Privacy Policy

BudgetOwl ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our personal finance management application. We comply with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

• •Account information: Your email address and display name when you sign up.
• •Financial data: Transaction history, account balances, and spending patterns imported via Plaid or MX (via Quiltt) from your linked bank accounts.
• •Usage data: How you interact with BudgetOwl, including features used and preferences set.
• •Device information: Browser type, operating system, and general location (country/region) for security and analytics.

• •To provide and improve BudgetOwl's budgeting, tracking, and financial insights features.
• •To detect recurring transactions, categorize spending, and generate personalized recommendations.
• •To communicate with you about your account, updates, or support requests.
• •To ensure the security of our service and detect fraudulent activity.
• •We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

• •Plaid: To connect your bank accounts, we use Plaid Inc. Plaid accesses your bank credentials directly and shares transaction data with us via secure tokens. We never see or store your bank login credentials.
• •MX Technologies (via Quiltt): As an alternative bank connection provider, MX accesses your financial data through Quiltt Inc. and shares it with us via secure tokens. We never see or store your bank login credentials.
• •Google Cloud/Firebase: Our infrastructure provider, which processes and stores your data securely under strict data protection agreements.
• •We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal or financial information to third parties for marketing or any other purpose.
• •Analytics: We may use anonymized, aggregated data to improve our services. This data cannot identify you personally.
• •Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect our rights and safety.

• •We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active.
• •Transaction data is kept to provide you with historical spending insights and trends.
• •If you delete your account, we will permanently remove your data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g., fraud prevention).
• •We maintain records of security incidents for at least 24 months as required by PIPEDA.

• •Access: You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• •Correction: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• •Deletion: You can request deletion of your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements.
• •Withdraw consent: You can withdraw consent for certain data processing activities at any time.
• •To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@budgetowl.ca.

• •Plaid Inc.: Handles bank connections. Review Plaid's privacy policy at plaid.com/legal.
• •MX Technologies (via Quiltt Inc.): Handles alternative bank connections. Review MX's privacy policy at mx.com/privacy.
• •Google Cloud/Firebase: Provides infrastructure. Review Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.
• •We carefully select third-party providers that meet industry security and privacy standards.

• •We use industry-standard encryption (TLS in transit, AES-256 at rest) to protect your financial data.
• •Access to your data is restricted to authorized personnel who need it to provide our services.
• •We monitor our systems for unauthorized access and patch vulnerabilities promptly.
• •In the unlikely event of a data breach affecting your information, we will notify you and relevant authorities as required by PIPEDA and our agreements with data providers.

We use cookies and local storage to maintain your session, remember your preferences (like theme settings), and improve your experience. We do not use cookies for advertising or cross-site tracking. You can clear cookies through your browser settings, though this may affect functionality.

BudgetOwl is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.