I’ll be first to admit to forgetting my wallet or my Varo card at home. It’s an uneasy feeling, especially if you’re not a hundred percent sure that it’s safe at home. So what can we do? How to withdraw money from Varo without a card?
You actually can’t withdraw money from your Varo account without your card. Although there are some cardless ATMs around the country, they’re far and between, as right now, only select banks in the US offer cardless ATMs, limiting your choices.
However, we do have some workarounds for you that might help you in this case:
- Send money to your friend’s account and ask them to withdraw the money
- Transfer funds to another bank account
- See the card details in the Varo app
- Use the Varo card through Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, or Cash App
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1. Send Money to Your Friend’s Account
Even though you forgot your Varo card, one of your friends might have his with him/her.
There are no fees for transferring money from Varo to another Varo account and the transfers are instant. To send your friend money using Varo:
- Log in to the Varo app
- Tap ‘Move Money’ at the bottom of the screen
- Tap ‘Varo to Varo transfer’
- Select a recipient by entering the email address of the person you’re sending money to
- Enter the amount you want to send
- Review the transfer a final time
- If the recipient information and the amount of the transfer are correct, tap ‘Send Money’ to finish the transfer
Because transfers can’t be canceled or reversed after they’re sent, make sure to double-check all the details.
If transfer to a friend’s account isn’t an option, why not ask them to lend you the amount that you need?
2. Transfer Funds to Another Bank Account
This method isn’t the best, to be honest as transfers can take up to 2 days to finalize. And it’s a time-consuming process apart from that. But, here are the steps to first link an external account in the Varo app:
- At the bottom of the Accounts page, tap ‘Link an Account +’
- Select your external bank or search for it if you don’t see an icon
- If you see options when you select your bank, pick the one with the web address where you would normally log in online
- Enter your user ID and password and tap ‘Submit’
- Follow any prompts from your bank, like entering your phone number or email and using a one-time password to get set up
- Continue responding to prompts from Varo until you see your external accounts and balances show up on the Accounts. Then you’ll know you’re successfully linked
To transfer money from Varo to another account:
- Open the Varo app and tap ‘Move Money’ > ‘Transfer Money’
- Select From: Varo Bank Account and To: the account you want to receive the transfer
- See the limit for the transfer under the transfer amount
Transfers to checking or savings accounts are limited to no more than $5,000 per transfer and $10,000 per calendar month.
3. See the Card Details in the Varo App
Even though you don’t have your Varo card with you, it doesn’t mean that you can’t at least pay for things. You can always see your Varo card details in your app. Things like card number, expiration date, CVV, routing number, and account number can be seen.
You can use those details, to pay for things online or even in person at restaurants, cafes, or shops, for example. To see your card details, open your Varo app and select ‘Account details.’ And that’s it. You’re presented with all the card details you need.
4. Use the Varo Card Through Apple Pay
I’m using Apple Pay as an example, but it could be any digital wallet, for that matter. You can easily set this up even without your card if you use the step mentioned above to get your card details.
To manually add a card to Apple Wallet:
- Open the Wallet app on your iPhone and tap the ‘add button’ (+)
- Tap ‘Continue’, then tap ‘Enter Card Details Manually’
- Enter your card information and tap ‘Next’
- Enter the requested information
If you don’t see the add button when you open the Wallet app, your device might be set to the wrong region.
It’s always easier to add your card to a wallet if you have the physical card present as you just take a photo of it, and you’re basically done. You don’t have to add all those numbers manually.
The Bottom Line
So these are your options for withdrawing money from your Varo account if you don’t have your Varo card with you. We hope we made your life a bit easier even though these aren’t the perfect solutions.
It’s always better to connect your Varo card to a service such as Apple Wallet, Google Pay, PayPal, or Cash App ahead of time so that you can at least pay for things when you don’t have your physical card present.
If you don’t have a Varo Bank account yet, read our Varo review. For more content about digital banks, visit our website.
