As many Americans are anticipating stimulus checks, which normally require going to a physical location to deposit, Venmo recently announced a new feature that will mitigate the issue. On January 4, Venmo shared that it will be introducing a new Cash a Check feature in its app for select customers. Now, the Venmo community will have access to a quick and easy way to securely cash paper checks. Select customers will also have the ability to cash printed payroll and government checks directly from the app.
In the company’s release, Venmo said, “We know now, more than ever, many of you are using Venmo to spend and manage your money. Whether you’re sending payments to support friends, family, and people in your community, or paying for essentials like groceries and bills, we’re here to help.”
Now, customers will no longer need to worry about waiting at the bank to cash their checks, particularly with some areas under lockdown. With regards to the stimulus, some eligible customers will be able to use the feature to directly send their check into their account with Venmo in as little as a few minutes. Any fees associated with using this feature for stimulus checks will be waived for a short period to enable a fast, affordable, and easy way to access the much-needed funding.
Speaking on this feature SVC and GM of Venmo, Darrell Esch said, “We are not only enabling our customers to access their money quickly and safely from the comfort of their own homes, but are also waiving all fees for cashing government issued checks to ensure customers can use their stimulus funds to pay for the things they need most.”
To use the feature, customers simply need to take a picture of the check they want to cash. The image will then be sent for review via the Venmo app on mobile (iOS and Android supported). The review process will most often take a few seconds, or 3-5 minutes in some cases, and up to an hour in very rare circumstances. Once approved, the funds will be transferred directly to the Venmo account.
It is not clear as to which customers will be able to use this feature how they’d be eligible for the service or the waiver of fees for stimulus checks. This comes after PayPal announced late last month that it would not charge check cashing fees on stimulus checks for its signature PayPal service which it also said applied to Venmo, which the payments giant owns.
As PayPal continues to make strides toward dominating the digital finance sector, the new service for its popular growth engine, Venmo, appears to be a good feature for keeping users on the service, competing with banks, and supporting users during difficult financial circumstances.
