Betterment keeps your personal and financial information for as long as it considers necessary for its business and legal purposes, without specifying fixed retention periods for most data categories.
This analysis describes what Betterment's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
The absence of specific retention periods for most data categories means Betterment retains broad discretion over how long it holds your sensitive financial information, including after you close your account.
Interpretive note: The policy does not specify retention periods for individual data categories, making it difficult to evaluate whether specific practices align with applicable state law proportionality requirements.
The updated policy discloses a new Fully Paid Securities Lending program through Apex Clearing, under which Betterment will share customer personal information and account details with Apex if customers choose to participate. The revised terms also establish that generative AI service providers have committed that personal information will not be used for model training. For customers participating in promotional offers requiring offline fulfillment, the policy now explicitly states that personal information including mailing address may be shared with third-party partners. You can review the FPSL Program supplemental disclosures for details about the securities lending arrangement, or choose not to participate in the program.
View change record →Previous version had empty excerpt; current version now includes detailed retention criteria and factors considered when determining retention periods.
View full change record →This provision means your SSN, account details, and transaction history may be retained by Betterment for an unspecified period after you stop using the service, as long as Betterment determines it serves a business or legal purpose.
How other platforms handle this
to request that your data be transferred to a third party (data portability)
Your organization may allow you to access and export your data in order to back it up or transfer it to a service outside of Google.
Further, you may take legal actions in relation to any potential breach of your rights regarding the processing of your Personal Information, as well as to lodge complaints before the competent data prot...
"We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law. When determining how long to retain personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process the information, and applicable legal requirements.Excerpt from Betterment's Privacy Policy
1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Financial services regulators including SEC, FINRA, and GLBA impose minimum data retention periods for specific record categories, which may justify extended retention.
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
Ad personalization controls removed. Contact scanning added. Advertiser data partnerships quietly dropped. A timeline of every change.
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The absence of specific retention periods for most data categories means Betterment retains broad discretion over how long it holds your sensitive financial information, including after you close your account.
This provision means your SSN, account details, and transaction history may be retained by Betterment for an unspecified period after you stop using the service, as long as Betterment determines it serves a business or legal purpose.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 289 platforms. See the full comparison.
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