Is Venmo available in Canada

Is Venmo available in Canada?

Venmo is one of the most trusted and widely used peer-to-peer payment gateways in the United States. The Venmo app has over 10,000,000 downloads and thousands of positive testimonials. Offered by PayPal, Venmo makes it easier to instantly transfer funds to family and friends.

This user-friendly and convenient mobile app is available for downloading to Americans. However, it’s not available for download to Canadians.

What Is Venmo?

Venmo is one of the safest and fastest social methods of sending and receiving payments. It’s a P2P mobile payment application, making it easy for friends and family to send money to each other. Venmo was launched in 2009 and has garnered over 65 million users in the U.S.

Many unique features make Venmo a great payment gateway. First, Venmo has no monthly fees and allows users socially send money for free. Secondly, this payment solution lets you buy cryptocurrencies, make in-store and online purchases, and make direct deposits.

Why is Venmo not Available in Canada?

PayPal, the parent company of Venmo, is available in Canada, but Venmo isn’t. Venmo is a digital wallet that allows people to instantly and socially transfer money from one person to another.

The main reason Venmo is not available in Canada is because of the supremacy of banks in Canada.

Before the digital wallets came into existence fifteen years back, the Canadian banks had foreseen and prepared to deal with any discrepancy they would bring forth.

The Canadian banks came together and created a standard technology to maintain their relevance and keep peer-to-peer payment gateways out of the picture.

Known as Interac E-transfers, the technology was smart and future-proof, enabling all Canadian banks to transfer funds to each other easily.

As the banks teamed up to create this technology, they managed to take control over the Canadian P2P payment infrastructure. That way, they managed to block competitors while making it easier for clients to complete peer-to-peer transactions.

Therefore, even after Venmo became so popular and the day’s talk in American banks, the Canadian banks were comfortable with Interac. Technically, Venmo was created for Americans, considering that the terms and conditions specify that you must be in the U.S and have an active U.S phone number.

Are There any Feasible Alternatives to Venmo in Canada?

Just because Venmo doesn’t work in Canada doesn’t mean Canadians can’t make peer-to-peer transactions. There are many good and secure P2P alternatives to Venmo, which Canadians can use to make transfers. The following are four main alternatives to Venmo in Canada:

Interac eTransfer

The most preferred peer-to-peer platform for Canadians is Interac eTransfer. Interac eTransfer is the brainchild of the banks in Canada. The platform was created with Canadians in mind and does help make it easier to make peer-to-peer transactions.

The Interac eTransfer P2P platform offers a secure and universal way to make payments to friends and family. The platform does make everything about online banking secure and safe, enabling members to make payments using an email address.

Once you’ve set up and activated your Interac eTransfer account, you can start making transactions seamlessly and effortlessly. This P2P platform connects to your bank and enables you to make secure transactions anytime.

Wise

Wise is an international P2P payment gateway that allows people from different parts of the world to send and receive money. Wise saves people from the higher costs associated with sending money internationally. It streamlines the otherwise complicated and slow process of sending money globally through banks.

It’s the most efficient and widely trusted method of sending money to over 30 countries in 50 currencies. The payments are processed immediately, and the recipient will have their money in the next minute. With Wise, you won’t be forced to accept lower than the standard market exchange rates.

Besides, the platform discloses all details about exchange rates, fees, and transaction costs beforehand. Wise is undoubtedly the best alternative payment method to Venmo and Interac eTransfer.

Wealthsimple Cash

Wealthsimple cash is one of the latest systems in the peer-to-peer payment industry. It’s the P2P payment gateway for family and friends in Canada and other parts of the world to share payments instantly and securely.

Wealthsimple cash eliminates the complicated process of having to log into your online banking portal, add the email address of the payment receipt and answer annoying security questions to complete payment.

This payment method has come to eliminate the hassles and costs associated with online bank transfers.

Getting started does not involve any complicated and demanding procedure. All you must do is to download the Wealthsimple cash app, install it on your device and launch the app.

You should then head to the wallet, select the contact you want to send money to. In no minutes, you’ll receive an email confirming the target recipient has received the amount you sent.

Interestingly, Wealthsimple cash allows for the addition of a prepaid credit card and visa card to ease online transactions.

PayPal

The last Venmo alternative that Canadians can use to seamlessly and safely make peer-to-peer transactions is PayPal. For those who might not know, Venmo is the Fintech product of the creative minds at PayPal.

Venmo is, without doubt, a fast and cheap way to send money to family and friends but PayPal is a more robust alternative.

Venmo allows sending of limited amounts of money to peers, while PayPal allows sending of larger amounts. With Venmo, you’re secure if you’re sending amounts less than $500 while PayPal is the safest and most affordable way to send amounts higher or lower than $10,000.

The best thing about PayPal is that it allows you to make payments easily using the recipient’s email.

Venmo is not currently available in Canada but there are dozens of trusted and reliable alternatives that make it easy for you to make peer-to-peer transactions instantly. Venmo is cheap and fast, but since Canadians can’t enjoy these amazing benefits, they should consider an alternative.

They can go for PayPal if they want to make bigger transactions or wise if they want to enjoy lower rates on transactions.

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