Claude adds Personal Finance: connect bank accounts read-only and ask where the money went in plain words
Synopsis
Claude now has a Personal Finance feature: users sign in to their own bank through Plaid, grant read-only access, and ask about balances and transactions in their own words. Previously, working out where money went meant opening each banking app and doing the math; the feature totals spending across connected accounts by category, and in the example the month's spending is $4,309.37, with four payments still due before payday and $1,393.22 left. It rolls out in beta this week on the Pro, Max and Ultra plans in the US, helps users understand their money, and is not designed to give investment advice.
Interpretation
Claude can now answer questions about the money in a user's personal accounts, so the user no longer has to open each banking app and add up the numbers. The prior path was to check each bank and card app separately and work out spending and balances by hand. In the official example, asking late in the month with payday ten days away where the money went, Claude totals spending across connected accounts by category at $4,309.37, with more than half going to rent and utilities and $1,024.51 to food and drink.
Answers come in everyday language and support follow-up questions, such as whether spending is higher than usual and what is left before payday. Such follow-ups require comparing months and checking across accounts, which the user previously did by going through statements. In the same example, Claude checks previous months and points to a membership renewal, then lists four payments due from the checking account before payday and the $1,393.22 remaining.
The user connects accounts by signing in to the bank through Plaid, and Claude neither asks for nor sees the bank password. Read-only access is limited to the accounts the user chooses to connect, and Claude sees the bank name, each account's name, type and last four digits, balances and credit limits, and up to two years of transactions. Conversations inside the Personal Finance hub are not used to train the models, anything shared outside the hub follows the user's privacy settings, and an account can be unlinked at any time, after which Claude can no longer see its data.
Perspective
The feature rolls out in beta this week on the Pro, Max and Ultra plans in the US; access is read-only, it cannot move, manage or invest money, and it is not designed to give investment advice.
The official note says Claude can make mistakes in its answers and advises asking which transactions are behind a number and checking important figures with the bank; for bigger money decisions it says it is exploring Claude working alongside licensed professionals and regulated firms, without giving a plan.