Millennials and Gen Zers use Venmo to finance their bills thanks to crowdfunding

When one is running out of money, what can a millennium or a general Zer do?

Turn to Venmo, apparently.

Young adults in need of money use the mobile payment app as a crowdfunding platform by calling for financial help on Twitter and including a link to their Venmo account, reported Suhauna Hussain for the Los Angeles Times.

"Users seek to finance by crowdfunding a few hundred dollars of rent or food, as well as heavy expenses such as medical expenses, surgical procedures, immigration fees, funerals of a member of the family and even a few dollars for a cup of coffee or a visit to the nail salon "she wrote.

The trend is generally observed among members of marginalized groups, such as women, people of color, immigrants and the LGBTQ community, Hussain said.

A student raised $ 1,500 when her father was placed in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement; another student with a stack of rent, tuition and medical bills received $ 150 for food; and a third student has raised funds on several occasions for everything from DACA renewal fees to a study program abroad, reported Hussain.

But crowdfunding is not what Venmo was meant for.

The application is generally used to facilitate the splitting of payments – by paying a friend your share of the meal voucher or a brother or sister, your half a birthday gift to a parent. But now, Venmo has, in part, badumed a similar function to GoFundMe, where people often raise money for unforeseen financial circumstances.

Venmo made it clear that his fundraising site was not a peer: "We are certainly not a GoFundMe and we certainly do not facilitate charity payments," said a Venmo spokesperson at Hussain.

Read more: Meeting with the average American millennium, who has a net worth of $ 8,000, delays milestones for life because of student loan debt, and still relies on his parents to get money

Millennia are struggling in the face of the great crisis of American affordability

The decision of Millennials and Generation Z to use Venmo as a source of crowdfunding is symptomatic of the financial burden they must bear. Faced with a high cost of living, stifling student loan debt and the aftermath of the Great Recession, the US Millennials are trying to make ends meet in the midst of the US economic crisis.

Consider this: the typical American millennium has a net worth of less than $ 8,000, less than $ 5,000 in its savings account and earns $ 35,592 a year. Their financial situation causes them to delay important milestones in their lives, such as getting married and having children.

Meanwhile, Generation Z is worried about being able to cover daily expenses such as morning coffee and transportation to work. A new report from Bankrate found that daily expenses are the main factor of financial stress that prevents the generation from sleeping at night. And over a quarter of the Generation Z respondents Bankrate in their study said they were worried about paying for their own studies or those of a family member.

Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times »