What you agree to, in plain English.

1 · Acceptance

These Terms govern your use of Holdfast Budget Planner( “Holdfast”, “we”, “us”) — the web app at holdfastbudget.com, the iOS app, and the Android app.

By creating an account or using Holdfast, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

You must be at least 13 years old to use Holdfast. If you are between 13 and the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you must have permission from a parent or guardian.

2 · What Holdfast is

Holdfast is a budget planning tool. It connects to your bank accounts through Plaid, categorizes your transactions, helps you build a monthly plan with every dollar assigned, and narrates how the month is going as transactions come in.

The product shows, organizes, and educates. We use AI (Claude, by Anthropic) to summarize patterns and answer questions about your money in plain English.

3 · What Holdfast isn’t

This is the structural promise we built the product around. Our AI is constrained from giving prescriptive guidance, and we surface professional resources when crisis language appears. But the obligation to make your own decisions stays with you.

Holdfast does not move money. We do not initiate transfers between your accounts, pay bills on your behalf, or hold funds. We are a read-only planning tool over your existing bank relationships.

4 · Your account

Creating one

You can sign in with Google, Apple, or an email + password. You are responsible for keeping your credentials secure. If you suspect unauthorized access, email security@holdfastbudget.com and we will help you recover.

One person per account

Each account belongs to one person. Don’t share your account; if you and a partner want shared budgeting, contact us and we’ll discuss the household-account feature on our roadmap.

Accuracy

You agree to provide accurate information when signing up and to keep it up to date — especially your billing email, which is how we reach you about subscription changes.

5 · Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use Holdfast for any illegal purpose, including money laundering or sanctions evasion.
• Connect bank accounts you do not own or are not authorized to access.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or stress-test the service beyond ordinary use.
• Use Holdfast to harass, threaten, or impersonate another person.
• Resell, sub-license, or commercially redistribute the service.
• Use automated means to access the service at a rate that would constitute abuse, except for the standard refresh patterns the app itself uses.

If you violate these rules, we may suspend or terminate your account.

6 · Subscriptions & billing

Free

The Free tier covers the essentials: up to 3 connected banks, one committed monthly plan, and the always-on Resources page. No payment information required.

Holdfast Plus— $99.99/year

Plus adds monthly reconciliation, Smart Mode (deeper AI for harder conversations), 12 months of recap history, and unlimited connected institutions. Billed annually, in advance.

Founder rate — $79/year, locked for life

For the first 500 Plus subscribers, we offer a founder rate of $79 per year. Locked at $79/yr as long as you stay subscribed — the rate survives subsequent price increases.

How billing works

Subscriptions are processed by Stripe. We never see your full card number. Renewals are automatic on the anniversary of your sign-up date, using the payment method on file. We send a receipt by email after each charge.

Prices are exclusive of any applicable taxes. We collect VAT, GST, and sales tax where required by law.

If a payment fails, we will retry it over 14 days. If payment is not resolved, your account drops to the Free tier on a read-only grace window — committed budgets stay visible, new monthly commits pause until billing is resolved.

7 · Cancellation & refunds

You can cancel from Settings → Plan → Manage Plus at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you keep Plus features until then.

We offer a 30-day refund window from the original purchase date. If Holdfast isn’t working for you, email support@holdfastbudget.com within 30 days and we’ll refund in full, no questions. After 30 days, prorated refunds are not available except where required by law.

8 · Your content, our product

Your data is yours

You retain ownership of your financial data, your budgets, your goals, your manual edits, and anything you write in chat. We hold a license to process this data only for the purposes described in the Privacy Policy. We do not own it; we do not repurpose it.

The product is ours

The Holdfast brand (including the wordmark, the mooring-ring mark, and the visual identity), the codebase, the AI prompts, and the design system are owned by us or our licensors. You receive a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the product for personal (non-commercial) money planning.

Feedback

If you send us feedback, ideas, or feature requests, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual license to use them to improve the product. We may credit you publicly only with your prior permission.

9 · Warranties

We work to keep Holdfast accurate, available, and useful, but we don’t make absolute guarantees:

• The service is provided “as is” and “as available”. We don’t warrant it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or fit for any particular financial outcome.
• Bank data is provided by Plaid; we don’t guarantee that every transaction will sync in real time or that every categorization will be correct. Always confirm critical figures against your bank’s official statement.
• AI output may contain inaccuracies or miss context. Always treat AI narration as observation, not advice.

10 · Limits of liability

To the maximum extent allowed by law:

• Our total liability to you for any claim arising from the service is capped at the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) $100.
• We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages — including lost profits, lost data, missed financial opportunities, or harm from a decision you made while using the product.
• Nothing in this section limits liability for fraud, willful misconduct, or anything else that can’t be limited by law in your jurisdiction.

11 · Termination

You can stop using Holdfast at any time. To delete your account entirely, go to Settings → Delete account, or email privacy@holdfastbudget.com.

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms, if we are required to by law, or if continued service would compromise the security of the platform. If we terminate without cause, we will refund any unused portion of your prepaid subscription.

12 · Disputes & governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of [Delaware / California / your chosen jurisdiction], without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

Before formal action, you agree to contact us at legal@holdfastbudget.comand give us 30 days to resolve the issue. If we can’t resolve it, disputes will be settled by [binding arbitration in (location) / the courts of (location), depending on legal counsel].

You may opt out of arbitration within 30 days of signing up by emailing us at the address above. Class actions are waived.

Note: The governing-law and arbitration clauses above are scaffolds. Your counsel will finalize the specific jurisdiction, venue, and dispute mechanism before publication.

13 · Changes to these Terms

We will update the date at the top of this document when we change it. For material changes — anything that meaningfully affects your rights or obligations — we will email you and surface a banner in the app at least 30 days before the change takes effect.

Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you don’t accept, you can stop using the service and request deletion before the effective date.

14 · Contact

For questions about these Terms:
legal@holdfastbudget.com

For everything else, see support@holdfastbudget.com or the always-on Resources page for crisis, legal, mental health, or financial-aid lines.

Holdfast Budget Planner
[postal address before publication]