How Do I Unfreeze My Temporarily Frozen Venmo Account?

A lot of users are not keen to go through User Agreements before using products or services. This is especially common with Venmo users because they assume that since using it is easy, the terms cannot be that complicated. This can come to your detriment when you are trying to transfer funds or make payments, and then you receive a notification that your account has been suspended.

Venmo's Terms and Conditions

To make sure that you do not get surprised when you receive that email, here is a summary of Venmo's terms and conditions that can help you use the services better:

1. As a user of Venmo, you should limit your payments to people you know. Paying for things online will raise red flags within Venmo's system. This is because online transactions are considered to be of high risk and in turn, Venmo does not offer protection against such losses. However, if you still wish to use Venmo for business transactions, you should seek authorization and only carry out the transactions using the Venmo application.
2. You cannot send amounts more than $299.99 within any week. However, you can receive as much money as possible.
3. You can only use Venmo if you are above eighteen years of age.
4. Venmo allows you only to own one account

Why Your Account Is Temporarily Frozen

Your Venmo account will be temporarily frozen if a transaction you make fails. You will receive an email notification alerting you that the transaction has failed. Here are some of the reasons why your transaction may have failed:

1. Insufficient funds in your account at the time of transaction.
2. If you have depleted the number of ACH transfers you can carry out per day.
3. If Venmo needs to reverse certain payments.
4. If Venmo needs certain documents to verify your account. This usually happens if they notice any suspicious activity going on in your account. Such suspicious activities include but are not limited to:

• If Venmo suspects that someone else could be using your Venmo account without your knowledge. Freezing your account will allow for sufficient investigation and also offer you protection against loss of funds.
• Sometimes another financial institution may alert Venmo of another person using your account without your permission.
• In circumstances where there might be a breach with the law, Venmo is obligated to freeze your account to comply with the law.
• If you breach your agreement with Venmo, or violate the set terms and conditions, then your account can be frozen.

How to Unfreeze Your Account

1. Log in to Venmo's website, preferable from a computer.
2. Click on the "Recover" option.
3. Reply to the email you received when your account got frozen. Venmo will require you to include a picture of your unexpired US government-issued photo identification in this email.
4. You can chat with a support specialist from the Venmo application. Log into your application and click on "Menu." Navigate till the "Get help" section, then click on "Contact us" and finally click on "Chat with Us."
5. Call Venmo's customer care team. The lines are open from 10 am to 6 pm from Monday to Friday, except on public holidays.
6. You can also contact Venmo by filling in the online form. The online form is especially important if you no longer have access to the email that you used to create your Venmo account. It is also convenient if you need to attach files that will help the Customer Care team understand your problem better.

You can also use another card to pay Venmo the amount that you owe. If you do this, however, the funds will not reflect immediately but will take an approximate of three to five business days.