Can you cancel a Venmo payment? Here’s what you need to know

Did you mistakenly send a Venmo payment you shouldn’t have? Maybe you paid the wrong person. Today we’ll talk about how to cancel a Venmo payment, as well as the ins and outs of dealing with such a situation.

Read more: Link to a related high-value Evergreen post

Editor’s note: We used a Google Pixel 7 Pro running Android 13 to develop the instructions in this article. The process is identical whether you’re using Android or iOS. Just keep in mind things may change in the future, and there might be some differences depending on your device and its software. We’ll regularly update this post, just in case.

PayPal owns Venmo, so you’ll find some similarities in how both entities handle certain things. Canceling payments is one area where they are very similar, which is sadly a bad thing. Like PayPal payments, Venmo payments can’t really be easily canceled once you’ve sent the money to an active account. The only way you can truly cancel a payment is if you’ve sent it to an email or phone number no one has registered to Venmo. In this case, the payment will show as “pending,” and you can cancel it.

That said, Venmo can help you through unique situations. Venmo can help if you’ve been a scam victim, or if you’ve sent the payment to the wrong person. If the latter happened to you, Venmo can only reverse a payment if the recipient gives explicit permission, has an account in good standing, and still has the funds available.

Otherwise, Venmo suggests being cordial and simply asking for the money back.

How to cancel a pending Venmo payment

Canceling a Venmo payment is simple if you send it to an inactive email or phone number. Just be sure to do this as soon as possible. If you send a payment to the wrong phone number or email, and no one has linked these to an account, the recipient will receive a notification. It will essentially suggest the recipient open a Venmo account to claim the money. This process takes a few minutes, so your pending payment could be gone really fast.

1. Open the Venmo app.
2. Go into the Me tab.
3. Enter the Transactions section.
4. Find the pending transaction and choose to Take Back.

You can also log into Venmo.com using a web browser and go into the Incomplete tab, then select the Payments section. Pending payments should be listed there.

How to request money on Venmo

So, the money has gone to another person’s account and you can’t cancel it. What do you do? The most straightforward solution is to nicely ask the recipient for the money back. One way to do this is by sending a payment request. This should be especially easy if you happen to know the person.

1. Open the Venmo app.
2. Tap on the Pay/Request button.
3. Enter the username, phone number, or email you sent the money to, and select it.
4. Enter the amount.
5. Where it says What’s this for? you can type something like, “Hey, I sent you money by mistake. Could you please return it to me? It would really save my day.”
6. Hit Request.
7. Sit, wait, and pray.

Now, if this person is unwilling to help, maybe you can get some help from Venmo. They do, after all, mention that they can help if you paid the wrong person. That said, the truth is they can’t do much other than ask nicely, as well. The recipient might feel more inclined to return the money if the request comes from the Venmo team itself, though. As opposed to just a random dude who messed up.