Frequently Asked Questions

When you start a subscription, you get 14 full days of free access to all Pro features — no credit card required upfront. You can explore every feature, add your real financial data, and see whether the app works for you, completely risk-free.

At the end of the 14 days, you'll be asked to add a payment method to continue. If you don't add one, your subscription is automatically cancelled and you keep full access to any data you've entered (it can be exported via Settings → Backup). We will never charge you without your explicit consent.

Yes — always, with no questions asked. You can cancel at any time from the Plans tab inside the app or by visiting your billing portal. Here's what happens depending on when you cancel:

• During your free trial: Your subscription ends immediately and no charge is made.
• During a paid period: You keep full access until the end of your current billing period. No partial refunds are issued, but you will not be billed again.

Your data is never held hostage. You can export a full backup at any time from Settings → Backup & Restore, regardless of your subscription status.

All three plans include identical features — the only difference is the billing frequency and total price.

If you're committed to building healthy financial habits long-term, the annual plan gives you the best value. Monthly is a good option if you'd like to try before committing.

Payments are processed securely by Stripe, one of the world's most trusted payment processors. We accept:

Your full card number is never transmitted to or stored on our servers. All payment data is handled entirely by Stripe and subject to their Privacy Policy.

When your subscription ends, your account and all data remain intact — we do not delete anything. You retain full access to view and export your data.

To permanently remove all your data, you can use Settings → Danger Zone → Delete Account, which immediately and irreversibly deletes your account, all transactions, budgets, goals, documents, reports, and partner links from our servers.

We strongly recommend downloading a backup first via Settings → Backup & Restore → Download Backup before deleting your account.

Security is central to how we built this app. Here's what protects your data:

• Passwords are hashed with bcrypt (12-round salt) and never stored in plain text.
• Every login requires two-factor authentication — a 6-digit code sent to your email, expiring in 10 minutes.
• Sessions use short-lived JWT tokens (24-hour expiry) stored in httpOnly cookies, inaccessible to JavaScript.
• Account lockout — 5 failed login attempts triggers a 15-minute lockout and sends you an email alert.
• New device detection — you're notified by email whenever a new browser or device accesses your account.
• Data in transit is encrypted with TLS. Data at rest is encrypted by MongoDB Atlas using AES-256.
• All security headers are set (X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, etc.).

You can review your active sessions and log out all devices at any time from Settings → Security Center.

No. Never. Full stop.

Your personal and financial data belongs to you. We will never sell, share, rent, trade, or transfer it to any third party for advertising, marketing, data brokering, or any other commercial purpose.

The only third-party services we use are:

• MongoDB Atlas — encrypted database hosting (your data storage)
• Stripe — payment processing (your card data only, never your financial records)
• Your email provider — used solely to deliver 2FA codes and security alerts to you

None of these providers receive your financial records. For the full picture, see our Privacy Policy.

Go to Settings → Danger Zone → Delete Account inside the app. You'll be asked to enter your current password to confirm.

Deletion is immediate and permanent. It removes:

• Your user account and login credentials
• All transactions, budgets, goals, accounts, and recurring entries
• All saved documents in your vault
• All monthly reports
• All login history and known device records
• All partner/shared access links

This cannot be undone. We strongly recommend downloading a backup from Settings → Backup & Restore before deleting your account.

Partner sharing lets you give one other person — such as a spouse or partner — their own login that reads and writes the same financial data as your primary account.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Go to Settings → Shared Access.
2. Enter your partner's email and click Send Invitation.
3. They receive an invitation link by email. If they don't have an account, they create one via that link. If they already have an account, they can sign in and accept from the link.
4. Once accepted, they see a "Shared" badge in the app header and access all your shared data.

Partners have their own secure login and 2FA. Each partner can leave the shared account at any time from their Settings, which returns them to a clean, empty account. You can also remove a partner from your Settings.

Note: Only the primary account holder can send invitations. Each account supports one shared link at a time.

All your data is stored on our server (not just in your browser). When you log in on any device, your complete financial data is loaded fresh from the server — so everything is always up to date wherever you sign in.

When you make changes, they're automatically saved to the server within 200 milliseconds in the background. If you have the app open on two devices simultaneously, the app polls the server every 30 seconds and refreshes if changes are detected on the other device.

There's no manual sync button needed — it just works.

There are two ways to export your data:

• Full JSON backup — go to Settings → Backup & Restore → Download Backup. This downloads a complete JSON file containing all your transactions, accounts, budgets, goals, recurring entries, bills, net worth items, and settings. This file can be used to restore your data later.
• CSV export — on the Transactions tab, use the export button to download your transactions as a CSV spreadsheet compatible with Excel, Google Sheets, and most financial tools.

Exporting is always available, regardless of your subscription status.

You can set your preferred currency symbol in Settings → Currency. The following are currently supported:

The currency setting changes the symbol displayed throughout the app. All amounts are stored as plain numbers — switching currency simply swaps the symbol, it does not convert values. If you track finances in a currency not listed, you can still use any of the above as a visual symbol.

The Credit Score Simulator (found in the Credit Score tab) lets you model how financial actions might affect your credit score — without pulling your actual credit report or requiring any account connections.

You enter your current score and adjust factors such as:

• Payment history (on-time payments, missed payments)
• Credit utilization (how much of your credit limit you're using)
• Age of credit history
• Number of recent hard inquiries
• Credit mix

The simulator shows the projected impact of each factor using the FICO weighting model, helping you prioritize which actions will improve your score the most.

Important: This is an educational simulation only. It does not connect to any credit bureau, does not pull your actual credit report, and does not affect your real credit score.

Commonwealth Finance Tracker Pro is a web app that works in any modern browser, including on phones and tablets. The interface is fully responsive and adapts to smaller screens.

To get the best mobile experience:

• On iPhone/iPad: open the app in Safari, tap the Share button, and choose Add to Home Screen for an app-like icon.
• On Android: open in Chrome, tap the menu (⋮), and choose Add to Home Screen.

Dedicated iOS and Android apps are on our roadmap. Let us know if native mobile is important to you — user feedback helps us prioritize.

There are two ways to reach us:

• In-app contact form — visit contact.html and fill in the form. We aim to respond within one business day.
• Email directly — CommonwealthFinancialEducation@gmail.com

When contacting support, it helps to include your account email address and a description of what you were trying to do. For billing issues, please also include the email address used during checkout.