Tag Archives: Venmo

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To Reduce Scams, Chase Will Limit Zelle Transactions with Social Media Contacts (Effective March 23)

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  I just downloaded my recent Chase checking account statement and saw this message regarding Zelle.

To help protect you from fraud and scams, you’ll no longer be able to send Zelle payments to recipients originating from social media such as social media marketplaces or messaging apps

Due to the significant rise in social media scams and to help protect your account, we’ll be updating our policies on March 23, 2025, limiting your ability to send Zelle payments identified as originating from contact through social media. As a result, we may:

      • Request details about your payment’s purpose and how you made contact with the recipient
      • Block or decline payments identified as originating from contact through social media
      • Decline payments, restrict your use of Zelle through Chase or take other actions as described in your account agreement if you do not respond truthfully to questions we ask

Here is the full message:

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2 Venmo Promos: $5 Cash Back with $25 Starbucks Reload & $5 Cash Back after Sending $50 Gift Card [Both Bonuses Posted]

Updated at 9:00am PT on 5/31/24: I received the $5 cash back this morning (5/31) for the $25 Starbucks reload.  Screenshots added below.

Updated at 7:20am PT on 5/23/24: I received the $5 cash back this morning (5/23) for sending the $50 gift card through Venmo.  I will post another update when I receive the $5 cash back from the $25 Starbucks reload.


Good afternoon everyone, I just received this email from Venmo about 2 promos.  You can get $5 cash back after you spend $25 in the Starbucks app or reload $25 to your Starbucks balance.  You can also earn $5 cash back after sending a $50 gift card via the Venmo app, up to 3 times ($15 cash back limit).  I decided to jump on both deals since I use the Venmo and Starbucks apps often.

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Have you Read my Most Popular Posts of 2022?

Good afternoon, from rainy Northern California.  Every year, I like to check out my stats from Google Analytics to see which blog posts were the most popular.  I created 2 lists by looking at all blog posts written in 2022 and then I looked at which posts were read the most in 2022, but written in previous years (#stayingpower).  I will list the blog posts from top to bottom based on pageviews, share the original published date, and provide my thoughts or a short summary of each blog post.  If you are curious, here were the most popular posts from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

2022’s Most Read Posts (Written in 2022)

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Have you Read my Most Popular Posts of 2021?

Good morning everyone, happy New Year’s Eve!  Every year, I like to check out my stats from Google Analytics to see which blog posts were the most popular.  I created 2 lists by looking at all blog posts written in 2021 and then I looked at which posts were read the most in 2021, but written in previous years (#stayingpower).  I will list the blog posts from top to bottom based on pageviews, share the original published date, and provide a short summary of each blog post.  If you are curious, here were the most popular posts from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

2021’s Most Read Posts (Written in 2021)

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Venmo Announces New Fees for Receiving Payments of Goods and Services & Instant Transfer Withdrawals

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last night, I received an email regarding “New and upcoming changes to Venmo” – a pretty generic looking email with generic looking text that I skimmed through and almost deleted.  Buried in the text were 2 changes about seller transaction fees and instant transfer fees.  I decided to dig into these changes to see what they really meant for me and other Venmo users.  Here are the 2 changes that I researched:

3) Effective July 20, 2021, users who receive payments that are identified by senders as for goods and services will be charged a seller transaction fee of 1.9% + $0.10.
4) Effective August 2, 2021, the fee for instant transfers will be 1.5% per instant transfer ($0.25 minimum fee, $15 maximum fee).

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