Privacy Policy

1. The short version

Monte exists to model your financial future, not to monetize your data. We don’t sell your data and we don’t show ads. You choose where your plan lives — backed up to Monte’s servers so it works across devices (the default), or kept entirely on your device via Settings. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have.

2. What we collect

Account basics: the email address (and optional display name) you sign up with, used to sign you in and to namespace your data.

Your financial profile: the incomes, expenses, accounts, debts, assets, goals, and scenarios you enter. By default your plan is backed up to Monte’s servers — stored encrypted at rest on our AWS infrastructure, keyed to your account, so it can follow you across devices. You can switch to local-only mode anytime in Settings: your plan then lives only in your browser and is never uploaded — browsers can evict site data, and we cannot recover a local-only plan we never had. Settings → Export gives you a complete JSON copy of your data either way.

Linked accounts: if you connect a financial institution through Plaid, we receive your account balances — and, for debts you link, loan details such as the interest rate, minimum payment, and loan term — on a read-only basis to keep your plan current. Your bank login credentials are handled by Plaid and never stored by Monte. You can disconnect a linked institution anytime in Settings, which revokes Monte’s access at Plaid.

Assistant inputs: if your plan includes the AI assistant, the messages you send it (which can include profile details) are processed transiently — inside our AWS infrastructure — to generate responses. They are not used to train AI models, and neither your messages nor your numbers are stored; we keep only technical metadata about each request (timing, outcome, usage counts) for reliability and abuse prevention. This applies in local-only mode too: using the assistant sends your plan over the wire so it can answer about your actual numbers.

We do not run third-party advertising or cross-site tracking. We do use PostHog (PostHog Inc., US), a product-analytics and error-monitoring service acting on our behalf, to understand how Monte is used and to catch bugs: which screens are visited, which features are used, and error reports when something breaks. Session replays mask everything you type and every number rendered on your screen — balances, incomes, rates, ages — before anything leaves your browser; analytics events never contain your incomes, balances, or other raw financial data; and usage is tied to a random account identifier, never your email. You can turn analytics off anytime in Settings → Privacy & data.

3. How we use it

To run the planner: computing your forecasts happens on your device — the server, when you use it, stores and returns your plan but never computes on its contents. To operate your account and respond when you write in. To improve the product in aggregate — never by selling or sharing your personal data for others’ marketing.

4. Deleting your data

Settings → “Delete account” permanently erases your account, immediately: your plan and scenarios are deleted from our servers and your device, any linked bank connections are disconnected with access revoked at Plaid, AI usage records are deleted, and any active subscription is canceled. Payment records (invoices and charges at our payment processor, Stripe) are retained as required to meet financial and legal obligations. For a lighter reset, Settings → “Start over” erases just your saved plan from your device; in local-only mode, clearing site data for monte.finance removes everything Monte stored. Questions either way: hello@monte.finance.

5. Can we see your data?

Honestly: if you choose server backup, technically yes — as at any finance app, data encrypted at rest can be read by the systems, and therefore the people, that operate them. Encryption at rest protects against stolen disks, not against your service provider. What we promise instead is governance: access is limited to support and operations, database credentials live in audited secret storage, we keep financial data out of our logs and error reports, and we never sell or share it. And if that isn’t enough, you don’t have to trust us — choose local-only mode and the full planner works without your plan ever leaving your device.

6. Security

The site is served over TLS, and backed-up plans are encrypted at rest with least-privilege access on our AWS infrastructure. In local-only mode your plan itself never reaches our servers — though signing in, checking your subscription, and (unless you turn it off) anonymous analytics still involve a request. When you use the assistant, your plan is sent with your question so it can answer about your actual numbers; it is used only to produce that response, is not stored, and is never used to train a model.

7. Microphone and voice

Voice input for the assistant is off unless you switch it on in Settings. When it is on, dictation is handled by your browser’s own speech service — on most browsers that means the audio is sent to the browser vendor (for example Google or Apple) rather than to us. Monte never records or stores audio. Turn the setting off and no microphone access is requested at all.

8. Who we are, children, and changes

Monte is operated by Monte Technologies, LLC. Monte is for adults — you must be 18 or older. We’ll update this page as the product evolves (a new “last updated” date marks each revision), and material changes to what we collect will be announced before they take effect. Questions or requests: hello@monte.finance.