Privacy Policy

Last updated September 25, 2026

01 Who we are

This Privacy Policy explains how Penny Planters, LLC (“The Penny Planter”, “we”, “us”) handles information when you use our website at thepennyplanter.com, our iOS and Android apps, and the emails we send you. We call all of that “the service”.

Penny Planters, LLC is a Minnesota limited liability company. Our postal address and email address are at the end of this page, and questions about privacy can be sent to info@thepennyplanter.com at any time.

By using the service you agree to this policy and to our Terms & Conditions.

02 Information you give us

Everything in this section is information you choose to enter. Nothing here is gathered on your behalf from a third party.

Account information

• Your name and email address.
• Your password, which is stored only as a one-way hash — we cannot read it, and neither can anyone who reads our database.
• Whether you have two-factor authentication switched on, and the one-time passcodes we email you (which expire shortly after they are issued).

The figures you enter about your home and finances

• Property details: a name or label, purchase price, purchase month and year, and your estimate of the current market value.
• Loan details: original loan amount, interest rate, term, whether you pay mortgage insurance, and any refinance you record.
• Cost details: property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, HOA fees, utilities and the maintenance reserve.
• Net worth entries: cash and savings, taxable and retirement investments, other assets, auto loans, student loans, credit card balances and other liabilities, plus any notes you add.
• Annual Review entries: the dated checkpoints you save and the notes you write on them.

Documents you upload

Any files you put in the Document Vault — closing documents, insurance policies, tax records, and anything else you choose to store — along with the file name, size, type and the folder you filed it under.

Messages you send us

If you contact us for support, we keep the message and our reply so we can help you and keep a record of what was asked.

03 Information collected automatically

• Sign-in session data. Cookies that keep you signed in on the website, and a session token on your phone if you use the app. App sessions are stored as a hash together with a device label, so you can see and revoke them.
• An activity log. We record events such as signing in, saving a snapshot and uploading a document, so you can see recent activity and so we can investigate problems. Where the log records the network address the request came from, it stores a one-way hash of it rather than the address itself.
• Ordinary server logs. Our web host keeps standard request logs, which include IP addresses, for security and troubleshooting, on its own short retention cycle.

We do not currently run third-party analytics, advertising pixels or session-recording tools on the website or in the apps. If that ever changes, we will update this policy and say what was added before it starts collecting anything.

04 What we never do

• We do not connect to your bank, credit union, brokerage, retirement plan or mortgage servicer, and we never ask for the credentials to any of them.
• We do not pull your credit file. Nothing you do here creates a hard or soft credit inquiry, and we do not receive a credit score.
• We do not ask for your Social Security number or your account numbers, and you should not enter them anywhere in the service.
• We do not buy property, mortgage or consumer financial data about you from data brokers.
• We do not sell, rent or trade your personal or financial information, and we do not share it for targeted or cross-context behavioral advertising.
• We do not pass your information to lenders, mortgage brokers or insurers so they can market to you.

Everything the service shows you is calculated from figures you typed in yourself. That is the whole design, and it is why this policy is as short as it is.

05 How we use your information

• To run the calculations and produce your snapshot, dashboard, equity and sale figures, payoff comparisons and PDF report.
• To save your history so that you can return later, update your figures and see how your position has changed.
• To send you account emails: one-time passcodes, password resets, account invitations and important notices about the service. These are not marketing emails.
• To answer your support requests.
• To keep the service secure — detecting suspicious sign-ins, preventing abuse, and diagnosing faults.
• To understand, in aggregate, which features are used, so we can improve the product. Figures used this way are counted, not read individually.
• To comply with the law and to enforce our Terms.

We do not use your figures to make automated decisions about you, and we do not profile you.

06 When we share information

We share information in four situations, and no others.

• Service providers. Companies that run infrastructure for us — website and database hosting, file storage, and email delivery — process information strictly on our instructions and only to provide that service. They are not permitted to use it for their own purposes.
• A realtor who set up your account. See the next section.
• Legal requirements. If we are required by law, subpoena or valid legal process to disclose information, or where disclosure is necessary to protect someone’s safety, our rights, or to investigate fraud or a security incident.
• A change in the business. If the business is sold, merged or reorganised, information may transfer as part of that transaction. The buyer would remain bound by this policy, and we would tell you before your information became subject to a materially different one.

We also share anything you explicitly ask us to share, such as a report you choose to send to someone yourself.

