matthewgrossman

+1 to CFPB

My account at Venmo was banned with zero explanation and no support would talk to me on the phone. I submitted a complaint to the CFPB, got a phone response within 2 weeks, and was promptly unbanned.

I could also believe that something dumb my friend or I said was flagged by their systems. Unfortunately they won't talk to me, let me explain any transactions, or give any hints about which transaction caused the ban ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I've never had any warnings either; straight to permabanned.

Salt in the wounds was watching John Mulaney's bit on venmo[1] the next week

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBpDvCu8yYI

My theory (which I included in my emails) was that I was receiving funds from people I hadn't transacted with before. For my wedding, I had requested money for a "housing fund", and many friends/cousins/parents'-friends/etc were gifting via venmo

I recently had my venmo account terminated out of the blue, and this is the best explanation they could give me:

> We have systems in place that monitor activity on Venmo, but please note that we don't reveal information about our internal systems in order to keep these systems robust. However, I'd recommend looking over our User Agreement for information on our policies surrounding acceptable use and high risk activity.

> I apologize that we're no longer able to assist you.

Thankfully I was able withdraw my cash, but I've been telling everyone I know to be careful when dealing with venmo; you really can't trust them