Privacy Policy

Introduction

At Genesis Budget, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our personal financial ecosystem.

We believe financial tools should work for you, not profit from your data. That principle guides every decision we make about data handling.

Information We Collect

We collect only what's necessary to provide our services:

• Identity Data: First name, last name, and email address — used to create and manage your account.
• Financial Data: Budget information, spending categories, savings goals, investment holdings, and debt details that you choose to input. We never store bank account numbers, credit card details, or connect to your bank accounts.
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, and device information — used for security (login protection, spam prevention) and basic site functionality.
• Usage Data (with consent): Page visits, scroll depth, and form interactions — collected only if you opt in via our cookie consent banner. Used solely to improve the ecosystem.

How We Use Your Information

• To provide the service: Your financial data powers your budgets, goals, investments, and other ecosystem features.
• To secure your account: Login attempts, IP addresses, and session data protect against unauthorized access.
• To improve the ecosystem (with consent): If you opt in to analytics, anonymous usage patterns help us improve page design and feature usability.
• To communicate with you: Account notifications, support responses, and important service updates.

We do NOT:

• Sell your data to anyone, ever
• Share your individual data with third parties for marketing
• Use your financial data for advertising or profiling
• Allow third-party trackers on our platform

Analytics & Tracking

We do not use any third-party analytics services. No Google Analytics, no Facebook Pixel, no external tracking scripts.

We have a lightweight, self-hosted internal analytics system that tracks basic usage patterns (page visits, scroll depth, form interactions). This system:

• Only activates if you explicitly opt in via the cookie consent banner
• Stores data on our own servers — never sent to third parties
• Can be disabled at any time from your account settings

Anonymized Data Contribution (Opt-In)

Separately from analytics, you can choose to help improve the ecosystem by opting in to our Anonymized Data Contribution program in your account settings.

When enabled, we collect anonymized, aggregate-level data such as:

• Income brackets (ranges, not exact amounts)
• Debt-to-income ratios
• Savings rates and goal completion rates
• Spending category distributions (percentages, not amounts)

This data is stripped of all personal identifiers — your name, email, and specific transactions are never included. It is used solely to improve features, calculator accuracy, and enhance AI recommendations.

This is entirely optional and can be turned off at any time.

Cookies

We use a strict opt-in approach to cookies:

• Essential cookies (always active): A session cookie keeps you logged in. Required for the app to function.
• Analytics cookies (opt-in only): Screen resolution, viewport size — only set if you accept analytics in the consent banner.

No advertising cookies. No third-party cookies. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time from your account settings or by clearing your browser cookies.

Third-Party Services

We use a minimal number of third-party services:

• Stripe: Payment processing for subscriptions. Stripe handles all payment data directly — we never see or store your credit card numbers. Stripe's Privacy Policy
• SMTP Email: We use our own mail server for transactional emails like welcome messages and password resets.
• Yahoo Finance & Polygon.io: Used to retrieve current stock and ETF prices for the investment tracker. Only ticker symbols are sent — no personal data is shared with these services.

No other third-party services have access to your data.

Data Security

We take the security of your data seriously and follow industry best practices to protect it:

• Passwords are securely hashed — we never store them in plain text
• All connections are encrypted via HTTPS
• Login protection includes rate-limiting and account lockout
• We regularly review and update our security measures

We have procedures in place to handle suspected data breaches and will notify you and applicable regulators as required by law.

Data Retention

Your financial data is retained for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, all associated data is permanently removed from our systems — budgets, transactions, goals, investments, messages, and activity logs.

Your Rights & Controls

You have full control over your data:

• Access: View all data we store about you via your Privacy Dashboard
• Export: Download all your data as CSV at any time
• Delete: Permanently delete your account and all associated data
• Consent management: Toggle analytics and data contribution opt-ins from Settings
• Correction: Update your profile information at any time

To exercise any right not available through the app, contact us using the details below.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting a notice on the site and updating the "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your data:

• Visit our contact page
• Email: privacy@genesisbudget.com