Google Payments Privacy Notice

Last modified 18 November 2024

The Google Privacy Policy describes how we treat personal information when you use Google products and services. If you are under the age of 18, you can find additional resources in the Google Teen Privacy Guide.

Google Payments is offered to Google Account holders, and your use of it is subject to the Google Privacy Policy. In addition, this Privacy Notice describes Google privacy practices that are specific to Google Payments.

Your use of Google Payments is governed by the Google Payments Terms of Service, which describes in more detail the services covered by this Privacy Notice. Capitalised terms not defined in this Privacy Notice shall have the meaning ascribed to them in the Google Payments Terms of Service.

The Google Payments Privacy Notice applies to services offered by Google LLC or its wholly owned subsidiaries, including Google Payment Corp. ('GPC'). Consult the Google Payments Terms of Service made available to you within the service to learn which subsidiary is offering the service.

For users based in Brazil, the data controller responsible for your information is Google LLC and, to the extent required under Brazilian law, it may be Google Brasil Pagamentos Ltda
For users (except those selling on a Google marketplace) based in the European Economic Area (excluding the UK), the data controller responsible for your information is Google Ireland Limited
For users based in the European Economic Area, excluding the UK, and selling on a Google marketplace, the data controller responsible for your information is Google Payment Ireland Limited
For users (except those selling on a Google marketplace) based in the UK, the data controller responsible for your information is Google LLC
For users based in the UK and selling on a Google marketplace, the data controller responsible for your information is Google Payment Limited

Information we collect

In addition to the information listed in the Google Privacy Policy, we may also collect the following:

Registration information

When you sign up for Google Payments, you are creating a Google payments profile that is associated with your Google Account. Depending on the Google Payments services you use, in addition to the information listed in the Google Privacy Policy, you may be asked to provide information, such as:

Credit or debit card number and card expiry date
Bank account number and expiry date
Address
Phone number
Date of birth
National insurance number or taxpayer identification number (or other government-issued identification numbers)
For sellers or businesses specifically, your business category and certain information about your sales or transaction volume

In some cases, we may also ask you to send us additional information or to answer additional questions to help verify your information or identity. Finally, if you register a carrier or operator billing account, we will ask you to provide us with certain information about your carrier or operator account.

Your registration information is stored in association with your Google Account, and your registration of a payment method will be stored on Google's servers. Certain types of data may also be stored on your mobile device.

Information obtained from third parties

We may obtain information about you from third parties, including third-party verification services. This includes:

Information arising from Google Payments transactions at merchant locations
Information regarding your use of payment methods and your accounts issued by third parties that are linked to Google Payments
The identity of your card issuer or financial institution
Feature and benefit information related to your payment method
Information regarding access to balances held in your Google payments profile
Information from a carrier or operator in connection with carrier or operator billing
Consumer reports, as the term 'consumer reports' is defined by the US Fair Credit Reporting Act
Information about your transactions with third parties (like merchants and payment service providers), which will be used for fraud risk modelling and to provide fraud risk scores and other fraud prevention services to third parties

Also, for sellers, we may obtain information about you and your business from a credit bureau or a business information service.

Transaction information

When you use Google Payments to conduct a transaction, we may collect information about the transaction, including:

The date, time, and amount of the transaction
The merchant's location and description
A description provided by the seller of the goods or services purchased
Any photo that you choose to associate with the transaction
The names and email addresses of the seller and buyer (or sender and recipient)
The type of payment method used
Your description of the reason for the transaction and the offer associated with the transaction, if any

How we use the information we collect

In addition to the uses listed in the Google Privacy Policy, we use the information you provide to us, Google Payment Corp. (GPC), or another of our subsidiaries, as well as information about you from third parties, in order to:

Provide you with Google Payments for customer service purposes
Prevent harm to the rights, property, or safety of Google, our users, or the public, including to help prevent fraud, phishing, or other misconduct
Assist third parties in the provision of products or services that you request from them
Review your Google payments profile to determine whether you continue to meet the terms of the service
Make decisions about your future Google Payments transactions
Build and train fraud risk models with your historic and current information, and produce fraud risk scores and assessments that are shared with third parties solely for their fraud or abuse prevention purposes
Provide you with information about your payment method’s features and benefits to help you better identify your payment method when using Google Payments
Fulfill other legitimate business needs related to the Google Payments transactions initiated by you

