Student Loan Services Employer Terms & Conditions

These Terms & Conditions govern the use by an employer of Betterment’s student loan services, which include (1) student loan management services (“Student Loan Management”) offered in conjunction with Spinwheel Solutions, Inc. (“Spinwheel”), and (2) employer matching of Qualified Student Loan Payments (“QSLPs”) in employee 401(k) accounts (“QSLP 401(k) Match”).

Student Loan Management

When an employer (“Employer”) elects to provide Student Loan Management services to its employees, Betterment will provide the services subject to the terms and conditions described below (“SLM Terms”).

A. Non-discretionary Advice. Student Loan Management services include Betterment’s non-discretionary financial advice on how to prioritize repayment of Student Loans as a part of Student Loan Management Services (“Student Loan Advice”). Student Loan Advice will be solely provided to and based on information that employees who engage Student Loan Management Services (“Student Loan Management Employees”) provide via the Betterment interface and the Student Loan(s) linked through Spinwheel. For purposes of Betterment’s Student Loan Management services, “Student Loans” means any eligible education-related loan used to finance expenses related to an employee’s post-secondary education or higher education, including but not limited to tuition, supplies, books and living expenses. Betterment’s Student Loan Advice relies on information provided or linked by Student Loan Management Employees, and Betterment is not liable for any losses resulting from any Student Loan Advice based on inaccurate or incomplete information. Inaccurate or incomplete information includes information that was once accurate but becomes inaccurate or incomplete due to changes in circumstances. 

B. Repayment Methodology. Betterment’s Student Loan Advice relies on software provided by Spinwheel, a third-party service provider that facilitates the linking of Student Loan(s) to Betterment’s interface and directs Student Loan payments to the appropriate student loan service provider. Spinwheel’s software may be subject to change or error. Student Loan Management Employees are under no obligation to accept or follow any repayment recommendations, and Betterment will not have any discretion over Student Loan Management Employee assets or accounts with respect to the implementation of such Student Loan Advice. 

C. Repayment Services. Betterment’s Student Loan Management services include the ability to schedule recurring and one-time payments directed towards a linked Student Loan in the Betterment interface (“Student Loan Payments”). Recurring Student Loan Payments can be made either as a deduction from Student Loan Management Employees’ payroll during each pay period (a “Payroll Deduction”) or debited from their independent checking account. Student Loan Management Employee’s recurring Student Loan Payments will be made, by default, as a Payroll Deduction and will automatically qualify for the Employer Match, in the event Employer elects to offer an Employer Match toward Student Loans (as described below). Employer authorizes Spinwheel, on behalf of Betterment, to debit Employer’s payroll in the amount of Student Loan Management Employees’ Payroll Deductions and direct such Payroll Deductions to Student Loans. Spinwheel is authorized by Employer to take any and all actions necessary to make such debits. If a Payroll Deduction fails for any reason, the funds will be returned to Employer, who is responsible for remitting such funds to the relevant Student Loan Management Employee.

D. Employer Match Toward Student Loans. Employer may elect to contribute an amount, up to a certain percentage of Student Loan Management Employees’ annual salary (to be confirmed to Betterment in writing), towards repayment of Student Loan Employees’ Student Loans (the “Employer Match”), provided that the Employer Match for each Student Loan Management Employee shall not exceed the amount of such Student Loan Management Employee’s individual Student Loan Payments made via Payroll Deduction. If Employer elects to offer an Employer Match, Spinwheel, on behalf of Betterment, will deduct Employer Match payments from Employer's account and apply them to Student Loan Payments made via Payroll Deduction.

E. Information Sharing. Spinwheel and Betterment will receive information regarding Student Loan Payments made by Payroll Deduction or debited from a linked checking account. If Employer offers an Employer Match, Spinwheel and Betterment will receive information regarding Student Loan Payments made by Employer Match. The use of Student Loan Management Services is subject to Spinwheel’s User Consent and Privacy Policy (available at legal.spinwheel.io/end-user-privacy-policy). Betterment and its affiliates’ use and disclosure of personal information is subject to the Betterment Privacy Policy (available at www.betterment.com/legal/privacy-policy). 

F. Student Loan Management Limitation on Liability. Betterment is not responsible for and cannot guarantee the accuracy of information about linked Student Loans that Betterment receives from Spinwheel. Betterment is also not responsible and cannot guarantee the timeliness of Student Loan Payments made via Spinwheel. Betterment may not be able to foresee or anticipate technical or other difficulties with Spinwheel that may result in a failure to obtain Student Loan information or transmit Student Loan Payments in connection with Employer and Student Loan Management Employees’ voluntary use of Student Loan Management Services. Betterment will typically not attempt to refresh the data from Student Loans more than once every 72 hours, but may do so less often for a variety of reasons, including connectivity issues and access restrictions imposed by other parties. Except for Betterment’s malfeasance or gross negligence, Betterment assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy, deletion, non-delivery or failure to make Student Loan Payments, update Student Loan information, or loss of user data or personalization settings. Betterment expressly disclaims any and all losses relating to any outages, delivery delays, delivery methods, corruption of data, processing failures, changed or discontinued or failed services, or termination of services caused by Spinwheel. As noted above, the use of Student Loan Management  Services is subject to Spinwheel’s User Consent and Privacy Policy, which may impose important limitations on the circumstances and degree of Spinwheel’s liability.

