Venmo small claims court

Venmo is a fascinating platform. A persistent trend with everyone I’ve spoken with is that when someone is trying to charge a large group for a payment, everyone pays at the last moment. This is frustrating for people who financially overextend themselves with the understanding that other people will pay them back (eventually). I’ve experienced this phenomenon on the platform as have friends and family.

Right now, you can either initiate a payment request or remind someone if the request is delinquent. This got me thinking about how we could more aggressively push people to complete their payments.

What if the solution was extremely petty? You can imagine a scenario where you can take a delinquent payment to small claims court. The burden this would place on the United States justice system and the taxpayer would be astounding, as I’m sure a lot of people would use this, if only for the laughs.

This approach feels overly punitive, but I think there is something to be said for a more aggressive approach.

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