Privacy policy

Last updated 5 November 2026

BalancedProof converts bank statements into spreadsheets and accounting import files. Bank statements contain sensitive personal and financial information, so we keep as little as possible, for as short a time as possible. BalancedProof is operated by Ray, an independent developer. Questions: hello@balancedproof.com.

The short version

• No account, no tracking, no advertising, no analytics.
• Your files are deleted 2 hours after your last activity, 24 hours at most, or immediately when you click "Delete my files now".
• Your statement is read on our server. The only thing that ever leaves it is an anonymised outline of the table's layout, used to recognise a bank format we haven't seen before (see below).
• If you buy a page pack, the payment is handled by Creem; we keep only the order number and how many pages are left – not your name, email or card details.

What we process, and why

Files you upload (PDFs, scans, photos) and what we read from them: dates, descriptions, amounts, balances, and the last four digits of the account number if the statement shows them. We use them only to produce your conversion, check it and let you review and export it. The legal basis is that you asked us to provide this service.

Files are stored on our server (Alibaba Cloud, Hong Kong) in a folder of their own, accessible only from the browser that uploaded them. Connections to this site are encrypted (HTTPS). They are deleted automatically 2 hours after your last activity and never kept longer than 24 hours; everything read from them is deleted at the same time. Restarting the server also deletes them.

Scans and photos are converted to text on our own server. They are not sent to any other service.

The AI layout service

To recognise a statement layout we haven't seen before, we send an anonymised outline of a few pages to a third-party AI service. In that outline every letter, in any alphabet, is replaced by "x" (Chinese characters by one fixed character) and every digit by "9"; punctuation and spacing are kept, and only common column headings such as "Date" or "Balance" stay readable, together with where each word sits on the page. For example, "John Smith 1,234.56" becomes "xxxx xxxxx 9,999.99". The outline contains no names, account numbers, amounts or descriptions, and we never send the file itself. If the first answer doesn't reconcile, we ask again with how many rows were read and which of our fixed checks failed – still nothing from the text or numbers of your statement. Because the outline contains no personal information, it cannot be linked back to you or your statement.

Once a layout has been recognised and fully reconciled, we keep a description of it (column positions, date format) so the next statement in the same format is read without asking the AI again. It is stored under a fingerprint of the layout's shape and contains nothing from your statement.

Page pack purchases

Payments are processed by Creem, which acts as the merchant of record: it collects your payment details, handles tax and sends your receipt under its own privacy policy. When a payment completes, Creem tells our server the order number and which pack was bought. We create an access key for it and keep the order number, the pack, the pages left and the expiry date – needed to give you your pages, honour refunds and help if you lose your key – until 30 days after the pack expires. The access key is stored as a one-way hash; a plain-text copy is kept for 24 hours only, so the page you return to after paying can show it to you. We don't keep your name, email address or card details.

Cookies

We set only strictly necessary cookies, and neither can be read by scripts: sid, a random identifier that keeps your statements visible only to your browser (expires after 24 hours), and, if you have a page pack, bpkey, which holds your access key so this browser can use your pages (until you remove it or it expires). We use no other cookies and load no third-party scripts.

Limits and abuse prevention

To enforce the free allowance and stop abuse, we count uploads and pages per browser and per IP address. Page counts for the current day are stored only as salted one-way hashes and are erased every day at midnight UTC. IP addresses are held in memory for up to an hour for rate limiting and are not written to disk. Our server logs record only the type and code location of errors – never file names, file contents or IP addresses.

Who else sees your data

No one. We do not sell, rent or share your data. Our hosting provider (Alibaba Cloud, Hong Kong) runs the server our service is on; the AI layout service receives only the anonymised outline described above; Creem processes page pack payments as described above. A list of the service providers we use is available on request at hello@balancedproof.com.

Your rights

Because we delete everything within hours and keep no account, there is usually nothing left to access, correct or erase by the time you ask. You can delete your files at any time with "Delete my files now". For any privacy request or complaint, email hello@balancedproof.com. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

BalancedProof is a tool for adults managing their own or their clients' finances and is not intended for children.

Changes

If we change how we handle your data, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change takes effect.