Your money data is private.
Full stop.
Cents never stores your bank credentials, account numbers, or transaction history. Here's exactly how it works and what we do โ and don't โ keep.
How connecting a bank actually works
You never type credentials into Cents
When you tap "Connect a bank," a secure pop-up from Plaid โ a third-party service entirely separate from Cents โ handles the login. Your username and password go directly to Plaid and are never seen or transmitted by Cents.
We only get a token, not your credentials
After you log in through Plaid, we receive a single access token โ a long random string. Think of it like a valet key: it lets us ask Plaid for your account balance and, in future, spending history to power budgeting features. It cannot initiate payments or transfers of any kind.
Balances are cached for 24 hours, then refreshed
To keep costs low and avoid unnecessary calls to your bank, Cents caches your balance once per day. When you open the app, you see the most recent figure โ refreshed automatically if it's more than 24 hours old. The cached snapshot is deleted the moment you disconnect a bank.
Disconnecting removes everything
When you disconnect a bank, we delete the access token from our database and simultaneously revoke it at Plaid's end via their itemRemove API. After that, neither Cents nor Plaid can access your account.
What Cents stores โ and what it doesn't
Security at every layer
Passwords
bcrypt, cost-12 hash
Traffic
HTTPS / TLS everywhere
Database
Encrypted at rest (NeonDB)
Plaid
SOC 2 Type II certified
Access control
Per-user session on every request
Data sales
Never sold or shared
Important disclaimer
Cents is a personal finance tracking tool, not a bank, broker, or licensed financial adviser. Nothing on this app constitutes financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. All figures shown are for informational purposes only to help you understand your own financial picture. Always consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you might want to know before connecting your accounts.
Still have questions?
Contact us at jonathanfarhat@gmail.comLast updated May 2026 ยท Cents by Jonathan Farhat