Privacy Policy

Your privacy matters. This policy explains how SmartFinPro collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data across all four markets we serve.

This policy complies with the UK GDPR, the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA), FTC guidelines, Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and the Australian Privacy Act 1988 including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

Effective date:11 February 2026 | Last updated: 11 February 2026

1. Scope and Applicability

SmartFinPro ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website smartfinpro.com(the "Site"). This Privacy Policy applies to all visitors and users of the Site, regardless of geographic location. It describes how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard personal information when you:

●Visit or browse any page on the Site, including market-specific sections (US, UK, Canada, Australia)
●Use our interactive tools and calculators (mortgage calculator, credit card rewards calculator, ISA tax savings calculator, trading cost calculator, broker comparison, and others)
●Subscribe to our newsletter or download lead magnets such as the Credit Card Optimization Guide
●Click on affiliate links that redirect you to third-party financial product providers

By using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of the Site.

2. Data Controller and Responsible Entity

For the purposes of applicable data protection laws, the data controller responsible for your personal data is:

SmartFinPro

Email: privacy@smartfinpro.com
Data Protection Officer (DPO): dpo@smartfinpro.com

If you are located in the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, our designated Data Protection Officer can be reached at dpo@smartfinpro.com.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information You Provide Voluntarily

●Email address — provided when you subscribe to our newsletter, download lead magnets (such as the Credit Card Optimization Guide), or contact us via our contact form.
●Cookie consent preferences — your choice regarding analytics and non-essential cookies, stored locally on your device.
●GDPR consent confirmation — when you tick the consent checkbox before subscribing to our newsletter.

3.2 Information Collected Automatically

●Hashed IP addresses — we apply SHA-256 hashing to IP addresses before storage. The original IP address is not retained. Hashed IPs are used solely for aggregate analytics and cannot be traced back to individual users.
●Page views and navigation data — which pages you visit, time spent, referral source, and general browsing patterns.
●Device and browser information — browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, and language preference, collected via first-party analytics.
●Affiliate click data — when you click an affiliate link (via our /go/ redirect routes), we record the click event, timestamp, and destination for commission attribution purposes.

3.3 Information We Do Not Collect

SmartFinPro does not collect or store:

●Financial account numbers, credit card details, Social Security numbers, or government identifiers
●Login credentials for any third-party service
●Health or biometric data
●Data entered into our calculators (see Section 6 below)

4. Legal Bases for Processing

Under the GDPR (applicable to UK and EU residents), we process personal data on the following legal bases:

Processing Activity	Legal Basis (Art. 6 GDPR)
Sending newsletter emails	Consent (Art. 6(1)(a))
First-party analytics (hashed IPs, page views)	Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f))
Affiliate click tracking	Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f))
Non-essential / analytics cookies	Consent (via cookie banner)
Responding to data subject requests	Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c))

For users in jurisdictions that do not require a specific legal basis (e.g. certain US states), we nonetheless apply the principle of data minimisation and collect only the information reasonably necessary for the stated purpose.

5. How We Use Your Information

●Newsletter and lead magnet delivery — to send financial insights, product updates, and resources you have subscribed to receive, including the Credit Card Optimization Guide and similar materials. Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link.
●Analytics and content improvement — to understand which content is most useful so we can improve our reviews, guides, calculators, and tools across all four markets.
●Affiliate commission attribution — to record that a click originated from our Site and to reconcile commission payments from affiliate partners.
●Site security and abuse prevention — to detect and prevent fraudulent or malicious activity on the Site.

We never sell your data. Your personal information is never sold, rented, traded, or shared with third parties for their own marketing purposes under any circumstances. This commitment applies regardless of your jurisdiction.

6. Calculators, Tools, and Interactive Features

SmartFinPro provides several interactive financial calculators and tools, including but not limited to:

●Mortgage / Home Loan Calculator (AU)
●Credit Card Rewards Calculator
●ISA Tax Savings Calculator (UK)
●Trading Cost Calculator
●Wealthsimple Calculator (CA)
●Broker Comparison and Broker Finder Tools
●AI ROI Calculator
●Loan Calculator

Calculator data is processed client-side only. All data you enter into our calculators (income figures, spending amounts, loan balances, interest rates, etc.) is processed entirely within your web browser. This data is not transmitted to our servers and is not stored, logged, or retained by SmartFinPro in any form. When you close or navigate away from the calculator page, the data ceases to exist.

