ULPT Inquiry: Using a Credit Card Via Venmo to Transfer Debt
Posted by thislifetoday@reddit | UnethicalLifeProTips | View on Reddit | 31 comments
I’m not sure this is illegal or even unethical, but it very well could be against some terms and conditions.
Just the headlines: Married. Authorized User on my wife’s credit card. We have both used this card over the years and have around a $10k balance. For a very specific reason, we’d like my wife’s credit to be spotless in the next coming months. We have no late payments or anything like that, but would like her balance to show zero.
So… I’d like to use two credit cards I have solely in my name to assume that balance. Neither card offers a balance transfer. So can I just attach those cards to Venmo, use those cards to pay my wife a thousand dollars at a time, and then funnel that money to pay off the card in question? Is the worst thing that might happen going to be a 3% transaction fee from Venmo?
katzohki@reddit
Zeroing out your balance won't necessarily make a huge impact to your credit score. It's more about your debt to credit ratio and your usage.
pennyx2@reddit
This. The balance showing zero is not going to improve her credit any more than continuing to make regular payments will, unless her credit utilization is very high.
AverageLiberalJoe@reddit
Get added to her CC account. Both of you take out new cc in your own name. Hers has a high limit, yours has 0% apr balance transfer. Transfer shared balance to your new card. Her credit goes up and her debt goes down. Credit score increases quite a bit.
tlk0153@reddit
Easier way is if you have rent, mortgage , car payments then you can use services like Plastiq to make such payments through credit cards. Then the cash you save can be used to payoff your wife’s credit card
kindredbud@reddit
You can do this with PayPal credit. I've used it to send people cash, and had them send it back to me via PayPal, essentially turning the credit into cash. This may be an easier and better way to do it than traditional credit cards.
schaudhery@reddit
Not sure why so many people are saying it’ll trigger a cash advance. It will not. In the last few months I made about $20,000 in contractors via Venmo for home stuff. I signed up for a credit card with 0% interested and linked it to my Venmo. They want $1000? Okay I’ll send it via Venmo and pay a $30 fee. All in all the charged totaled $20,000 and I paid a little more to keep my money in a HYSA earning more than 4%.
HazeCorps22@reddit
Just a thought here.
Have you called your existing credit cards, the ones under your name only, and asked them over the phone if they would be able to give you additional credit and a balance transfer bonus?
I once called a CC and they gave me a promotional 18 months of zero interest for transferring a balance to them. I didn't need to open or upgrade my card, they just offered it and it helped me out at the time.
teamdragonite@reddit
when did credit card companies start allowing people to balance transfer cc debt to different people? Lol
gunsforevery1@reddit
No! That would involve talking to someone!
gus_thedog@reddit
And would be ethical!
LieutenantStar2@reddit
This is a much better way to
Leftover_tech@reddit
I ran into that with Discover. The customer service guy just said "Let's set up a PIN and we'll treat it like a cash advance, but forgive the fee." Of course, that was several years ago.
mollymarie123@reddit
Be aware the fees associated with using a credit card on Venmo. Venmo treats paying by card as cash advance. If you pay from a card, you incur immediate fee of about $10 or more plus you immediately rack up interest charges that are high.
eatingganesha@reddit
this is probably the most expensive way to do that.
plus, when you’re married, your individual credit balances affect both of you even if you aren’t technically listed on the account. Simply transferring her balance to yours won’t change that much, especially in terms of income to debt ratio, monthly payments, and total household debt.
fap-on-fap-off@reddit
Typically this would be a terrible idea. It will cost you a boatload of fees.
Embarrassed-Help-568@reddit
I did this back in the day with Facebook Pay. They perma-banned me after the third transaction.
Not sure if Venmo would or not.
Dietcokelover87@reddit
Better if you send it to a friend and they send it back as a gift 🤷♀️ minus a few bucks a couple hours later. 🤷♀️
atomicxima@reddit
Do you have a Discover card? If not, get one. They have excellent balance transfer offers where you have a year to pay it off with 0% APR. I got myself out of 20K+ debt in large part to Discover. Obviously don't use the card for anything else.
Opposite-Shower1190@reddit
Canceling a credit card can lower your credit score, and a zero balance can also lower your credit score. I would recommend leaving a $500 balance on the card.
MrLoronzo@reddit
Zero balances absolutely do not hurt your credit score. I have never carried a balance in many years and it’s only helped my credit. All they care about are late payments and overall utilization (lower the better)
Jman15x@reddit
I have the Venmo credit card and I cannot use it to send money to people
NeverbeentoKansas@reddit
You might get hit with a cash advance fee depending on your credit card. You could try $100 first to see how it charges your credit card
One_Tumbleweed_1@reddit
Yea the card company is going to charge you interest as a cash advance from the day you do it and a fee for the transaction. Not sure what is going on are you just paying the minimum on the card at the moment?
sberniem@reddit
Yep and cash advances incur steep interest rates on top of the fees and are the last of the balance to be paid off. OP, I wouldn’t recommend doing this. Open another card with a promotional balance transfer rate and save in the long run.
Fragrant_End993@reddit
Technically possible yes, however you will almost definitely be charged a cash advance fee for each transaction and you probably have a cash advance limit on your cards. Additionally you may also have a differs, likely higher api on cash transaction then normal purchases. You might also get hit with a fraud alert on your card for doing the same transaction over and over. This is not a good solution and may actually cause a huge problem when attempting to buy a house as you’ll have to explain to the mortgage Leander where all this money came from. Your best bet here is to call your other credit companies and request a credit balance transfer or open a new card that allows them only in your name.
visionque@reddit
Why don’t you take two part time jobs and your wife do the same? You can knock out a thousand a month easily. Stop buying things that go down in value.
Go dumpster diving in your spare time and sell things online or at a monthly yard sale.
Both of you should sell blood.
Bring baked goods to work and sell them to hungry coworkers.
Shovel snow, mow lawns, clean our gutters, paint numbers on curbs, baby sit, serve at catered banquets, make homemade wine and sell it privately, if in a deposit state pick up bottles and cans to sell, sell your clothes online.
Really look at your expenses and cut your lifestyle way down. Go to food pantries and get free food. Go to clothing closets for your needs. Watch you tube videos for your car model and learn to fix common problems. Get a free bicycle and start riding everywhere you need to go as much as possible.
Screw those credit cards in the worst way possible. Pay them off.
Jbooth72@reddit
You can do this. But why not get a new card with a 0% balance transfer deal? Save some money.
Teach-@reddit
Yes you can. I'm not sure about limits but I've cashed out like that a few times myself. I would pay her Venmo and have her send me the cash in cashapp
theepi_pillodu@reddit
But don't you need to pay taxes as Venmo and cashapp anything over $600 is considered as income?
Teach-@reddit
No, not money sent to a spouse.
Material-Win-2781@reddit
You could claim that it's repayment of a debt.