Privacy Policy

1. Our Core Privacy Commitments

• No Bank Login Required: We never ask for, collect, store, or transmit your bank login credentials, account numbers, or debit/credit card details.
• Local-First Architecture: All salary allocations, bill calculations, and budgeting goals are computed locally in your browser and stored in your device's local storage by default.
• Zero Data Selling: We never sell, rent, monetize, or share your financial figures or personal details with advertisers, data brokers, or credit bureaus.
• Anonymous Exploration: You can create, simulate, and compare paycheck plans completely anonymously without creating an account or entering an email address.

2. Information We Collect and Process

A. Budgeting Figures (Stored Locally)

When using the PaydayCompass planner, you input financial variables such as take-home salary, fixed bills (rent, utilities, loans), and savings targets. This information is saved directly in your web browser's localStorage to allow you to revisit and modify your plan across sessions. This information does not leave your device unless you explicitly initiate cloud synchronization or support requests.

B. Payment Information (Handled by Paddle)

When you purchase the one-time $4.99 Pro unlock, the checkout process is processed directly by our Merchant of Record, Paddle.com. PaydayCompass does not receive, process, or store your credit card numbers, CVVs, or full payment card information. Paddle processes your transaction in accordance with their Paddle Privacy Policy and PCI-DSS Level 1 compliance standards.

C. Privacy-Preserving Telemetry & Analytics

To improve our budgeting tools and user interface, we collect minimal, privacy-preserving behavioral events (such as page visits, template selection, and feedback ratings). Under our strict telemetry policy:

• Raw salary figures and bill amounts are never transmitted to analytics.
• Income figures are strictly discretized into broad, non-identifiable bands (e.g., under_2k, 2k_4k, over_4k).
• All telemetry is assigned an anonymous, randomly generated client identifier (anonymousId) with no association to your real-world identity.

D. Voluntary Feedback

When you submit feedback via our "Does this plan feel realistic?" or exit feedback prompts, we collect your selected ratings and structured reason codes (e.g., "Rent too high") to help refine our mathematical models.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the limited data we process exclusively for:

• Providing and rendering your personalized paycheck allocations, 30/90-day timeline simulations, and What-If sandbox results.
• Verifying your server-authoritative Pro entitlement status and delivering PDF report deliverables.
• Diagnosing technical glitches, preventing fraud, and optimizing application loading speed and reliability.
• Communicating order receipts or customer service inquiries when requested by you.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We partner with trusted service providers to run our infrastructure securely:

• Paddle.com: Merchant of Record for global checkout, tax handling, invoicing, and refund fulfillment.
• Google Cloud / Firebase: Secure, high-speed static content hosting and serverless functions for entitlement verification.

5. Data Retention & User Controls

You maintain complete control over your financial figures:

• One-Click Local Data Deletion: You can permanently wipe all cached salary details, bills, and stored plans at any time by clicking "Clear All Local Data" on the Settings page.
• Server Records: Non-personally identifiable transaction logs required for tax and accounting compliance are retained for statutory periods in accordance with applicable commercial laws.

6. Children's Privacy

PaydayCompass is designed for working adults and new graduates managing their first salaries. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal data from children under the age of 16.

7. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your data rights, please contact our privacy team at:

📧 privacy@paydaycompass.com