Anthropic rolls out Claude's "Personal Finance" in beta in the U.S., read-only for paid plans (follow-up)

Connect accounts and get answers based on balances and transactions

Anthropic announced on Nov. 5 (Nov. 6 Japan time) that it will offer "Personal Finance," a personal finance feature for its AI assistant "Claude," as a beta in the U.S. When users connect accounts they choose, Claude answers questions about money in everyday language based on their balances and transactions. It is available to users of the paid "Pro," "Max" and "Ultra" plans, rolling out gradually starting this week. Access is read-only, and Claude cannot move, manage or invest money.

According to Anthropic, users can ask about things such as the breakdown of this month's spending, how it differs from usual and how much will be left before payday. It can also explain terms such as APR (the effective interest rate expressed on an annual basis) and check total interest paid. It can create weekly spending charts, calendars of upcoming payments and dashboards showing selected figures. The help page says spending, cash flow, subscriptions and upcoming payments can be shown on the dashboard.

Limited to U.S. paid plans, with connections via Plaid

On Anthropic's pricing page, Pro costs $17 a month billed annually or $20 a month billed monthly, Max costs $100 a month and Ultra costs $200 a month. The feature is not available on the free tier or on the business plans, Team and Enterprise. It works on the web, the desktop app, iOS and Android. Only U.S. banks can be connected, up to 16 of them. Bank, credit card, loan and investment accounts are supported. The timing of availability outside the U.S. or of general availability could not be confirmed on the announcement page or the help page.

Accounts are connected through Plaid, which provides financial data connection services. Users sign in to their banks themselves through Plaid, and Claude does not receive bank passwords. According to Engadget, Plaid connects to more than 12,000 financial institutions. Data on Plaid's side is handled under that company's terms and privacy policy.

Holdings and interest rates not read, and watch for errors in figures

Claude reads the bank name, account name and type, last 4 digits of the account number, balances, credit limits and up to 24 months of transactions. For investment and loan accounts it reads only balances and limits, not holdings, trades, interest rates or contract terms. However, if a bank includes the full account number in an account name or transaction description, Claude may be able to see it.

On its help page, Anthropic says Claude can make mistakes and asks users to check important figures against their bank's app or statements. Balances may be 1 to 2 days old, and connecting the same account through 2 logins can lead to double counting. Connected accounts cannot be used in scheduled tasks, Cowork or Claude Code, and may not be usable in projects. The feature itself is not available in "Claude Duet," which runs continuously.

No ads, and conversations in the dedicated view not used for training

Personal Finance has no ads or sponsored recommendations, and Anthropic does not offer its own credit cards, loans or deposits. The company said in February that it would not put ads in Claude. Conversations in the dedicated view are not used to train models. Information users give Claude outside the dedicated view is subject to their privacy settings. These are Anthropic's statements, and no material verifying them by a third party was found.

When an account connection is removed, Claude can no longer read that account. Earlier answers remain in chats, artifacts and shared links until the user deletes them. Removing the last bank also deletes the dashboard settings. The help page says data follows Anthropic's data retention policy, and no statement of how many days it takes to delete data after disconnection could be found.

Anthropic described the feature as a "first step." It said the feature is not intended to provide investment advice, and that for big financial decisions, the best approach is for Claude to work with qualified professionals and regulated firms. It is inviting banks and asset managers to take part in shaping that approach.

ChatGPT offers its feature on the free tier and shows holdings

OpenAI launched ChatGPT's personal finance feature "Finances" in May and expanded it to the free tier in October. TechCrunch reported that Claude's new feature amounts to catching up with it. Both connect accounts via Plaid and are limited to reading.

Holdings, training and deletion period in the OpenAI column are based on the company's help page. Holdings may not be shown if a financial institution does not share the information.

Major U.S. banks wary, as announcement comes ahead of IPO

Major U.S. banks are growing more wary of AI accessing accounts. According to PYMNTS, JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said on an Oct. 13 earnings call that the bank would not let outside AI agents whose identities have not been verified into its systems. Viewing balances through approved connection services such as Plaid is still possible, he said. Bank of America also warned customers in October not to give their bank login information to AI.

The announcement coincided with the run-up to Anthropic's initial public offering. Reuters reported that it came at a time when the listing is drawing attention, and a U.S. newspaper has reported the listing for the week of Nov. 16.

Leaked "Plaid" detail matches; link to Claude Money unconfirmed

TestingCatalog reported on Oct. 18 that Anthropic was preparing "Personal Finance" and would connect accounts via Plaid. The feature's name and connection provider matched this announcement. In September, the outlet had reported that a "Money" tab was found in the Claude app and suggested it would likely launch first in the U.S.

Whether the in-development "Claude Money" belongs to the same line as this feature is unconfirmed. TestingCatalog reported a renaming in October, but the name does not appear in Anthropic's post, announcement page or help page, and the company has not explained any relationship. The main media reports that could be checked did not mention the name either.