We may retain the information that you provide for the duration of your use of Google Payments, and for an additional period as necessary to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Information we share

We will only share your personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Google in the following circumstances:

As permitted under the Google Privacy Policy
As permitted by law
As necessary to process your transaction and maintain your account, including to provide security improvements, protect your account against fraud, and for other everyday business purposes
To complete your requested registration for a service provided by a third party
To inform a third-party merchant, whose site or app you visit, whether you have a Google payments profile that can be used to make payments through that merchant's site or app. You can choose to turn off this setting
To share fraud risk scores and other fraud assessments with third parties that use Google’s risk score and fraud prevention services, in order to protect your transactions with third parties from fraud and abuse
To help ensure your payment method is secure and valid, and to provide you with relevant information about your payment method's features and benefits, we may share your personal information with your payment method issuer, payment network, processors, and their affiliates

Examples of when information may be shared:

When you make a purchase or transaction using Google Payments, we make certain personal information about you available to the company or individual that you purchase from or transact with. This includes sharing your personal information with the developer from whom you purchase when you use Google Payments to make a purchase on Google Play
When you make a purchase through a website or app with Google Pay, we might share your PIN code or postal code and information about your payment method so that the merchant can calculate tax, shipping, and other details related to the cost of your order (such as delivery costs and other price information), and identify whether the merchant can accept that form of payment from you as well as benefits or restrictions for particular forms of payment for your purchase
When you add a third-party payment method to your Google payments profile, we may exchange certain personal information with the third-party payment provider so we can both provide the service to you. The information may include your name, profile image, email, Internet protocol (IP) address, billing address, phone number, device information, location, and Google Account activity information
When you visit a participating merchant site or app, the merchant can check whether you have a Google payments profile with an eligible payment method that can be used to make a purchase through the merchant's site or app, in order to reduce the likelihood that you will see unusable features on sites or apps
When you transact with a third party (like merchants and payment service providers), we may send fraud risk scores and other fraud assessments related to your payment transaction to these third parties, solely for their own fraud or abuse prevention purposes

The information we collect, including information obtained from third parties, may be shared with our affiliates, meaning other companies owned and controlled by Google LLC. Our affiliates, which can be financial and non-financial entities, will use such information for purposes as disclosed in this Privacy Notice and the Google Privacy Policy, including for their everyday business purposes.

We provide you with the right to opt out of certain sharing between GPC and its affiliates, if applicable. Specifically, you may choose to opt out of:

Sharing between GPC and its affiliates of information about your creditworthiness for their everyday business purposes; and/or
Our affiliates marketing their products or services to you based on your personal information that we collect and share with them. This information includes your account history with us

You may also choose to opt out of Google LLC or its affiliates informing a third-party merchant, whose site or app you visit, whether you have a Google payments profile that can be used for payment through that merchant's site or app.

If you choose to opt out, your choice will be effective until you tell us to change your choice.

If you do not want us to share personal information about your creditworthiness between GPC and its affiliates, or if you do not want our affiliates to use your personal information collected by us and shared with them to market to you, or if you do not want Google LLC or its affiliates to inform a third-party merchant, whose site or app you visit, whether you have a Google payments profile, please indicate your preference by logging in to your account, and going to your Google Payments privacy settings to update your privacy preferences.

We will not share your personal information with anyone outside of GPC or with our affiliates except as described in this Privacy Notice or the Google Privacy Policy. Google Payments is a product offered to Google Account holders. Data that you provide to Google LLC for the purpose of signing up for a Google Account is not affected by the opt-out provisions in this Privacy Notice.

Keeping your information secure

For more information about our security practices, please see the main Google Privacy Policy.

The security of your Google payments profile depends on you keeping your account password(s), PINs, and other access information for the Service confidential:

If you share your Google Account information with a third party, they will have access to your Google payments profile and your personal information
It is your responsibility to control access to your mobile device and the Google Payments application on your device, including keeping your password(s) and/or PIN confidential and not sharing it with anyone
It is also your responsibility to alert Google or the relevant partner if you believe that the security of the information in the Google Payments application has been compromised

Any information that you provide directly to a third-party merchant, website, or application is not covered by this Privacy Notice. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of merchants or other third parties with whom you choose to share your personal information directly. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third party with whom you choose to share your personal information directly.