$4.95 per trade on Schwab is “too much”? I’ll stick with my Schwab brokerage + free investor checking with unlimited international atm fee rebates over giving up my entire bank account transaction history.

What data are you citing that suggests RH is actually popular given they have released no data about trade volume? This BI story suggests they have a lot of catching up to do to justify their valuation http://www.businessinsider.com/robinhoods-new-web-platforms-...

Where do you need to give your transaction history? I have both Schwab and RH and don’t recall it ever asking for such permissions. I only have a linked checking account for ACH deposits and transfers.

You don't have to provide your transaction history, you can use an ACH trial deposit as an alternative to verification.

That’s not the point. Even techie types commenting on here (who should know better about trusting a free Fintech product) didn’t think twice about it. Most commenting on here are surprised to learn Robinhood even collects this info when you do use Plaid.

Actually, it is the point. You don't have to connect via plaid, so if you are concerned about whatever plaid collects, you can solve this concern and avoid paying 4.95 a trade and be strictly better off

No, it's not. Robinhood hides non-Plaid linking options behind a "don't see your bank?" button at the very bottom of a long list of banks that few people are even aware is an option. The point is that even smart people on here seem to have no clue that Robinhood is collecting this information when they link a bank account through Plaid because the permissions you grant are that opaque.

The point is to compare RH with other brokerages. Right? If everyone is using Plaid, then you are still better off not paying 4.95. Or, are you claiming nobody else is doing it but them ?

Nonetheless, the option exists. Meaning the data on the statement is really of no use to RH & isn't part of their business model.

There's also an option on FB not to share your wall posts with anyone. Yet you'd not infer from that that people sharing crap about their lifes on the wall is not integral to the FB's business model.

Something's wrong with your logic.

FB serves ads. Robinhood doesn't. So, it's not clear how in the world people's history would be integral to their business model. I suppose we could imagine them using it down the road to offer credit or something. But as of right now, it is a mere insinuation without a shred of evidence.

Regular online brokerages don't use Plaid to enable funding if that's what you're asking. Funding via traditional ACH methods or wires does not grant a sender or receiver access to all your transaction history.

Robinhood supports ACH

If you connected your bank account via Plaid (online banking creds), then you’ve agreed to hand over your transaction data.

Yes, the same on my end. I didnt have to authorize any of this mumbo jumbo

Did you connect via Plaid (online bank creds)? Then you’ve agreed to give RH your transaction data.

To be fair, that price used to be $18.95 per trade before the Robinhood came in and shook them a little bit.