1. Information We Collect

Running a budgeting platform means we need certain information to make things work properly. Here's what we gather and why we need it.

Account Information

When you sign up for TechConnectIQ, we collect basic details like your name, email address, and the password you create. If you're using our premium features, we'll also need payment information—though we don't store your full credit card details on our servers. That's handled by our payment processor who specializes in keeping that data secure.

Financial Data You Choose to Share

Our platform helps you track spending and manage budgets. To do that, you might connect bank accounts or manually enter transaction details. We only access what you explicitly authorize, and you can disconnect any linked accounts whenever you want. Some users prefer manual entry for extra control—that works fine too.

Usage Information

Like most web services, we collect technical data about how you interact with our platform. This includes your IP address, browser type, device information, and which features you use most often. This helps us fix bugs, improve performance, and understand what's actually useful to our users.

• Device identifiers and operating system details
• Log data including access times and page views
• Cookie data (more on that below)
• Feature usage patterns and click behavior

2. How We Use Your Information

We're not collecting data just for the sake of it. Everything we gather serves a specific purpose in making TechConnectIQ work better for you.

Core Service Delivery

The primary reason we need your information is to actually provide the budgeting service you signed up for. That means processing your transactions, generating spending reports, sending budget alerts, and keeping your account secure. Without this data, the platform simply wouldn't function.

Communication

We'll send you important updates about your account—things like security alerts, changes to our terms, or notifications about suspicious activity. If you've opted in, we might also send educational content about budgeting tips or new features. You can adjust these preferences in your account settings anytime.

Product Improvement

Analyzing how people use TechConnectIQ helps us identify what's working and what isn't. If everyone abandons a feature halfway through, that tells us something needs fixing. We look at aggregate patterns rather than individual behavior—we're not watching what you personally do with a magnifying glass.

Legal Compliance

Sometimes we're required by law to retain certain information or respond to valid legal requests. In South Korea, financial platforms must comply with the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and regulations from the Financial Services Commission. We only share data when legally obligated and will notify you when permitted by law.

3. Data Retention and Storage

We don't keep your information forever. Different types of data have different retention periods based on both practical needs and legal requirements.

When data reaches the end of its retention period, we securely delete it from our active systems. Backup copies might persist for up to 90 additional days before complete removal.

4. Data Sharing and Third Parties

We work with other companies to run our service, but we're selective about who gets access to your data and why.

Service Providers

Our payment processor handles subscription billing. Our cloud infrastructure provider stores encrypted data. Our email service sends account notifications. These partners only access the specific information needed to perform their function, and they're contractually required to protect it.

Banking Connections

When you link a bank account, we use secure API connections through certified financial data aggregators. These services act as a secure bridge between your bank and our platform. You can revoke this access through your bank's settings or our platform anytime.

What We Don't Do

We don't sell or rent your personal information to advertisers, data brokers, or marketing companies. Period. We don't allow third-party advertising networks to track you on our platform. Your financial data isn't a product we're selling.

5. Your Rights Under South Korean Law

PIPA gives you several important rights regarding your personal information. Here's what you can do and how to do it.

Access Your Data

You can request a copy of all personal information we hold about you. We'll provide this in a commonly used electronic format within 10 days of your request. There's no charge for your first request in a calendar year.

Correct Inaccuracies

Notice something wrong in your account details? You can update most information directly through your account settings. For data you can't change yourself, contact our support team and we'll make corrections within 10 business days.

Request Deletion

You can delete your TechConnectIQ account at any time through the account settings page. This removes your personal information from active systems, though we may retain certain data for the legal retention periods mentioned earlier. Some information might need to be kept for tax purposes or to resolve disputes.

Withdraw Consent

If you previously agreed to optional data processing—like receiving marketing emails—you can withdraw that consent anytime. This won't affect the legality of processing that occurred before your withdrawal.

Object to Processing

In certain situations, you have the right to object to how we're processing your data. For example, if we're using your information for purposes beyond the core service delivery, you can ask us to stop. We'll review your request and respond within 10 business days.

6. Security Measures

Protecting your financial information is something we take seriously. Here's what we do to keep your data secure.

All data transmitted between your device and our servers uses TLS 1.3 encryption—the same technology banks use. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt with individual salts, so even we can't see your actual password. Our database encryption means that if someone somehow accessed our servers, they'd find unreadable encrypted data.

We limit employee access to personal information based on job requirements. Our development team uses anonymized test data rather than real user information. We conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities before bad actors do.

If we ever experience a data breach that affects your information, we'll notify you within 24 hours of discovering the incident, as required by South Korean law. We'll explain what happened, what data was involved, and what steps we're taking.

7. Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you logged in and remember your preferences. Here's the breakdown of what we use and why.

Essential Cookies

These keep the platform functioning. They remember that you're logged in as you move between pages, store your language preference, and maintain security tokens. You can't disable these without breaking the service.

Analytics Cookies

We use these to understand how people use our platform—which features are popular, where people get stuck, how long sessions typically last. This helps us prioritize improvements. These cookies don't identify you personally; they track aggregated patterns.

Managing Your Preferences

You can adjust cookie settings through your browser preferences. Keep in mind that disabling certain cookies might affect how well the platform works for you. We don't use third-party advertising cookies on TechConnectIQ.

8. International Data Transfers

Your data is primarily stored on servers located in South Korea. However, some of our service providers operate globally, which might involve transferring data outside South Korea.

When we transfer data internationally, we ensure adequate protection through approved transfer mechanisms under PIPA. This typically means standard contractual clauses that require the recipient to maintain South Korean-equivalent data protection standards.

Our cloud infrastructure provider maintains data centers in multiple regions for redundancy and performance. You can request that your data remain exclusively in South Korean data centers, though this might affect service availability during regional outages.

9. Children's Privacy

TechConnectIQ is designed for adults managing their personal finances. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 14 years old. If you're a parent and believe your child has created an account, please contact us immediately and we'll delete it.

For users between 14 and 19 years old, we require verifiable parental consent before account creation, as mandated by South Korean law. This typically involves a parent confirming their identity and authorizing the account through their own verified contact information.

10. Changes to This Policy

We'll update this privacy policy occasionally as our practices evolve or laws change. When we make significant changes, we'll notify you by email and through a prominent notice on the platform at least 30 days before the changes take effect.

Minor updates—like fixing typos or clarifying existing practices—might happen without individual notification. We'll always show the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy so you know when changes were made.

Continuing to use TechConnectIQ after changes take effect means you accept the updated policy. If you don't agree with changes, you can close your account before they become effective.

11. Data Protection Officer

Under PIPA, we've designated a Data Protection Officer responsible for overseeing our privacy practices and handling your data-related requests. You can reach our DPO directly if you have concerns about how we're handling your information.

Our DPO reviews all data processing activities, ensures compliance with South Korean regulations, and serves as the primary contact for data protection authorities. If you've contacted our regular support team about a privacy matter and aren't satisfied with the response, escalating to the DPO is your next step.