Claude adds read-only Personal Finance tool that links bank and card accounts

Anthropic has added a Personal Finance feature to its Claude chatbot that lets users link their bank and credit card accounts and ask questions about their money in plain language. The company says the tool's access is read-only.

Announced Thursday, Nov. 5, the feature is rolling out in beta this week to subscribers on Claude's Pro, Max and Ultra plans in the United States. It is not available on other plans or outside the US for now.

"Access is read-only, and Personal Finance can't move, manage, or invest your money," Anthropic said in its announcement. Claude can review the data in connected accounts but cannot transfer funds or make investments.

Once accounts are linked, users can ask Claude questions such as where their money went in a given month. In Anthropic's example, the chatbot totals spending across all connected accounts and groups it into categories such as rent and utilities, food and drink, and shopping. Users can then follow up by asking whether that total is higher than usual or whether anything was missed.

Anthropic says the tool goes beyond spending summaries. It can compare spending from month to month, track upcoming bills and look across transactions for possible problems, including duplicate charges, unexpected fees, purchases that seem out of the ordinary, subscription costs that keep rising and bills that climb steadily over time. Users can also ask broader questions, such as whether they are spending more than they earn.

The chatbot can explain financial terms that are new to a user. Anthropic offered APR, or annual percentage rate, as an example: Claude can define it and calculate how much interest a user has paid over the past year.

Claude can also turn the numbers into visuals, including charts, bill calendars and dashboards. An Anthropic representative told ZDNET that users can request a weekly spending chart or a calendar of payments due. Claude builds each one as an artifact the user can keep editing and return to later.

Anthropic said the feature responds to how people already use Claude. According to the company, its April usage report found that financial advice was among the main topics users bring to the chatbot.

Accounts are linked through Plaid, a service that connects apps to banks. Users sign in to their bank themselves through Plaid, agree to Plaid's terms and approve Claude's read-only access there. Anthropic says this means Claude never asks for or sees a bank password.

Linked accounts still expose sensitive information. For each account a user chooses to connect, Claude can see:

• the bank's name
• the account's name, type and last four digits
• balances and credit limits
• up to two years of transactions

Anthropic says conversations held inside the dedicated Personal Finance hub are not used to train its models. According to MacRumors, those chats also stay out of Claude's shared memory. Users can disconnect accounts at any time.

The protections apply only inside the hub. ZDNET reported that financial details a user shares or discusses with Claude elsewhere are covered only by that user's regular Claude privacy settings.

The feature carries no ads or sponsored recommendations, Anthropic said. The company added that it does not sell its own credit cards, loans or savings accounts through Claude.

Anthropic says Personal Finance is meant to help people understand their money and is not designed to give investment advice. Because Claude works from actual transaction data rather than from memory, the company argues the feature should be less likely to make up figures.

"It can list the exact transactions behind any number so you can check its math," Anthropic told ZDNET by email. The company still cautioned that the tool can get things wrong. "Like any AI, it can make mistakes, so for anything important, we recommend confirming with your bank," it said.

Anthropic also suggests that users ask Claude which transactions produced a given figure before relying on it.

OpenAI added a comparable feature, ChatGPT Finances, in May. It also lets users connect financial accounts and ask about everything from spending patterns to long-term planning. Google's Gemini can analyze spending through its integration with Google Wallet, Android Authority reported. The same outlet said it first saw signs of Claude's finance feature in development in September.

The launch comes as banks raise concerns about AI assistants. Bank of America recently warned customers not to share their banking passwords with AI assistants, Android Authority reported. The bank has also promoted AI's potential in banking.

Personal Finance adds to a series of specialized Claude products. Earlier this year, Anthropic launched Claude for Legal and Claude for Financial Services.

Anthropic describes the consumer tool as a starting point. "Personal Finance is a first step," the company said. It wants larger money decisions handled by Claude together with the licensed professionals and regulated firms people already trust, and it said it is exploring how to make that possible.

"We'd like to hear from banks, wealth managers, and financial services companies who want to help shape it," Anthropic said.