Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Forrest Grants is operated by Forrest Fintech ("we," "us," or "our"), a financial technology company based in Edgewater, New Jersey. Our platform helps small businesses and individuals discover, qualify for, and apply to grants, loans, and funding programs. You can reach us at support@forrestgrants.com.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly and information generated by your use of our platform:

• Account information: Name, email address, and password when you create an account.
• Business profile: Business name, location, stage, industry, employee count, annual revenue, and funding goals entered during onboarding.
• Financial data: When you connect a bank account through Plaid, we receive account ownership verification and basic transaction summaries to assess eligibility for funding programs. We do not store your bank credentials.
• Usage data: Pages visited, grants viewed, actions taken, and session activity to improve the platform.
• Device and technical data: IP address, browser type, and operating system for security and analytics purposes.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To match you with relevant grants, loans, and funding programs.
• To provide eligibility explanations and application guidance powered by AI.
• To verify bank account ownership and assess financial eligibility for cash advance products.
• To send transactional emails (account confirmation, application updates).
• To improve and personalize the platform experience.
• To comply with legal obligations and prevent fraud.

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only as follows:

• Plaid: To facilitate bank account connection. Plaid's privacy policy applies to data processed through their services. See plaid.com/legal/privacy-policy.
• OpenAI: Anonymized context is sent to OpenAI's API to generate eligibility explanations. No personally identifiable information is included in AI prompts.
• Supabase: Our database and authentication infrastructure provider. Data is stored in secure, encrypted databases.
• Legal compliance: We may disclose information when required by law, subpoena, or to protect our legal rights.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account and profile data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law. Financial connection data retrieved through Plaid is retained only as long as needed to provide the service and is deleted upon account deletion or Plaid disconnection.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate information in your profile.
• Request deletion of your account and associated data.
• Disconnect your bank account at any time through your account settings.
• Opt out of non-transactional email communications.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at support@forrestgrants.com.

7. Security

We use industry-standard security measures including encrypted data transmission (TLS), encrypted database storage, and secure authentication. We do not store bank credentials — all financial connections are handled through Plaid's secure infrastructure. While we take security seriously, no system is completely immune to risk, and we encourage you to use a strong, unique password.

8. Cookies

We use essential cookies for authentication and session management. We may use analytics cookies to understand how users interact with the platform. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, though this may affect platform functionality.

9. Children's Privacy

Forrest Grants is not intended for users under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and notify users by email for material changes.

11. Contact Us

For privacy-related questions or requests, contact us at: