PNC Bank Says Security Upgrades May Have Caused Problems For Venmo Users
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- New security upgrades may be causing trouble for Venmo users with PNC Bank accounts.
Over 40 million people use Venmo, a popular app that allows users to transfer money in and out of your bank account.
"It's like a shortcut to paying people, so if someone else has the app or Venmo, I can easily pay them without having to take out cash or write a check," says Alyssa Bush.
But Venmo users with PNC Bank accounts say they've been stymied in the last few weeks.
Social media is buzzing with complaints that users cannot connect with their PNC Bank accounts, keeping them from transferring money or paying people.
A former resident of Pittsburgh, Bush now lives in Nebraska but still keeps her money at PNC Bank.
A couple of weeks ago, she tried to use Venmo to pay for her husband's haircut.
"It wasn't going through. It kept shutting down on me and saying,'Not able to verify bank accounts,'" Bush told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Thursday.
PNC denies it is trying to force customers off Venmo and to Zelle, an app the bank partially owns.
The bank says it's upgrading security with the intermediaries that connect people through apps because of growing concerns that cybercriminals are targeting these apps.
The leading intermediary is Plaid, connecting most consumers through 3,000 different apps to 15,000 banks.
"We heard from consumers that they're having trouble connecting their apps to PNC, and as soon as we heard that, we started to work with PNC as much as we could to solve the problem," said John Pitts, Plaid's policy lead.
Plaid says they share PNC's security concerns.
"Security is our top priority when consumers connect their accounts," said Pitts.
With security upgrades in place, the bank suggests PNC customers start over and sign up again for Venmo.
Now again, both PNC Bank and Plaid, which connects Venmo to PNC, told KDKA they want to hear from users if they are having problems.
They say they will work to try and resolve issues as quickly as possible.
