Peer-to-Peer Payments Made Easier

Close up teenage girl friends using cell phones

published 30 August 2018

Venmo, a peer-to-peer (or “P2P”) payment app, recently unveiled a Mastercard-branded card that allows users to pay for items with money stashed in their accounts. The card is similar to a Visa-branded card introduced last year by Square Cash that allows users to spend money in their Cash P2P app.

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Both cards can be linked to your bank account. In the case of the Venmo card, you can choose to have your card automatically reloaded if you don’t have enough money in the app to pay for a purchase. The Cash card must be reloaded manually from your bank account. If you don’t have enough money in the app to pay for a purchase, the card will be declined.

Meanwhile, Starbucks has introduced a Visa-branded prepaid card aimed at people who can’t get enough free coffee. Unlike the Starbucks app, which can only be used to buy Starbucks products, the Chase Bank prepaid card can be used anywhere that Visa is accepted. Users earn one star in the Starbucks loyalty program for every $10 they spend with the card.

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Rivan joined Kiplinger on Leap Day 2016 as a reporter for Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. A Michigan native, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014 and from there freelanced as a local copy editor and proofreader, and served as a research assistant to a local Detroit journalist. Her work has been featured in the Ann Arbor Observer and Sage Business Researcher. She is currently assistant editor, personal finance at The Washington Post.