Privacy Policy

Effective Date: October 2026

Smart Expense Coach ("we", "our", or "us") is dedicated to protecting your privacy and personal financial data. This Privacy Policy details our data practices, third-party subprocessors, security measures, and data retention policies.

1. Information We Collect

Account Credentials: Username, email address, phone number, and cryptographically hashed passwords / OTPs. We never store or log plaintext passwords or OTP codes.
Financial Transactions: Expense records (amount, category, description, date), budget cycle limits, and peer split group settlements.
Voice & Message Inputs: Spoken audio and text commands sent via WhatsApp or our mobile application for automatic expense parsing.
Technical Logs: Device type, IP address (for rate-limiting and brute-force protection), and client error reports.

2. AI & Third-Party Subprocessors

To deliver real-time financial tracking, push alerts, and voice recognition, we utilize vetted industry-leading subprocessors:

Groq Inc. (AI Processing): Powers Whisper audio transcription and AI natural language processing for expense extraction. Audio data is processed in-memory for transcription and is not retained or used to train public foundation models.
Google Firebase / Cloud Messaging (Push Notifications): Securely delivers user-consented transaction reminders, daily budgets, and alert banners to mobile devices.
Neon / PostgreSQL (Database Hosting): Encrypted PostgreSQL cloud database storing user profiles, hashed credentials, and transactions with automated snapshot backups.
Meta / WhatsApp Business (Messaging Interface): Delivers conversational messaging and instant expense confirmations via WhatsApp.
Render (Application Hosting): Secure container hosting running our hardened Django backend and Gunicorn application servers.
Resend / Brevo (Email Delivery): Delivers transactional OTP codes, password resets, and account verification emails.

3. Data Retention & Deletion Policy

Active Accounts: User data and transaction records are retained as long as your account remains open to provide historical financial trends and budgeting insights.
Account Deletion: When an account is deleted via the app or our public Account Deletion Page, all user-linked transactions, notes, split memberships, profiles, and tokens are permanently and immediately purged from active databases via cascading deletes.
One-Time Passwords & Tokens: Expired OTP codes and tokens inactive for over 30 days are automatically purged.
Analytics & Client Error Logs: Performance telemetry and client error traces are retained for a maximum of 90 days, after which they are systematically purged.
Database Backups: Automated database snapshots are encrypted at rest and retained on a rolling 7-to-30 day lifecycle for disaster recovery before permanent purging.

4. Security & Cryptography

We enforce strict security boundaries: all data in transit is encrypted using TLS 1.3/HTTPS, authentication tokens are stored securely (using SecureStore on mobile), cookies are marked Secure and SameSite, and OTPs are hashed using salted SHA-256 digests.

5. Contact & Data Subject Rights

You have the right to inspect, export, or request immediate deletion of your personal financial records. You can delete your account directly via Delete Account, contact our privacy team at support@paisamitra.com, or submit an inquiry through our Contact Support page.

6. Grievance Redressal Officer

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, the details of the Grievance Officer are:

Designation: Grievance Redressal Officer (TODO: appoint designated officer)
Email: grievance@smart-expense-coach.com
Response Timeline: Acknowledgment within 24–48 hours, resolution within 15 business days.