Venmo risks ceding ground if its immediate payments aren’t as reliable as those of its rivals.

We’re making a few changes to our instant transfer feature, and it is currently unavailable. Our priority is to ensure we’re giving you the best experience, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience. Our standard bank transfer option is still available in the meantime.

— VenmoSupport (@VenmoSupport) March 21, 2018

Via: The Verge

Source: Venmo Support (Twitter)