Calculator results are for illustrative and educational purposes only and do not constitute financial advice. See our Terms of Service for the full disclaimer.

7. Cookies, Tracking, and Affiliate Attribution

7.1 Cookie Categories

Category	Purpose	Consent Required
Essential	Site functionality, cookie consent preference storage	No (strictly necessary)
Analytics	First-party usage analytics (page views, navigation patterns)	Yes (via cookie banner)
Affiliate Attribution	Tracking clicks on affiliate links for commission reconciliation	Yes (via cookie banner)

7.2 Cookie Consent Mechanism

When you first visit SmartFinPro, a cookie consent banner presents you with two options:

●Accept All — enables essential, analytics, and affiliate attribution cookies.
●Essential Only — limits cookies to those strictly necessary for the Site to function. Analytics and affiliate tracking are disabled.

Your preference is stored in your browser's local storage (key: cookie-consent) and respected on all subsequent visits. You may change your preference at any time by clearing your browser data.

7.3 Affiliate Tracking and Partner Cookies

When you click an affiliate link on our Site (all such links use the /go/URL pattern), you are redirected through our server to the partner's website. During this process:

●We record the click event (affiliate slug, timestamp, hashed session identifier) for commission attribution.
●The partner's website (e.g. eToro, American Express, Chase, Wealthsimple, Hargreaves Lansdown) may set its own cookies on your device for tracking purposes, subject to the partner's own privacy policy.
●We do not have access to or control over cookies set by third-party partners after you leave our Site.

We do not currently use third-party advertising networks, retargeting pixels, or social media tracking pixels on SmartFinPro.

8. Affiliate Relationships and Financial Disclosures

FTC Disclosure (United States):In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's guidelines concerning endorsements and testimonials (16 CFR Part 255), SmartFinPro discloses that we may receive compensation when users click on affiliate links and sign up for financial products featured on our Site. This compensation does not influence our ratings, rankings, or editorial content.

SmartFinPro maintains affiliate relationships with regulated financial institutions and product providers across our four markets. These relationships are fully disclosed:

●On-page disclosures — every review and comparison page includes a clear affiliate disclosure at the top of the content, above the fold.
●Link labelling — all affiliate links carry the rel="sponsored" attribute.
●Dedicated disclosure page — our Affiliate Disclosure page provides full details of how we earn revenue and maintain editorial independence.

Affiliate commissions come at no additional cost to the user. Our ratings are determined by a consistent scoring methodology and are never influenced by commission rates.

We share personal data with the following categories of recipients, and only to the extent necessary for the stated purpose:

Recipient	Data Shared	Purpose
Supabase (database provider)	Email addresses, hashed IPs, analytics events	Data storage and retrieval
Vercel (hosting provider)	Server logs (IP addresses processed transiently)	Website hosting and delivery
Email service provider	Email addresses	Newsletter delivery
Affiliate partners	Click event data (no personal identifiers)	Commission attribution and reconciliation

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to any third party. We may disclose personal data if required to do so by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.

10. Data Storage, Security, and Retention

10.1 Security Measures

●All connections to the Site are encrypted via HTTPS/TLS.
●Data at rest is stored in Supabase with encryption at rest (AES-256).
●IP addresses are hashed using SHA-256 before storage; the raw IP is never persisted.
●The Site is hosted on Vercel, which provides enterprise-grade infrastructure security, DDoS protection, and automated security patching.
●Access to databases and administrative systems is restricted to authorised personnel with multi-factor authentication.

10.2 Retention Periods

Data Type	Retention Period
Newsletter subscriber email	Until unsubscribe or deletion request
Hashed IP analytics	12 months, then automatically purged
Affiliate click events	24 months (required for commission reconciliation)
Cookie consent preference	Stored locally in your browser; no server-side retention

While no method of electronic storage is 100% secure, we implement commercially reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, loss, or destruction.

11. International Data Transfers

SmartFinPro operates globally and our service providers (including Supabase and Vercel) may process data in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, EEA, Canada, or Australia, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including:

●Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission or UK ICO, as applicable.
●Data processing agreements with all sub-processors that include equivalent data protection obligations.
●Verification that recipients maintain adequate security standards consistent with this policy.

