Privacy Policy

1. What we collect

When you build a Merit profile, we collect the information you provide directly:

• Identity information: first name, last name, email address.
• Career and professional information: current status, industry, employer, role, seniority, education history.
• Financial information: current and peak compensation, savings runway, monthly fixed costs, debt obligations, equity holdings, and (optionally) your self-reported FICO band or exact score.
• Forward-looking information: signed offers, planned compensation, fundraise plans where applicable.
• Product intent: what financial product you need, how much, and when.
• Optional verification documents: if you upload a FICO report, CV, or financial statement to verify your profile, we collect and process those documents.
• Contact preferences: LinkedIn URL, location, willingness to be contacted by our team.

We also automatically collect:

• Technical information: IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, and timestamps. This is used to operate and improve the Service.
• Cookies: we use minimal essential cookies for session management. We do not currently use advertising cookies or third-party tracking pixels.

2. How we use it

We use the information you provide to:

• Generate your Merit Score and Merit Profile.
• Show you what Merit sees in your profile relative to traditional credit scoring.
• Match you with relevant financial products if you opt in to matching (see Section 3).
• Communicate with you about your profile, product updates, or relevant offerings.
• Improve our scoring models and product over time.
• Comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your information. We do not share your information with third parties for their marketing purposes.

3. Who we share it with

Today (service providers only): We share your information only with service providers necessary to operate the Service. These include:

• Supabase: database and authentication hosting.
• Vercel: website hosting.
• Anthropic and OpenAI: large language model providers used in our scoring engine. Personal information passed to these providers is governed by their own data processing agreements.
• Railway: hosting for our product application.
• Our email forwarding service for support and contact communications.

Each provider processes data on our behalf under contractual confidentiality and security obligations. We do not currently share your information with any lender, financial institution, or third party for their own purposes.

In the future (with separate consent): Merit plans to offer matching services that connect users with partner lenders and financial product providers. We will share your information with a specific lender or provider only after you provide explicit, informed consent for that specific sharing event. We will never share your profile with any lender or third party without you affirmatively opting in to that specific transfer. Future matching services will be governed by additional terms presented at the time of opt-in.

4. How long we keep it

We keep your profile information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. You may request deletion at any time by emailing legal@meritfi.co. We will delete your profile within 30 days of receiving a verified request, except where retention is required by law or to defend against legal claims.

5. Your rights

You have the right to:

• Access the information we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate information.
• Delete your profile and associated data.
• Withdraw consent for matching or communications at any time.
• Request a copy of your information in a portable format.
• Object to or restrict certain processing of your information.

To exercise any of these rights, email legal@meritfi.co. We will respond within 30 days.

If you are in the European Union, the United Kingdom, California, or another jurisdiction with applicable data protection laws, you may have additional rights under those laws. Email legal@meritfi.co and we will honor applicable rights.

6. Security

We protect your information with reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. This includes encrypted storage, access controls, and Row-Level Security on our database. No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a breach affecting your information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

7. Children

The Service is not intended for users under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe we have collected information from a minor, email legal@meritfi.co and we will delete it.

8. International users

The Service is hosted in the United States. By using the Service, you understand that your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may have different data protection laws than your country of residence.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated through the Service or by email. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision.

10. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy or your information, contact us at legal@meritfi.co.

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict of laws principles.