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Venmo increases fees on instant money transfers

Convenience comes with a higher cost.

Effective November 6th, Venmo patrons who use Instant Transfer to move money from their Venmo accounts to their debit cards will notice increased service fees. Instead of a flat $.25 per transfer, Instant Transfer fees will be set at 1% of the total sum.

The sliding fee scale is a change that patrons who move large sums of money will want to take notice of. For example, a $50 transfer will now cost you $.50 in fees, while a $1000 transfer will short you ten bucks.

The convenient Instant Transfer option, which is available 24 hours a day 365 days a year and only takes about thirty minutes to complete is quite appealing. It works with debit cards that are a part of Visa's Fast Funds or Mastercard's Send services, and users can check their card's eligibility by adding it to their Venmo account. Unless the card is greyed out, the card will work with Instant Transfer.

While news of the increase in Instant Transfer fees might not please the most prolific Venmo users, the good news is that standard transfers to verified bank accounts (which take one to three business days) will remain free. Another option to avoid the uptick in Instant Transfer fees is Venmo's physical debit card -- but who wants to deal a card when you're doing digital payments?