I Want My $2! How Low Is Too Low for a Venmo Request?

Inflation is putting the petty into petty cash, according to a survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Forbes Advisor and OnePoll(Opens in a new window). As prices rise, so do payment requests under $5 for users of popular peer-to-peer payment apps such as Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle. The more prices rise, the more petty the requests become, according to the survey.

While most users (86%) say that anything less than $5 is not worth requesting, they were not considering the siblings and friends who have no issue with asking others to chip in for a bag of chips. Thirty percent of younger users report that they have a person in their lives who regularly requests to be paid back for such small purchases. And the same percentage of respondents believe that P2P payment apps are making people less generous. With such amusements taking place, it’s no wonder that 35% of 18- to 25-year-olds say that they also are Venmo voyeurs and watch other people’s transactions scroll by. 

Most Venmo transactions are for more than a few dollars, though, based on the most popular purchases. For 18- to 25-year-olds, those categories are groceries (64%), restaurant bills (64%), rent (47%), tickets for group activities (40%), utilities (37%), ride shares (36%), gas (35%), hotels (28%), travel tickets (26%), and bar tabs (25%).

For those ages 26 to 41, Venmo is used for restaurant bills (58%), groceries (51%), gas (37%), tickets for group activities (36%), utilities (34%), bar tabs (33%), rent (33%), hotels (28%), ride shares (27%), and travel tickets (20%).

Whatever you’re sending a Venmo request for, you might want to keep in mind that 55% of survey respondents say a payment request after two weeks is too late (26% say a month or more is fine). Try to make payment requests within a day or two of the purchase, and you should be OK; unless, of course, you’re one of the frugal folk who are shaking people down for a dollar. 

Two days appears to be the sweet spot for sending a payment reminder if someone hasn’t paid their share yet, but one-third are happy to send a reminder after 24 hours.