🇬🇧🇪🇺 UK and EU Residents — General Data Protection Regulation

If you are located in the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, you have the following rights under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR:

●Right of access (Art. 15) — obtain a copy of your personal data we hold.
●Right to rectification (Art. 16) — correct inaccurate personal data.
●Right to erasure (Art. 17) — request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
●Right to restrict processing (Art. 18) — limit how we use your data.
●Right to data portability (Art. 20) — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
●Right to object (Art. 21) — object to processing based on legitimate interests.
●Right to withdraw consent (Art. 7(3)) — withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our DPO at dpo@smartfinpro.com. We will respond within 30 days (extendable by a further 60 days for complex requests).

Right to lodge a complaint:You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

13. Your Rights — United States (CCPA, VCDPA, FTC)

🇺🇸 California Residents — California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA) grants you the following rights:

●Right to know — request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
●Right to delete — request deletion of personal information we have collected.
●Right to opt out of sale — SmartFinPro does not sell personal information. We do not engage in the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information as defined by the CCPA/CPRA.
●Right to non-discrimination — we will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

To submit a request, email privacy@smartfinpro.com with the subject line "CCPA Request." We will verify your identity and respond within 45 days.

🇺🇸 Virginia Residents — Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA)

Virginia residents have the right to access, correct, delete, and obtain a copy of personal data. You may also opt out of profiling in furtherance of automated decisions and targeted advertising. SmartFinPro does not engage in targeted advertising or profiling.

🇺🇸 Financial Privacy — FTC Guidelines

SmartFinPro is an independent financial information publisher, not a financial institution or lender. We comply with the Federal Trade Commission's guidelines on endorsements, testimonials, and online advertising disclosures. All affiliate relationships are clearly disclosed in compliance with 16 CFR Part 255.

We are not subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) as we do not provide financial products or services. However, we voluntarily apply equivalent privacy protections to all user data collected through our Site.

14. Your Rights — Canada (PIPEDA)

🇨🇦 Canadian Residents — Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

Under PIPEDA, Canadian residents have the following rights regarding personal information:

●Right to access — request access to the personal information we hold about you.
●Right to challenge accuracy — request correction of personal information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
●Right to withdraw consent — withdraw your consent for the collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions.
●Right to complain — file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) at priv.gc.ca.

We apply the ten fair information principles of PIPEDA: accountability, identifying purposes, consent, limiting collection, limiting use/disclosure/retention, accuracy, safeguards, openness, individual access, and challenging compliance.

To exercise your rights, contact privacy@smartfinpro.com. We will respond within 30 days.

15. Your Rights — Australia (Privacy Act 1988)

🇦🇺 Australian Residents — Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the 13 Australian Privacy Principles, Australian residents have the following rights:

●Right to access (APP 12) — request access to personal information we hold about you.
●Right to correction (APP 13) — request correction of inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, or misleading personal information.
●Right to anonymity (APP 2) — in certain circumstances, you have the option of not identifying yourself when dealing with us.
●Right to complain — you may make a complaint to us or directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

Complaints Process

If you believe we have breached your privacy, please contact us first at privacy@smartfinpro.com. We will investigate and respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the OAIC:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Website: oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992

We collect, hold, use, and disclose personal information in accordance with APPs 1 through 13. Where we disclose personal information to overseas recipients (APP 8), we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient complies with the APPs or is subject to a substantially similar law.

16. Children's Privacy

SmartFinPro is not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@smartfinpro.com and we will promptly delete such information.

17. Third-Party Links and Services

Our Site contains links to third-party websites and financial products, including but not limited to broker platforms, credit card issuers, investment platforms, and banking services. All affiliate links use our /go/ redirect pattern and carry the rel="sponsored" attribute.

Once you leave SmartFinPro by clicking any external link, you are subject to the privacy policy and terms of service of the destination website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or security of any third-party website. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every website you visit.

18. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes:

●The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will be revised.
●For material changes, we will provide notice through a prominent banner on the Site or via email to newsletter subscribers.
●Previous versions of this policy will be made available upon request.

Your continued use of SmartFinPro after any changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

19. Contact Us and Complaints

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal data, please contact us through any of the following channels:

General Privacy Enquiries

privacy@smartfinpro.com

Data Protection Officer (UK/EU)

dpo@smartfinpro.com

CCPA / US Privacy Requests