How to Cancel Venmo in 2026 (Close Account + Withdraw All Money Safely)

Updated 2026-02-20 · 6 min read

Venmo's Hidden Costs

• Instant transfer: 1.75% fee (min $0.25, max $25) — vs free 1-3 day standard transfer
• Credit card send: 3% fee — use debit or bank instead
• Venmo Credit Card: Up to 3% cashback but 27.24% APR if you carry a balance
• Venmo Debit Card: $2.50 out-of-network ATM fee
• Pay in 4: BNPL through PayPal — late fees and credit reporting
• Crypto: 1.8-2.3% spread on Bitcoin/Ethereum purchases
• Business transactions: 1.9% + $0.10 per transaction for sellers

Before Closing: Withdraw Everything

1. Check your balance: Open Venmo → tap your balance at the top
2. Transfer to bank: Tap Transfer to Bank → enter full amount → choose Standard (free)
3. Sell crypto: If you hold Bitcoin/Ethereum, sell it and transfer proceeds to bank
4. Wait for pending: Any incoming payments or bank transfers must clear first (1-3 days)
5. Check for subscriptions: Merchants may charge your Venmo account — check Profile → Settings → Automatic Payments

How to Close Your Venmo Account

1. Ensure balance is $0.00 (no pending transactions)
2. Open Venmo app → tap ☰ menu (top left) → Settings
3. Scroll to bottom → Close Venmo Account
4. Follow the prompts — Venmo will try to retain you
5. Confirm closure
6. Note: This does NOT close your PayPal account — Venmo is a subsidiary of PayPal but they're separate accounts

Privacy Concerns

• Public by default: Venmo transactions were public by default until 2021 — researchers scraped 200M+ transactions
• Biden's Venmo: In 2021, BuzzFeed found President Biden's Venmo account and his entire friend network in 10 minutes
• Social feed: Even after privacy changes, Venmo's social feed shows friends' transactions — oversharing by design
• PayPal data sharing: As a PayPal subsidiary, your Venmo data is subject to PayPal's broad data sharing policies
• Before closing: Set all transactions to Private (Settings → Privacy → Private)

Delete Your Data

1. After closing your account, email privacy@venmo.com
2. Subject: "CCPA Data Deletion Request"
3. Request deletion of all personal data, transaction history, and social graph data
4. They must respond within 45 days
5. Download your data first: Settings → Privacy → Download My Data

Better Alternatives

• Zelle: Built into most bank apps, instant, free, FDIC-insured — no separate app needed
• Apple Pay / Google Pay: Send money to contacts, free, integrated into your phone
• Your bank's app: Most banks now offer free P2P transfers via Zelle integration
• For splitting bills: Splitwise (tracks debts, settles via any method) — no payment processing fees