Obsession: Venmo

blog.venmo.com

Ask my friends, and they will swear I secretly work as a rep for Venmo. (Which I'm not, I swear.) Although, I do love any opportunity to talk about my love for this convenient app that was introduced to me several months ago. It's quickly become one of my top three must-have items on my iPhone and I'm all about spreading the love for this handy tool with anyone who will listen.

Venmo is a free app that allows its users to pay each other directly from their phones. By linking a bank account and/or credit card you can pull from your funds and cash out back to your specified account. You can also send charges to friends when they owe you money. Sounds essentially like Paypal right? Well, the two are actually partner companies, but Venmo adds a social element that not only makes paying people more fun, but makes the process a little easier to use.

By linking to Facebook, you can see all of your Venmo-using friends and the descriptions of charges/payments that are made public. It helps when a group of us goes to dinner and one person picks up the check. Once a notification that at least one friend has already paid their portion, it serves as a good reminder for everyone else to pay up. Similarly, it gives a little entertainment value as you try to decode what some of the more cryptic descriptions might mean. Sally paid Joe for winky and ice cream emojis? I didn't even know they were friends.

So worry no more about carrying cash to pay friends back for gas money, splitting the check or the running errands. Download this clever app and get used to saying the words "I'll just Venmo you."