Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 14, 2026

Plain-language summary. Cents of Mind helps you budget by connecting to your bank through Plaid. We collect your account and transaction data to show you your spending and budgets, we never sell your data, and you can disconnect your bank or delete your account at any time. The full policy is below.

1. Who we are

Cents of Mind ("Cents of Mind," "we," "us," or "our") provides a personal budgeting application (the "Service") operated by MJ Applications LLC, a Texas limited liability company. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect information when you use the Service. If you have questions, contact us at support@mjapplications.com.

2. Information we collect

Account & identity information. When you sign in, our authentication provider (Auth0) provides us with your identifier and email address, and, if you use a social login such as Google, your name and profile basics. We do not store your password; sign-in is handled by Auth0.

Financial account information (via Plaid). When you connect a financial institution, we use Plaid Inc. ("Plaid") to access information from your accounts. This may include account names, types, balances, masked account numbers, and transaction history (amounts, dates, merchant/description, and categories). We do not receive or store your bank login credentials — those are handled by Plaid.

Information you create. Budgets, categories, manual transactions, labels, recurring designations, income sources and pay schedule, and preferences you set in the app. When you set up your first budget, we also keep your answers to two short questions (how your income arrives and what you most want help with).

Centsei activity. When Centsei suggests a change to your budget, we keep a record of it: the message you sent that led to it, what Centsei suggested and why, exactly what would change (the lines and amounts before and after), whether you confirmed or declined it, whether it was applied or undone, when each of those happened, and the app version you used. Nothing Centsei suggests changes your budget unless you tap Confirm. You can see this record, and undo a confirmed change for 30 days, in Settings → Privacy → Centsei activity. The conversation itself is not saved.

Notifications. If you allow notifications, we store your device's push token, its time zone (so reminders arrive at the right local time), and the notification settings you choose. Turning notifications off in Settings stops them; signing out removes the device.

People you invite. If you use the Family plan, we store the email addresses you invite and send each one an invitation email.

Usage & device information. Basic technical data such as IP address, browser type, and interaction logs, used for security, debugging, and improving the Service.

3. How we use information

To provide and operate the Service — syncing transactions, calculating budgets, and showing spending insights.
To authenticate you and keep your account secure.
To answer questions you ask Centsei, our optional AI assistant — only after you give permission (see “Centsei and AI” below) — and to show you budget changes Centsei suggests, apply the ones you confirm, and keep a record of each so you can review or undo it.
To send notifications you have allowed, such as payday and bill reminders.
To maintain, debug, and improve the Service, including using your setup answers to understand what people want from Cents of Mind.
To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use your financial data for advertising.

4. How we share information

We share information only with service providers ("sub-processors") that help us operate the Service, under contracts that require them to protect it:

Plaid — connects your financial accounts and provides transaction data. Plaid's handling of your information is governed by the Plaid End User Privacy Policy.
Auth0 (Okta) — authentication and login.
Supabase — database hosting for your budgets and synced data.
Netlify — application and serverless function hosting.
Anthropic — provides the AI model behind Centsei. Used only if you allow it (see below).
Resend — delivers email, such as Family plan invitations.
Apple — delivers push notifications to your device through the Apple Push Notification service.

Centsei and AI. Centsei, the optional AI assistant, runs on Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic. Nothing is sent to Anthropic until you allow it on the Centsei screen. When you ask Centsei a question, we send Anthropic your message, your budget (line names, amounts, the Needs/Wants/Savings split, and pay period dates), what you decided about changes Centsei suggested earlier in the same conversation, transactions from roughly the last six months (date, merchant, amount, and category), and your debt payoff groups. We never send your name, email address, bank login, or account numbers. Anthropic processes this only to answer you and does not use it to train its models. You can turn Centsei's access off at any time in Settings → Privacy; after that, nothing more is sent.

People you share a budget with. If you share a budget with someone on your Family plan, they see that budget and the transactions from the accounts you choose to include in it, and they are notified when someone confirms a change Centsei suggested to it. You choose which accounts count, and you can stop sharing at any time. A budget you create and share belongs to the Family plan: if you leave or are removed from the plan, it stays with the plan's owner, and if you delete your account, it passes to the person who has shared it longest. Your bank connections, accounts and transactions are never handed over.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect our rights or users' safety, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets (with notice where required).

5. Plaid

By using the Service to connect a financial account, you also agree that Plaid may collect, use, and retain your data in accordance with the Plaid End User Privacy Policy. You can review and manage connections you've made through Plaid at my.plaid.com.

6. How we protect your information

We use industry-standard safeguards, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), encryption of sensitive access tokens at rest, access controls, and a strict content-security policy. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we work to protect your information and limit access to what is necessary to operate the Service.

7. Data retention

We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. When you disconnect a financial institution, we revoke our access at Plaid and delete that institution's accounts and transactions from the Service. Moving to the Free plan disconnects every institution the same way. When you delete your account (Settings → Delete account), we disconnect your institutions at Plaid and delete your data right away — including your Centsei activity record — except where we must retain information to comply with legal obligations. Deleted data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. While your account is open, the Centsei activity record is kept for as long as the account exists; it cannot be edited, including by us. A budget you shared with others is handled differently: it passes to one of them so their budget is not deleted with your account, but your accounts and transactions are removed from it. Encrypted database backups are kept for up to 30 days, so deleted information is fully gone from them within 30 days.

8. Your rights and choices

Access & correction — view and edit your budgets and data in the app.
Disconnect — remove a connected bank at any time from the Accounts area.
Deletion — delete your account and its data at any time in the app under Settings → Delete account, or by contacting support@mjapplications.com.
AI — allow or stop Centsei's access to your information in Settings → Privacy.
Notifications — choose which notifications you get, or turn them off, in Settings → Notifications.
California (CCPA/CPRA) — you have rights to know, delete, correct, and opt out of "sale"/"sharing." We do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined.

9. Cookies

We use a single secure, httpOnly session cookie to keep you signed in. We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.

10. Children's privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 13 (or the age required by your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect their information.

11. United States only

The Service is offered solely to users in the United States and supports U.S. financial institutions only. We do not offer the Service to, or knowingly collect information from, users outside the United States.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and may ask you to re-accept the updated policy within the app.

13. Contact us

Questions or requests: support@mjapplications.com.