
Venmo can access bank balance and transactions if you connect your bank account - Calvin02
&quot;If you connect your Venmo account to other financial accounts, ... , we may have access to your account balance and account and transactional information, such as purchases and funds transfers.&quot;<p>src: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;venmo.com&#x2F;legal&#x2F;us-privacy-policy
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BoorishBears
[https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-
us/articles/221073067-Verifying...](https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-
us/articles/221073067-Verifying-Your-Bank-Account)

I mean it makes perfect sense, they want to know you have enough money to
start transfers.

And the ability to do X doesn’t mean they’re doing X, It sounds like they
might be tracking transfers related to Venmo, but their being honest and
admitting that same power allows them much more access.

AFAIK they’re using Plaid, and nothing here is an unusual application of Plaid

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Calvin02
Whoa! I didn't know they used Plaid. Plaid's terms are even more alarming. Why
does Plaid need all this information?

"The types of information we collect from your financial institutions may
include, but are not limited to:

Account information, including financial institution name, account name,
account type, and account and routing number;

Information about an account balance, including current and available balance;

Information about credit accounts, including statement due dates and balances
owed, payment amounts and dates, transaction history, and interest;

Information about loan accounts, including due dates, balances, payment
amounts and dates, interest, loan type, payment plan, and term;

Information about the account owner(s), including name, email address, phone
number, and address information.

Information about account transactions, including amount, date, type, and a
description of the transaction."

src: [https://plaid.com/legal/](https://plaid.com/legal/)

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BoorishBears
A large part is because that’s how your bank exposes it. There’s not that much
granularity in bank account access.

Another part is they’re not going to tailor the terms of service per usecase,
they’ll list everything they _can_ do, then narrow it down per application

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Calvin02
What?!

They don't have to _collect_ it. They can say that we have access to it but
will only collect it when you use a related product.

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BoorishBears
Did you read your own comment or are you too busy trying to force outrage...

The types of information we collect from your financial institutions _may
include_, but are not limited to

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stephenr
Can someone confirm if I understand this correctly?

Venmo is what Americans use for small transfers because the US banking system
is ridiculously antiquated and still revolves around paper cheque’s if you
want to make a transfer from one bank to another?

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fetus8
Yeah, it's one of the easiest ways to send money back and forth between
people.

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stephenr
I wonder if US banks will ever catch up to the rest of the world in this
regard.

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aketchum
They have. Look at zelle. I think it's better than venmo because it is a part
of the banks Mobile app and instantaneous transfer is the default, while venmo
charges for it

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stephenr
> Look at zelle.

That phrase doesn’t mean much to someone outside the US. I looked it up, it’s
a thing owned by some US banks (and thus only available to those banks
customers? That part isn’t clear).

Being better than venmo doesn’t mean much either - in other countries
interbank transfers are just something you do via your bank - no third party
involved.

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randomacct3847
Never use Plaid. I’m guessing the apps that would apply to most on here are
Venmo and Robinhood. Square Cash probably use them too.

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1123581321
You Need a Budget also uses Plaid.

