Gift cards are payment cards you can give someone you love to use for their shopping needs. The cards allow you to purchase goods at a particular store. We also have general ones that allow you to buy at any store of your choice. Visa gift cards are gift cards specifically from Visa. Various companies issue gift cards, and Visa is one of them. Today I will mainly look at how to transfer a visa gift card to a bank account via Venmo.
Venmo is a money transfer service from PayPal. It operates in the United States of America. The company was developed to assist students in splitting payments at restaurants, movie theaters, and other places. However, the service is available nowadays for everyone who feels like having an account with the company. You can do various things with a Venmo account, such as buying goods, sending money, and much more.
For your information, Venmo only operates in the United States. Therefore, you cannot make an international transfer. That is contrary to the parent company, PayPal, which operates globally in more than 200 countries. The company competes with Cash App, another money transfer service developed by Square within the US. Apart from allowing personal accounts, Venmo has grown to allow business accounts to help businesses accept payments.
Places To Get Visa Gift Cards
Various places sell Visa gift cards. They include Visa itself, Target.com, Amazon, and Giftcards.com. You can have a virtual gift card or a tangible one like any other gift card.
For your information, some gift cards are rechargeable, while others can only be used once. Rechargeable gift cards are better because you do not need to purchase cards now and then. You only need to recharge your card, and you are good to go.
Ways To Use A Gift Card
There are various ways you can use a gift card. As we shall see shortly, you can indirectly transfer a visa gift card to a bank account or use it to buy goods and services. Usually, gift cards are for buying goods and services.
When buying with one, you pick goods at a store that accept gift cards, then present the card at the register for them to deduct the appropriate amount of money. Make sure that your card balance is enough to pay for the goods. The cashier will deduct the amount, then hand over the card to you.
Entire Procedure To Open A Venmo Account
We want to check how you can use Venmo as a bridge to move money to a bank account. But it is also essential to know how you can open a Venmo account. The platform operates online, and thus its services are purely online. You can therefore open an account online. You require a bank account, phone number, and email address.
The bank account will be helping you to recharge your Venmo account. Remember, you can transfer money from a bank account to Venmo as long as you have added the account to your Venmo account.
Once you have all these requirements, you can proceed to open an account. You require a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer plus a secure and reliable internet connection. With a smartphone or tablet, you can proceed as follows.
- Download Venmo mobile app for iOS or Android (No Windows app)
- Open the app
- Choose your preferred sign-up method, then create a strong and secure password (between 8- 32 characters long).
- Verify your mobile phone number and your email address
- Add then verify your bank account
Just that, you will have your account running. You can also opt to open your account using a computer by tapping.
Different Ways To Use A Venmo Account
There are various ways you can use a Venmo account. They include the following:
i) Buying goods and services
Various businesses accept payment of goods and services using Venmo. You only need to open a business profile as a business person, and you are good to go. Your customers will pay you the way they send money to their friends. But how long does Venmo take to send money to someone?
Venmo to Venmo transfers are instant, and thus you will be able to get your payments instantly. It’s not like checks and ACH transfers that take several days to avail money in your account.
ii) Sending money
As I have mentioned, you can instantly transfer money to others using Venmo. You need their phone number or email addresses.
iii) Transfer money to a bank account
The bank account that you add when opening your account allows you to fund your transaction and receive withdrawals from Venmo. You can withdraw money in the following manner.
- Open your app to log in
- Enter the amount to transfer to your bank.
- Tap “Instant” (charges a small fee) or “1-3 Biz Days” (for free)
- Select your bank account or debit card.
- Confirm transfer details
- Tap the green “Transfer” button.
- Complete the transfer.
An instant transfer is necessary if you are sending money for emergency issues. Since you have to pay some fees, the question is; how much does Venmo charge for instant transfer? The service charges a 1.5% (minimum $0.25, maximum $15) transaction fee.
Transfer Visa Gift Card to Bank Account Via Venmo – The Process
You can use your Venmo account to transfer money from your gift card to a bank account. However, you must add the gift card to your Venmo account just the way you add a debit, credit, or prepaid card. The platform accepts Discover, American Express, MasterCard, and Visa cards. You can add a card in the following manner.
- Navigate to your Venmo app.
- Click the “Settings” tab
- Tap “Payment Method.”
- Press “Add bank or card.”
- Type in your Visa gift card details and hit “add a card to your account”.
The card will appear in the list of the added cards. After that, you can transfer money into your bank account from your Venmo account. You can refer to the process of transferring money to your bank account above.
Final Words
A gift card is a payment card that you give someone as a present to shop at a particular store. Some gift cards are store-specific, while others allow you to buy goods at various places. Mobile money transfer apps allow gift cards, and Venmo is one of them.
You can use Venmo as an intermediary to transfer money from a gift card to a bank. Gift cards are also convertible to cash in various ways.