PayPal’s Venmo is a popular peer-to-peer payment wallet that lets you send, receive, and pay people. The Venmo app is not a bank; it’s an online payment wallet. However, Venmo has a banking partner, The Bancorp Bank, through which you get the Venmo Debit Card. Through its partnerships with Wells Fargo Bank and The Bancorp Bank, Venmo also offers direct deposit.
Now let’s understand Plaid. Plaid is also a fintech company, but it works differently. It doesn’t deal with users’ money but with the account credentials. It works like a payment integration service that connects your bank account to multiple apps. That is why many banks and financial organizations in the country use plaid. With Plaid, users can safely and securely share their data between the financial app and their bank accounts. But, it is not that every financial organization uses Plaid. It depends on the policy of a bank or financial management company. However, the question raised here is What bank is Venmo on Plaid? Or does Venmo uses Plaid ever? There must be an answer, and keep reading to get your answer.
How Does Plaid Work With Banks?
In short, Plaid’s software acts as an intermediary between your bank or credit card account and other companies’ apps. Plaid sits between you and your bank instead of giving them all your login details. There are a bunch of big banks and credit card companies Plaid connects with, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, American Express, and US Bank. Most financial companies need access to your financial information. You might have to give a portfolio aggregator access to your investments or a budget site access to your bank and credit card info. But why would you do that if there is Plaid? These sites can get your information through Plaid without entering your bank or credit card credentials.
For example, Plaid can connect to your credit card. You’ll get a Plaid window when you have to pass your bank credentials somewhere else. Please enter your username and password and submit it. Only Plaid has access to that information, which it will use to verify your login in the app. You’ll also need to enter your two-factor authentication info if you have it. You can use Plaid to authenticate your bank information and transfer your financial info once you’ve done that. It could be anything from transaction history to balances.
What Bank Is Venmo Through Plaid?
Venmo’s partnership with Bancorp Bank, you get a debit card and direct deposit feature. However, Venmo doesn’t provide any online bank account credentials that Plaid needs to verify your bank account ownership. That is why you can’t link your Venmo bank account with Plaid.
But if it allows, you can link it to another service using the routing and account number from your Venmo account. You can find your account and routing number by tapping on the “Me” tab, then “Direct Deposit.“ Several financial apps let you link your debit or prepaid card, even if it doesn’t go through Plaid. You can also connect your Venmo debit card to such apps to see if it works.
How Does Venmo Work With Plaid?
Your online banking username and password are one way to verify your bank account. Venmo checks your bank account balance whenever you make a purchase to ensure you have enough funds to pay for it. And Venmo uses Plaid to execute this procedure. Once you’ve selected your bank, you’ll be prompted to add your online banking credentials, such as password and username.
You should contact your bank if you have problems with this. If you don’t want to wait, you can manually add your bank account by entering your routing and account numbers.
Also read : How Does Venmo Instant Transfer Work
Why Does Plaid Want To Connect To Your Bank?
With Plaid, financial institutions get secure access to the apps that need financial info. Plaid makes it by linking to your bank account, so it can pull data for you without exposing any sensitive information. There are some credentials that Plaid pulls out, like balances or withdrawal numbers.
How Can I Link My Venmo Account Manually With Debit Card Without Plaid?
You can link your Venmo account to your debit card without using a Plaid account. Here is how:
- As an alternative to linking bank accounts with Plaid, many services let you link bank accounts manually using their account number/routing number. It’s for scenarios where you can’t find your bank, or it doesn’t support Plaid. You can do that if there’s an option to manually add your Venmo account. If you can’t find this option, you can contact their customer service team or Google for how to manually add a bank account.
- You’ll have to enter your Venmo account and routing number if you find the option to manually add a bank account. Here’s how to find your Venmo direct deposit account and routing number:
- Launch the Venmo App on your phone and sign in
- Then tap on the You tab (Single Person Icon) at the bottom of the interface.
- You should see the Direct Deposit option in the list; tap on it.
- Now, you should find the routing and account number.
- To verify that you’re the Venmo Direct Deposit Account owner, you might be asked to make a test transfer. Every app has a different process, depending on which service you’re linking it to. You must have money in the Cash App for the test transfers to work.
Please note that linking your Venmo account manually (with the routing number) could take a few days, depending on what app you’re using. It’s possible to pull money from some services using your debit card. You don’t need Plaid to link a card. To see if it works, you can connect your Venmo debit card.
How Safe Is Plaid?
Like most companies that handle financial information, Plaid says it takes security very seriously. In order to protect your financial information, Plaid uses encryption protocols like Advanced Encryption Standard (AES 256) and Transport Layer Security (TLS). You might feel more secure knowing your data is transmitted with these security settings.
Plaid follows several best practices and best-in-class security protocols to keep your data safe. Some of the security policies Plaid practices are:
- With Plaid, you can still protect your account with multifactor authentication (MFA) if your bank doesn’t;
- It runs a bug bounty program to make Plaid’s security even better;
- Plaid will never sell or rent your info to other companies and will never share your data;
- It allows you to choose which companies access your data and what they get.