Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

CashShield is a profit tracking tool built for New Zealand sole traders and tradies. We're operated by CashShield (hosted on Polsia infrastructure) from Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.

This policy follows the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and its 13 Information Privacy Principles. We've written it in plain English because legal jargon helps nobody.

2. What information we collect

We only collect what we need to make CashShield work for you. Nothing more.

When you sign up:

• Your name (optional) — so we can personalise your dashboard
• Your email address — so you can log in to your account
• A password — stored as a secure hash (we can never see your actual password)

When you use CashShield:

• Job names — e.g. "Smith bathroom reno"
• Revenue (what you charged) — the dollar amount for each job
• Material costs — what you spent on materials
• Hours worked — time spent on the job

That's it. We don't collect your phone number, physical address, bank details, IRD number, or anything else.

3. Why we collect it

Simple: to provide you with the profit tracking service.

• Your email and password let you log in securely
• Your job data lets us calculate your profit, hourly rate, and monthly stats
• Your name makes the app feel a bit more personal (it's optional)

We don't use your data for marketing profiles, ad targeting, or anything creepy. Your job data exists to serve you.

4. How we store and protect your data

We take security seriously:

• Database: Your data is stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted by Neon (a secure, managed database provider)
• Hosting: The app runs on Render, a trusted cloud hosting platform with enterprise-grade security
• Passwords: Hashed with bcrypt (industry standard) — we can never see your password
• Connections: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers uses HTTPS encryption
• Access: Only the CashShield system accesses your data. No human reads your job entries.

5. Who we share your data with

The only services that handle your data are the infrastructure providers that run CashShield (our database host and web server). They don't access your data — they just store and serve it.

We will only disclose your information if required by New Zealand law (e.g. a court order). We'd need a very good legal reason, and we'd tell you if we could.

6. Your rights (this is the important bit)

Under the Privacy Act 2020, you have clear rights over your data:

• Access: You can ask us what data we hold about you. We'll tell you within 20 working days (but we'll aim for much faster).
• Correction: If something's wrong, you can ask us to fix it. Or just edit it yourself in the app.
• Deletion: You can ask us to delete your account and all your data. We'll wipe everything — your account, all your job records, everything. Gone. No "we'll keep it for 90 days just in case."

To exercise any of these rights, email us at cashshield@polsia.app. We'll sort it out.

7. Cookies and sessions

Let's keep this simple:

• What's a cookie? A small file stored in your browser so a website can remember you.
• What we use: We use a JWT (JSON Web Token) stored in your browser's local storage to keep you logged in. It's like a VIP pass that expires after 30 days.
• No tracking cookies: We don't use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any third-party tracking. We use a simple, privacy-respecting page view counter — no personal data is collected from it.

That's the full picture. No hidden trackers, no ad networks watching you.

8. Data retention

Your data stays as long as you want it to:

• Active account: Your data stays until you delete it or ask us to
• Deleted account: When you delete your account, we remove all your data from our database. Job records, profile info, the lot. We don't keep shadow copies.

9. Children's privacy

CashShield is designed for working tradies and sole traders. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If we discover we have, we'll delete it immediately.

10. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top. For significant changes, we'll let you know via the app.

We won't suddenly start selling your data or doing anything dodgy. That's not who we are.

11. Contact us

Got a question about your privacy? Want to access or delete your data? Just email us:

You also have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner if you think we've breached your privacy:

• Website: privacy.org.nz
• Phone: 0800 803 909