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Venmo, the little mobile payment startup that wants to take on PayPal, is now open to the public and eager to process some payments. But does that mean it's time to pay rent with your iPhone? It's surprisingly simple to make payments:
- Step 1: Sign-up for Venmo and download the app.
- Step 2: Go to "Settings" > "Credit Cards" to connect your Venmo account to a credit or debit card.
- Step 3: Tap "Pay" to text the payment.
But paying for things with your phone is weird and intimidating. (It must be like the early days of credit cards, when a merchant would make a carbon copy of your card and promise only to take out as much as you allowed.) Just imagine your roommate's reaction when instead of getting a check for your portion of the rent, she gets a text saying that you've sent the funds to her Venmo account. It's not intuitive -- partly because it's so new -- but it does work. Here's the 1-2-3 for receiving funds via Venmo:
- Step 1: Sign-up for Venmo and download the app.
- Step 2: Tap "Charge" to text a charge to whoever owes you money.
- Step 3: Tap "Cash Out" after you receive the money to connect your Venmo account to your bank account and follow the steps to transfer the funds.