07 Accounts created by a realtor

A realtor can create a homeowner account for a client through the Realtor Portal. If your account was created that way, you should assume the realtor who created it knows you are a user, can see the property and snapshot information associated with the account they manage, and can administer the account.

If you would rather your realtor did not have that access, you can ask us at info@thepennyplanter.com to detach your account, or delete the account and create your own.

08 The Document Vault

Files you upload are stored in a private, per-user folder on our own file storage, not on a third-party document platform. They are never indexed by search engines and are not shared with anyone outside the situations described above.

Because these files tend to be sensitive, the vault sits behind an extra check: you verify your identity again with an emailed passcode once each day before the vault opens, even though you are already signed in.

Deleting a file deletes it. Deleting your account deletes the entire folder. The vault is a convenience for keeping your paperwork in one place — it is not a backup service, so keep your own copies of anything important.

09 Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies that are necessary for the service to work: keeping you signed in, remembering that you chose “keep me signed in”, holding your place in a form, and protecting forms against cross-site request forgery. WordPress, which the website runs on, sets its own session cookies for the same purpose.

We do not use advertising cookies. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but the sign-in and the saved-data features will not work without the necessary ones.

The mobile apps do not use cookies. They store your session token in the operating system’s secure storage — the iOS Keychain or the Android Keystore — and clear it when you sign out.

10 How long we keep information

We keep your account information and your saved figures for as long as your account exists, because the point of the service is to let you compare this year against previous years.

When you delete your account, we delete your properties, saved snapshots, annual reviews, net worth history, activity log, app sign-in tokens, uploaded vault files and your user record. This is immediate and it cannot be undone.

Routine encrypted backups may still contain a copy for a short period — normally no more than 30 days — after which they are overwritten on their ordinary cycle. We may also keep a minimal record where the law requires it, for example to resolve a dispute or to meet a tax or accounting obligation.

Full instructions are on the Delete Your Account page.

11 How we protect it

• The website and the apps communicate over encrypted HTTPS connections.
• Passwords are stored as one-way hashes, never in a readable form.
• Two-factor authentication by emailed one-time passcode is available on every account, and the Document Vault requires re-verification once a day.
• App sessions use bearer tokens that are stored hashed on our side, expire, and can be revoked by signing out.
• Access to the production database is limited to the people who need it to run the service.

No online service can promise perfect security. Please use a strong, unique password, turn on two-factor authentication, and keep your email account secure — it is the recovery route for everything else. Tell us promptly if you think someone else has been in your account.

12 Your choices and your rights

You can do most of this yourself, without asking us:

• See and correct your information — everything we hold about your home is visible in the tools and can be edited there.
• Export it — generate the PDF report at any time, and download your vault files.
• Delete it — remove individual properties, snapshots or documents, or delete the whole account.
• Stop the emails — account and security emails are part of having an account, but you can opt out of anything promotional using the unsubscribe link.

Depending on where you live — for example Minnesota, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon or Virginia — state law may also give you the right to confirm whether we process information about you, to obtain a copy of it, to correct or delete it, to obtain it in a portable form, to opt out of sale or targeted advertising (we do neither), and to appeal a decision we make about such a request.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@thepennyplanter.com from the address on your account, or write to us at the postal address below. We will verify that the request came from you, respond within the time the applicable law allows — generally 45 days — and we will not treat you differently for having asked. If we decline a request, we will explain why, and you may appeal by replying to that response; if an appeal is refused you may contact your state attorney general.

13 Children

The service is built for homeowners and is not directed at children. You must be at least 18 to create an account. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18; if we learn that we have, we will delete it. If you believe a child has created an account, please tell us.

14 The mobile apps

The iOS and Android apps talk to the same account as the website, so the same policy applies to both. The apps do not read your contacts, your photo library, your location or your call history. If you attach a document, the app asks for access to the specific file you pick, at that moment.

Reports are generated on your own device and are only shared if you choose to share them. The App Store and Google Play collect their own information about downloads and purchases under their own privacy policies, which we do not control.

You can delete your account from inside the app: Settings → Delete Account.

15 Visitors outside the United States

The service is intended for homeowners in the United States, and the information you enter is stored and processed on servers in the United States. If you use the service from elsewhere, you are transferring your information to the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.

16 Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the service changes. The date at the top always shows the current version. If a change materially affects how we handle your information, we will tell you by email or with a notice in the service before it takes effect. Continuing to use the service after that means you accept the updated policy.