Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective date: March 1, 2025  ·  Last updated: March 1, 2025

Overview

CardIQ ("we," "us," or "our") operates trycardiq.com. We help you find the credit card that earns you the most money based on your actual spending. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have.

We take privacy seriously. We do not sell your data. We do not store your bank credentials. We do not run a credit check.

Information We Collect

Transaction data via Plaid

When you connect your bank account, we use Plaid Technologies, Inc. to retrieve a read-only view of your recent transaction history. We access:

  • Transaction amounts and dates
  • Merchant categories (dining, travel, groceries, etc.)
  • Account balances (for context only)

We do not receive or store your bank login credentials, account numbers, or routing numbers. Plaid handles authentication directly and securely. See Plaid's Privacy Policy for details on how they handle your data.

Session data

Your transaction analysis results are stored only in your browser's sessionStorage. This means the data lives only in your current browser session — it is automatically deleted when you close the tab. We do not transmit your transaction analysis to any server or database.

Usage data

We may collect standard web analytics such as pages visited, browser type, and referring URL. This data is aggregated and does not identify you personally.

How We Use Your Information

We use your transaction data solely to:

  • Analyze your spending patterns by category
  • Calculate estimated annual rewards across our card catalog
  • Display a personalized card recommendation to you

We do not use your transaction data for advertising, profiling, or any purpose beyond generating your recommendation.

Data Retention

Because your results are stored in sessionStorage, they are not retained on our servers at all. When your browser session ends, the analysis data is gone. We have nothing to delete on your behalf because we never stored it in the first place.

Third-Party Services

Plaid

We use Plaid to facilitate bank account connections. Plaid is a trusted financial data network used by thousands of apps including Venmo, Robinhood, and Coinbase. Plaid's access is read-only — they cannot initiate transactions on your behalf. Plaid Privacy Policy →

Affiliate links

CardIQ may earn a commission when you apply for a credit card through a link on our site. This relationship does not affect what card we recommend — our recommendations are based purely on the math of your spending. We disclose this on every results page.

Cookies

We use only essential, functional cookies necessary to operate the site. We do not use tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies.

Your Rights

Because we do not store personally identifiable information on our servers, there is no data profile to access, correct, or delete. If you have questions about data Plaid may hold, you can visit Plaid's Privacy Policy or contact them directly.

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the CCPA. Contact us at the address below with any requests.

Children's Privacy

CardIQ is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has provided information through our site, please contact us and we will promptly remove it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page when we do. Continued use of CardIQ after changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Contact us at:

CardIQ
cardiqapp@gmail.com
trycardiq.com