G. Amendments and Termination. These SLM Terms shall remain in effect for such time as Employer is providing Student Loan Management services to its employees. Betterment reserves the right to amend these SLM Terms and to make changes to the Student Loan Management services at any time in its sole discretion. Betterment may elect to terminate Employer's access to the Student Loan Management Services at any time for any reason upon reasonable notice to Client. Employer understands and agrees that upon such termination, Payroll Deductions and Employer Match will no longer be available to Employer's employees, although Student Loan Management Employees, all of whom establish an independent relationship with Betterment, will retain access to Student Loan Management Advice and may continue to make contributions via checking account. Employer may elect to terminate the Student Loan Management Services at any time, after which Payroll Deductions and Employer Match will no longer be available, although Student Loan Management Employees will retain access to Student Loan Management Advice and may continue to make contributions via checking account.

QSLP 401(k) Match

Betterment offers Employers, in their capacity as plan sponsors (“Plan Sponsors”), the ability to match qualified student loan payments pursuant to Section 110 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“Secure 2.0”) (such payments, “QSLP”) into their plan participants’ 401(k) accounts (the match, a “QSLP 401(k) Match”). Betterment supports such QSLP 401(k) Match pursuant to the terms and conditions described below (“QSLP 401(k) Match Terms”).

A. Scope of Services. Betterment’s QSLP 401(k) Match services include (i) prompting and soliciting self-certification from employees who wish to receive a match on their qualified student loan payments (“QSLP Participants”); (ii) providing Plan Sponsor with a list of self-certified student loan payment amounts; and (iii) calculating Plan Sponsor’s matching contribution pursuant to the matching formula elected by Plan Sponsor. 

B. QSLP Participant Self-Certification. 
i. While Betterment provides a mechanism for QSLP Participants to self-certify, Betterment is not responsible for the accuracy of self-certifications and does not verify any component of a QSLP Participant’s self-certification, including the certified payment amount, whether the payment was toward “Qualified” student loans (as defined under applicable laws and regulations), or whether the QSLP Participant was employed by Plan Sponsor at the time they made the payments reflected in their self-certification. If Plan Sponsor wishes to require substantiation of self-certified amounts, Plan Sponsor understands that Betterment does not provide this and that Plan Sponsor is responsible for establishing appropriate procedures. To the extent a QSLP Participant is also a Student Loan Management Employee utilizing Betterment’s Student Loan Management services (described above) to make repayments, such repayments are not considered in connection with the QSLP 401(k) Match services. 
ii. Betterment supports QSLP Participant self-certifications for the prior year through January 31 of the following year. Plan Sponsor understands that Plan Sponsor may be required to accept self-certifications after that date for purposes of obtaining a QSLP 401(k) Match. In particular, Plan Sponsor understands that if Secure 2.0 implementing regulations are passed that prescribe a cutoff date no earlier than March 31, Plan Sponsor will be required to accept self-certifications through that date. Plan Sponsor is responsible for and agrees to notify Betterment of any self-certifications that it receives subsequent to January 31, for purposes of plan administration and compliance testing.

C. Match Information. If Plan Sponsor elects to offer a QSLP 401(k) Match for the upcoming plan year, including a discretionary match or a safe harbor match, Plan Sponsor understands that Betterment may display information to Plan Sponsor’s employees regarding such QSLP 401(k) Match to facilitate employees’ planning with respect to their 401(k) deferrals and student loan payments. QSLP 401(k) Match must be made at the same rate and under the same vesting schedule as Plan Sponsor’s regular (i.e. non-QSLP) 401(k) matching contributions, and must only be made to employees who are otherwise eligible for regular matching contributions. QSLP 401(k) Match must be available to all employees who are eligible to receive regular matching contributions. Betterment supports QSLP 401(k) Match on an annual cadence only.

D. Amendments and Termination. These QSLP 401(k) Match Terms shall remain in effect for such time as Plan Sponsor is providing QSLP 401(k) Match services to its employees. Betterment reserves the right to make changes to the QSLP 401(k) Match services and/or amend these QSLP 401(k) Match Terms at any time in its sole discretion. Betterment may elect to terminate Plan Sponsor’s access to the QSLP 401(k) Match services at any time for any reason upon reasonable notice to Plan Sponsor. Plan Sponsor may elect to terminate the QSLP 401(k) Match services at any time upon reasonable notice to Betterment. Such termination will become effective at the beginning of the following plan year.