How to cancel Venmo payment: 3 ways to get your money back

Venmo payment errors are rare. But they still happen from time to time. Maybe you add the extra digit, choose the wrong recipient by mistake, etc. So you start to looking how to cancel payment on Venmo.

We, at Howly, give you 3 useful guidelines on how to get your money back. Stick strictly to them, and you withdraw the transaction in a few clicks.

How to cancel a payment on Venmo: 3 possible ways

You can withdraw the transaction only if it's marked as Pending or Declined and located in the Incomplete folder. But if the payment is already complete, you can’t cancel the transaction. It’s one of Venmo’s app policies.

In this case, try to contact the recipient. Ask them politely to send your money back. If they ignore you, you can ask Venmo agents to reverse the transaction. But you should do it before a person sends that money elsewhere. Otherwise, the Venmo team can’t reverse it.

How to cancel a Venmo payment to a new user (non-existing account)

If you see a New User as the designation, you try to send funds to the phone number or e-mail address that doesn’t have a Venmo account. If this person creates an account, they could claim the finances. But what happens if they don’t get the profile? Are funds are available to you? Is the money stuck in some kind of limbo?

No, because you can’t withdraw a Venmo payment you sent. The same rule relates to non-active accounts. When you send a Venmo payment to an inactive account, it marks it as Pending. It gives you room to withdraw this transaction. Follow this instruction to reclaim your own money on the Venmo app:

1. Find the icon that looks like people on the bottom of the screen. That’s how you can open the Profile menu.
2. Find the Transactions tab.
3. Choose Return Money → Incomplete Payments.
4. Find a Venmo payment you sent unsuccessfully and tap on it.
5. Choose the Take Back.

Wait for 3-7 business days to withdraw the pending Venmo payment. The service will send your money back to the source, from where you sent them in the first place.

How to cancel a Venmo payment if you sent it to an active account

If you send your money to the registered user, the funds will be in their account within seconds. So you can’t just casually withdraw a Venmo payment you sent. But you have a few methods to save yourself from this type of situation:

1. Ask the recipient to send back the money. That’s one of the reasons, why Venmo recommends you use their service only for the people you know in real life.
2. If the recipient ignores your requests, contact Venmo support.
3. Contact Venmo to reverse the transaction. But do it as quickly as possible until the recipient transfers the money elsewhere.

But before you try to contact Venmo support to cancel payment, you should have this data: username of the recipient, date, and amount of the payment. Also provide them with the username, email, or phone number of the person that you wanted to pay in the first place.

How to cancel a Venmo payment that is pending or declined?

Sometimes, Venmo automatically declined payments. Usually, they are marked as Declined or Pending. The two most common reasons for it are next:

• Your card issuer declines the transaction. Contact the card provider with the request to find out what's wrong with the payment.
• Transaction triggered Venmo’s security flag. Analyze what flags are triggered and try again, sticking to the guidelines.

In those cases, you can get your money back. And instruction on how to withdraw pending Venmo payment stays the same as with the non-existing account. Go Profile → Transactions → Return → Incomplete → Your payment → Take Back.