4 risks you need to know about when using payment apps

In an age where few people carry cash, peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle make it easy to send and receive money. People are turning to these apps now more than ever to pay a friend for a dinner bill they covered or contribute their share of the family’s phone plan.

That level of convenience has made these apps grow in popularity — “nearly three-quarters of U.S. consumers used payment accounts like PayPal, Venmo and Cash App in 2023, according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve — up from 68 percent in 2022″. said The Washington Post. People aren’t just using apps for one-time expenses, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “estimated that the volume of payments for these apps will quadruple between 2018 and 2022, with usage particularly concentrated among younger Americans.”