You cannot completely delete your Venmo transaction history, even if you close your account. To hide Venmo transactions: Open the app, go to your profile, access settings, select Privacy, Choose “Past Transactions” and select “Change All to Private.” Tap to confirm.
You Can’t Delete Your Venmo Transaction History Completely
When people think of deleting their transaction history, they imagine clicking a “clear transactions” button and having them magically disappear.
You cannot completely delete your Venmo transaction history. Even if you close your account, your transactions remain in the system. However, you can hide your transaction history by changing privacy settings. Here’s how:
Steps to Hide Your Venmo Transaction History
- Open the Venmo App: Launch the app on your device.
- Access Your Profile: Tap the profile icon in the lower right corner.
- Go to Settings: Click on the settings cog in the upper right corner.
- Select Privacy: Tap on the Privacy option.
- Change Past Transactions: Choose “Past Transactions” and select “Change All to Private.
- Confirm Changes: A pop-up will ask for confirmation; tap to confirm.
Why Can’t You Delete Venmo History?
Good question.
Unfortunately, only Venmo really knows the thought behind it.
I’m assuming it’s to prevent people from using Venmo for fraud or any other illegal activity.
But your guess is as good as mine.
You Can Permanently Close Your Account on Venmo
To delete/close/disable your Venmo account:
- Step 1: Log into your Venmo Account.
- Step 2: Go to the “Me” tab in the Venmo app by tapping your image or initials.
- Step 3: In the top right corner, tap the gear icon to bring up your Venmo settings.
- Step 4: Tap on “Account” in the “Preferences” menu.
- Step 5: Tap “Close Venmo Account”
- Step 6: Confirm that you want your account closed.
Per federal rules, after your account is closed, you will receive one email with your transaction history sent to the email address associated with your Venmo account.
But wait!
Before deleting your account, you should transfer any funds in your Venmo account to your bank account.
If I Delete Venmo, Can I Make a New One?
When you decide to delete your Venmo Account, you will need to be aware of two things.
- Deleting your Venmo account means that there is NO WAY for you to recover it if you decide you want it in the future.
You’ll have to start a new Venmo account.
- Any transactions that are still pending will not clear.
If these two things aren’t an issue for you, then you should be all set with deleting your Venmo account.
But does deleting your Venmo REALLY get rid of any record of that pesky transaction you’re wanting to forget all about?
Does Deleting my Venmo Account Remove My Transaction History?
I have BAD NEWS for you…
Even when you delete your Venmo account, your transaction history isn’t gone.
Sure, YOU won’t have access to it anymore.
But…
That doesn’t mean people can’t still see your public or friend-only transactions (because they can).
Unsettling – right? I thought so too.
Venmo itself also keeps records of the transactions you had for 7 years (they are required to by law).
What Each Venmo Privacy Setting Means:
- Private: The only place that Venmo will share the transaction is on the “Me” tab’s transactions feed. The recipient can also view this activity in their app if it’s a payment to another user.
- Friends only: Only you and the other participant’s Venmo friends will be aware of the transaction.
- Public: Any internet user may witness the transaction because Venmo will post it on the public stream.
Why Are Transactions “Public” by Default?
Venmo dubs itself as a “fast, safe, social payments” app.
So from Venmo’s standpoint, if transactions were made private by default, way fewer people would actually “share” what they were up to or purchasing.
This would effectively kill off the social aspect of the app.
But…
At least you have the option of changing your transactions to private.
How to Make Your Transactions Private (Step-By-Step)
As I’ve already said above, you CAN’T delete your Venmo transaction history completely BUT you do have the option of making them private.
Below, I show you how with both the Venmo app and Venmo website.
To make your Venmo transactions private:
In the Venmo App
- Step 1: Open your Venmo app and log in to your account.
- Step 2: Tap on the gear icon in the top right corner to bring up your settings.
- Step 3: Tap on “Privacy”.
- Step 4: Change your “Default Privacy Settings” to “Private” so all your FUTURE transactions will automatically be “Private”.
- Step 5: Tap on “Past Transactions”.
- Step 6: Tap on “Change All to Private” and confirm when asked.
On a Web Browser
- Step 1: Visit venmo.com and log in to your account.
- Step 2: Click on “Settings” on the far left.
- Step 3: Then click on “Privacy”.
- Step 3: Change your setting to “Private” and then click the “Change to Private” button to change all past transactions.
- Step 4: Confirm your settings change.
How Long Does Venmo Keep my Transaction History?
Any company that provides financial services, like Venmo, is required by law to store your banking and other information for at LEAST seven years.
They don’t shred or burn any records of your dealings with them, even if you delete your account.
To put it into perspective, nobody can predict the future, whether it be chargebacks, audits by the IRS or state tax authorities, or class action lawsuits.
How to Make a Single Transaction Private
One advantage of using Venmo is that you can see who you paid, and they can see who they received money from.
Sometimes there’s a transaction you don’t want others to see.
As I’ve already shown earlier in this post, you can make all past and future transactions private.
But what about only one specific transaction?
The good news is you can change any transaction you’ve made to “Private”.
Here’s how:
- Step 1: Open Venmo and log in to your account.
- Step 2: On the “Me” screen, find the transaction you made that you want to make “Private” and tap on it.
- Step 3: On the detail screen for that transaction, you should see its current privacy setting (it will probably say “Public”). Tap on it and change the privacy setting to “Private”.
Can my Friends See my Venmo History?
It depends, to be honest.
If you have your transaction privacy settings to anything aside from “Private”, then your friends on Venmo can definitely see your transaction history.
If you have it set to “Private”, then they can’t (unless you sent money to or from each other -then they can see that specific transaction).
Can I Print my Venmo History?
Yes, you can print your Venmo transaction history.
However, you really need to do it using venmo.com and not the Venmo app.
To print your Venmo transaction history:
- Step 1: Go to venmo.com and log in to your account.
- Step 2: Click on “Statements” on the left side of the screen.
- Step 3: Select the date range you want to print.
- Step 4: Click on “Download CSV”. This will generate a .csv file that you can use with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to view and print your transactions.
