How To Delete Your Venmo Transaction History (Complete 2023 Guide)

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In 2021 alone, Venmo processed $230 BILLION worth of transactions.

That’s “billion” with a ”b”.

Almost as much in transactions as Elon Musk’s current net worth (which is INSANE!).

If you’re a regular Venmo user, your transaction history is probably fairly lengthy.

But maybe you don’t want others to know what you spend your hard-earned money on.

So what can you do?

All Venmo transactions are PUBLICLY viewable unless you change your settings (more on that later).

Unfortunately, there’s no way to clear out your Venmo history either (which is a bummer).

Keep reading to find out how to use your next BEST option for privacy with your Venmo transactions and what else you need to know.

Delete Venmo Transaction History — Can you delete your Venmo transaction history?

In this post: show

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.

**Poof**

Evidence of those mistakes and the Justin Bieber tickets that I purchased from a friend of a friend is gone, right?? RIGHT?!?

Unfortunately…

This isn’t the case with Venmo transactions and you can’t just magically delete them.

As I said earlier, though, you CAN at least hide your previous transactions from most other Venmo users by making them private (I’ll show you how momentarily).

That way, only you and whoever you paid or received money from can see the Venmo transaction.

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

I’ve gotta ask – if you’re seriously considering closing your Venmo account because a transaction (or 3)…

WHAT did you buy/do?!?

I”m kidding though, I don’t judge (for the most part anyway…😇).

I also understand for some people privacy is VERY important.

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.

Tap the "Me" menu item — Tap the “Me” menu item

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”

Tap "Close Venmo Account" — 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.

Unless you didn’t want your money?

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.

One…

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.

And two…

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”.

Delete Venmo History Tap on "Privacy" — 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”.

Choose "Private" and then tap on "Past Transactions" — Choose “Private” and then tap on “Past Transactions”

Step 6: Tap on “Change All to Private” and confirm when asked.

Tap "Change all to private" — Tap “Change all to private”

On a Web Browser

Step 1: Visit venmo.com and log in to your account.
Step 2: Click on “Settings” on the far left.

Click on "Settings" — Click on “Settings”

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.

Choose "Private" and then click the "Change to Private" button — Choose “Private” and then click the “Change to Private” button

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.

Wrapping Up – How to Delete Your Venmo Transaction History

You can’t delete your Venmo transaction history.
Your best alternative is to make your transaction history private so only you and the people you sent or received money from can see the transaction.
It is possible to delete your Venmo account but it doesn’t erase your transaction history from Venmo itself which keeps a record of them for 7 years.

References

Author Profile

Jeremy Davidson is a feature writer at aTimeforCash who enjoys helping people with financial apps, online banking, crypto, and other areas of basic personal finance. In addition to a passion for helping others, Jeremy also enjoys storm chasing and has seen over 60 tornadoes since 2006. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife and two children.