Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Budgeting Parent ("we," "our," or "us") is a personal finance management application. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you use our web application at budgetingparent.com.

2. Information We Collect

Account Information

• Name and email address (provided during sign-up via Better Auth)
• Authentication credentials (managed by Better Auth)

Financial Information

• Bank account balances (via Plaid, read-only access)
• Transaction history (via Plaid)
• Bills, subscriptions, and debt information (user-entered)
• Monthly income and pay day information (user-entered)
• Monthly budget and comfort buffer preferences (user-entered)

Usage Information

• Interactions with our AI copilot feature

3. How We Use Your Information

• To provide personalized financial insights and recommendations
• To calculate safe-to-spend, safe-to-save, and burn rate metrics
• To power the AI copilot with accurate financial context
• To display your transaction history and spending patterns
• To send relevant financial alerts and weekly actions

4. Data Storage and Security

• Database: Application data is stored in self-hosted Convex, backed by PostgreSQL
• Account Access: Financial data access is scoped to the authenticated user by server-side ownership checks
• In Transit: Production connections use HTTPS to protect data in transit
• Authentication: Managed by Better Auth with persisted sessions
• Bank Connection: Managed by Plaid with bank-level encryption. We never see or store your bank login credentials
• Read-Only Access: We can never move, transfer, or withdraw your money

5. Third-Party Services

We use the following services and software to operate our application:

• Better Auth — Authentication and user management
• Plaid — Secure bank account linking and transaction data
• Convex and PostgreSQL — Self-hosted application data storage
• Self-hosted infrastructure — Application hosting
• Anthropic (Claude) — AI Parent chat assistant
• Stripe — Payment processing for subscriptions

External providers maintain their own privacy and security policies. We encourage you to review them.

6. AI Data Processing

When you use the AI copilot feature, your messages and relevant financial context (such as balances, spending summaries, and recent transactions) are sent to Anthropic (Claude) for processing. Specifically:

• Conversation data sent to Anthropic is not used to train AI models, per Anthropic's API terms
• Conversations are not stored on our servers beyond your current browser session
• Anthropic may retain API inputs/outputs for up to 30 days for trust and safety purposes, after which they are deleted
• The AI copilot provides educational and entertainment commentary, not professional financial advice

For details on how Anthropic handles data, see Anthropic's Privacy Policy.

7. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal or financial data with third parties for marketing purposes. Your data is only shared with the third-party services listed above as necessary to provide our service.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

Your data is retained for as long as your account is active. You may permanently delete all of your data at any time through the "Delete Account" feature in Settings. Upon deletion:

• All transactions, accounts, recurring items, and income events are permanently removed
• Your Plaid connection is revoked
• Your Better Auth account and sessions are deleted
• Deletion is irreversible and completes after connected-provider cleanup

9. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your personal data (visible in your dashboard and profile)
• Correct your personal data (editable in settings)
• Delete your account and all associated data
• Disconnect your bank account at any time
• Request a copy of your data by contacting us

10. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

• Right to Know: You may request details about the personal information we collect and how it is used
• Right to Delete: You may request deletion of your personal information (available via the Delete Account feature in Settings)
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale: We do not sell your personal information. We have never sold personal information and have no plans to do so
• Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at budgetingparent@gmail.com.

11. International Data Transfers

Your information may be processed in locations used by our hosting infrastructure and third-party providers, including Plaid, Anthropic, and Stripe. We do not guarantee that all information remains in a particular country. Processing locations depend on the deployed infrastructure and each provider's practices.

12. Cookies

We use essential cookies for authentication and session management only. We do not use tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of any material changes by updating the effective date at the top of this page.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at budgetingparent@gmail.com.