Privacy Policy
Last Updated: January 15, 2025
At Youelim, we take your privacy seriously. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use our budget and investing education platform.
We're based in Belgium and comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Belgian privacy laws. Our approach is straightforward: we only collect what we need, we protect it carefully, and we're transparent about how we use it.
Questions about your data? Contact us at [email protected] or call +32 50 44 11 40
Who We Are
Youelim operates from Place Verte 21/3, 4800 Verviers, Belgium. We provide educational content and resources focused on budget management and investing principles. When you interact with our platform, we act as the data controller for your personal information.
This means we decide what data we collect and how we use it. And more importantly, we're responsible for keeping it safe.
Information We Collect
We collect different types of information depending on how you interact with our platform. Here's what that looks like in practice:
Account Information
When you create an account, we need your name, email address, and a password. Sometimes you'll provide a phone number if you want SMS notifications about course updates.
Learning Activity
We track which courses you're taking, your progress through materials, quiz scores, and areas where you spend the most time. This helps us improve content and suggest relevant resources.
Communication Data
If you contact our support team or participate in course discussions, we keep records of those interactions. This includes emails, chat messages, and feedback forms.
Technical Information
Like most websites, we collect IP addresses, browser types, device information, and how you navigate through our site. This helps us fix technical issues and improve user experience.
Information You Provide Voluntarily
Sometimes you'll share additional details with us. For example, if you fill out a survey about your financial goals or learning preferences. Or if you submit a testimonial about your experience with our courses. This information is always optional and clearly marked as such.
How We Use Your Information
We're not in the business of selling your data or using it for purposes you wouldn't expect. Here's what we actually do with your information:
- Provide access to course materials and track your progress through our learning programs
- Send you course updates, new content notifications, and important platform announcements
- Answer your questions and provide support when you need help
- Improve our educational content based on how students interact with materials
- Prevent fraud and keep our platform secure for all users
- Comply with legal obligations under Belgian and EU law
- Analyze usage patterns to make the platform more effective for learning
Marketing Communications
We'll send you information about new courses or features that might interest you based on what you're currently learning. You can opt out of these emails anytime by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom. We'll still send you essential account-related messages though, like password reset emails or important policy updates.
Legal Basis for Processing
Under GDPR, we need a legal reason to process your personal data. Here's what applies to different types of processing:
Contractual Necessity
When you sign up for our courses, we need your information to provide the service you're paying for. This includes delivering course content, tracking progress, and providing support.
Legitimate Interests
We have legitimate business interests in improving our platform, preventing fraud, and keeping our systems secure. We balance these interests against your privacy rights and only use data when there's a clear benefit.
Your Consent
For certain activities like marketing emails or optional surveys, we ask for your explicit consent. You can withdraw this consent anytime without affecting your access to courses.
Legal Obligations
Sometimes Belgian or EU law requires us to process certain data. For example, we keep financial records for tax purposes and respond to valid legal requests from authorities.
Data Sharing and Third Parties
We don't sell your personal information. Period. But we do work with certain service providers who help us run the platform:
Service Providers
We use cloud hosting services to store data, email providers to send course notifications, and payment processors to handle transactions. These companies only access the minimum information needed to do their job, and they're contractually obligated to protect your data.
Analytics Tools
We use analytics software to understand how people use our platform. This helps us identify confusing navigation patterns or technical issues. The data is aggregated and anonymized whenever possible.
Legal Requirements
If we receive a valid legal request from Belgian authorities or EU regulators, we may need to disclose certain information. This is rare, but we're required to comply with lawful requests. We'll notify you if this happens unless we're legally prohibited from doing so.
International Transfers
Some of our service providers are based outside the European Economic Area. When we transfer data internationally, we use standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and ensure adequate safeguards are in place. We prioritize EU-based providers whenever possible.
Your Privacy Rights
Under GDPR and Belgian law, you have several rights regarding your personal data. Here's what you can do and how to exercise these rights:
Access Your Data
You can request a copy of all personal information we hold about you. We'll provide this in a structured, commonly used format within 30 days of your request.
Correct Inaccuracies
If any information we have is wrong or outdated, you can update it yourself in your account settings or ask us to correct it for you.
Delete Your Data
You can request deletion of your account and associated data. We'll remove everything except information we're legally required to keep for tax or compliance purposes.
Restrict Processing
You can ask us to temporarily stop processing your data while we investigate a concern you've raised about accuracy or how we're using it.
Data Portability
You can request your data in a machine-readable format to transfer to another service. This applies to information you've provided to us directly.
Object to Processing
You can object to certain types of processing, particularly for marketing purposes or when we're relying on legitimate interests as our legal basis.
How to Exercise Your Rights
Email us at [email protected] with your request. We'll need to verify your identity before processing certain requests, so be prepared to confirm some account details. Most requests are handled within 30 days, though complex requests might take up to 90 days.
If you're not satisfied with how we handle your request, you have the right to file a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (Autorité de protection des données / Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit).
Data Security
We take security seriously because your financial education data is sensitive. Here's what we do to protect it:
- All data transmission uses industry-standard encryption (TLS 1.3)
- Passwords are hashed using strong cryptographic algorithms
- Our systems are regularly tested for vulnerabilities
- Access to personal data is restricted to employees who need it for their work
- We maintain backups in secure, geographically distributed locations
- Staff receive regular training on data protection and security practices
Despite our precautions, no online system is completely secure. If we detect a data breach that affects your information, we'll notify you within 72 hours as required by GDPR and explain what happened and what steps you should take.
Data Retention
We don't keep your data forever. Here's how long we retain different types of information:
| Data Type | Retention Period | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Account Information | Duration of account plus 1 year | Service provision and support |
| Learning Progress Data | Duration of account plus 2 years | Course completion records |
| Financial Records | 7 years | Belgian tax law requirement |
| Support Communications | 3 years | Customer service quality |
| Marketing Preferences | Until withdrawal of consent | Compliance with preference |
| Technical Logs | 90 days | Security and debugging |
When the retention period expires, we securely delete or anonymize the data so it can no longer identify you. If you delete your account before the standard retention period ends, we'll remove your data according to the timeline above.
Cookies and Tracking
We use cookies and similar technologies to make our platform work properly and improve your experience. Here's what that means:
Essential Cookies
These keep you logged in and remember your preferences. They're necessary for the platform to function, so they're automatically enabled. You can't opt out of essential cookies without losing access to key features.
Analytics Cookies
These help us understand how people use the platform so we can improve it. They collect information like which pages you visit and how long you spend on them. You can disable these in your browser settings if you prefer.
Managing Cookies
Your browser settings let you control cookies. You can block them entirely or delete existing ones. Keep in mind that blocking essential cookies will affect how the platform works for you.
Children's Privacy
Our platform is designed for adults interested in budget management and investing education. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 16 years old. If you're under 16, please don't create an account or submit any personal information.
If we discover that we've collected data from someone under 16, we'll delete it immediately. If you're a parent and believe your child has provided us with personal information, contact us at [email protected].
Changes to This Policy
We update this privacy policy occasionally to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we make significant changes, we'll notify you by email or through a prominent notice on the platform.
The "Last Updated" date at the top tells you when we last revised this policy. We encourage you to review it periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.
If you continue using our platform after changes take effect, we'll consider that acceptance of the updated policy. If you disagree with changes, you can close your account.
Contact Us About Privacy
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +32 50 44 11 40
Address: Place Verte 21/3, 4800 Verviers, Belgium
We respond to privacy inquiries within 5 business days. For urgent matters, please call us directly.