Venmo announced the launch of its newest in-app feature, Venmo Groups, which facilitates the splitting of bills among a group for ongoing expenses. This launch underlines consumers’ growing use of digital payment apps to divvy expenses among friends and family members.
By eliminating the need to designate one person to keep track of all expenses, Venmo Group enables all users to add expenses, see what amounts are due, and settle up. As long as the group exists, new expenses can be added and calculated.
Venmo users simply need to go to their “Me” page to access the new Groups feature. Users can create a new group under the “Group” tab. With a couple of taps, new members of the group can add expenses and settle bills.
“We know managing ongoing expenses in a group can be challenging, in particular when each member covers different costs with different amounts at different times,” Erika Sanchez, Vice President and General Manager at Venmo, said in a prepared statement. “As one of our most requested features, Venmo Groups offers a seamless solution for users to better track and settle shared expenses in group settings.”
“Consumers are increasingly using digital payments for all types of transactions, and it may be difficult to keep track of all of them,” said Elisa Tavilla, Director of Debit Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Venmo’s new feature allows users to better manage their various expenses, especially those that they regularly split with colleagues, family, friends, roommates, and others.
“Venmo Groups helps eliminate cumbersome spreadsheets and awkward social interactions, such as constantly having to ask your roommates for their share of the rent or utility bill. It seems like a valuable feature that will help Venmo users maintain healthy financial accounts and social relationships.”
Venmo Moves Forward as Regulation Looms
Venmo has been dipping into a variety of ventures and partnerships this year. In its recent foray into the cryptocurrency space, Venmo announced that its users can now transfer cryptocurrencies between Venmo wallets, PayPal accounts, external wallets, and exchanges. This followed the 2021 launch of its in-app trading platform for crypto assets. At that time, only buying and selling cryptocurrencies was available.
In line with the growing consumer interest in secure digital payments, Venmo partnered with Hallmark to enable customers to send money securely via Venmo within a physical Hallmark card. It also highlights the bridging of the gap between two generations, with older consumers preferring to send cash or checks with a greeting card and the younger generation preferring to receive digital payments.
Amid Venmo’s numerous undertakings within the growing P2P space, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently proposed a rule that could bring large, non-financial digital payment providers under the same regulation and oversight as banks and credit unions.
It is still early to determine whether, if passed, these regulations would fuel or hamper growth within this emerging market.