Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 June 2026

Who we are

Helena.finance is a service operated by Independent Check Ltd(“we”, “us”, “our”), a company registered in England and Wales under company number 08302295, with its registered office at Celtic House, Caxton Place, Cardiff, CF23 8HA.

Independent Check Ltd is the data controller responsible for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, contact us at info@independentcheck.co.uk.

1. The data we collect

Account data: email, username, and a secure hash of your password when you register.
Conversation data: the messages you exchange with Helena, our AI companion.
Profile data we generate (“AI Memory”): see section 3 — an automated summary of your circumstances built from your conversations.
Plan data: your personalised financial action plan.
Journey progress: which journeys you have started and your progress through them.
Technical data: IP address, browser type, and session information.
Calculator result emails: if — and only if — you ask us to email a calculator result, we collect your email address and the figures from that calculation.
Adviser enquiries: when you choose to send an enquiry to an adviser, we collect the details you provide — your name, email, phone number (if given), location, and a summary of your situation and questions.

Calculator result emails are opt-in.Our calculators work without any sign-up and we don't record your use of them. If you choose to have a result emailed to you, we send it to your address and notify our team that the calculator was used — including your email, the approximate city/region derived from your IP address (via a third-party lookup service), and a rough description of your device. That email is sent only because you requested it; we do not add you to any marketing list. If you don't opt in, none of this happens.

2. Special category (health) data

Helena helps women through life transitions such as divorce, bereavement and starting a business. During these conversations you may choose to share information that UK data protection law treats as “special category” data — most commonly information about your health, disability or wellbeing.

We process this information on the basis of your explicit consent, which you give by choosing to share it with Helena in order to receive more relevant guidance and, if you ask, to be matched with a suitable adviser. You do not have to share any health information to use the service. You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the relevant messages, asking us to delete your data, or contacting us — and we will stop processing it. Please only share what you are comfortable sharing.

3. Automated processing and the “AI Memory” profile

How Helena works.Your conversations are processed by an automated AI language model to generate Helena's replies. We use Anthropicas our AI provider. Your messages, and relevant context such as your plan and AI Memory profile, are sent securely to Anthropic's API to generate each response. Anthropic processes this data in the United States (see section 6 on international transfers). Anthropic does not use data submitted through its API to train its models, and we do not use your conversations to train AI models.

The AI Memory profile. To avoid asking you the same things repeatedly and to tailor guidance, an automated process builds and stores a short profile from your conversations. This may include details such as your age, region, employment and life situation, financial circumstances, your stated priorities and concerns, and brief notes — which can include health-related context you have shared. This profile helps Helena respond more usefully and helps us match you to an adviser if you ask.

This profiling does not make any decision that produces a legal or similarly significant effect on you. Helena provides general guidance, not regulated financial advice, and never makes a decision about you on its own. You can ask to see, correct, or delete your AI Memory profile at any time.

4. How we use your data, and our legal bases

Under UK GDPR we rely on the following legal bases:

To provide the service — your account, conversations, plan and journey progress. Legal basis: performance of a contract with you (or, for anonymous use before you register, our legitimate interests in providing the service you have asked for).
To tailor guidance using health information you share. Legal basis: your explicit consent (section 2).
To pass an adviser enquiry to an adviser, when you submit one. Legal basis: consent / steps taken at your request.
To email you a calculator result, when you ask. Legal basis: consent.
To improve Helena and keep the service secure (including preventing abuse and enforcing rate limits). Legal basis: legitimate interests. This does not involve using your conversations to train AI models.
To measure how the site is used — we use self-hosted, cookieless analytics (Umami) that collects aggregate statistics only (page views, referral sources, approximate location by country) and cannot identify you. We also record which marketing campaign or referring site first brought a visit to us. Legal basis: legitimate interests.

5. Who we share your data with

We do not sell your data. We share it only with service providers (“processors”) who act on our instructions, and with advisers when you choose to make an enquiry:

Anthropic(AI provider): your conversation messages and relevant context, to generate Helena's replies. See Anthropic's privacy policy.
Resend (email provider): your email address and the content of transactional emails, such as verification, password reset, calculator results and adviser-enquiry confirmations.
Financial advisers: only when you explicitly submit an enquiry through our adviser directory.
Stripe (payment processor): for advisers who subscribe to our directory, name, email and billing details are shared with Stripe to process subscription payments. See Stripe's privacy policy.

We may also disclose data where required by law, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

6. International transfers

Our database and core systems are hosted within the UK/EU. Some of our processors — in particular Anthropic — process personal data in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, so that your data continues to be protected.

7. How long we keep your data

We keep your personal data only for as long as we need it:

Account, conversation and profile data: kept while your account is open. You can delete your data or close your account at any time (see section 8), and we will erase it. If you do not register, anonymous conversation data is kept only on a temporary basis.
Adviser enquiries: retained for up to 12 months from submission, after which they are automatically and permanently deleted. You can ask us to delete an enquiry sooner at any time.

8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

access the personal data we hold about you;
have inaccurate data corrected;
have your data erased;
receive your data in a portable format;
object to, or ask us to restrict, processing;
withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent (this does not affect processing already carried out).

To exercise any of these rights, email info@independentcheck.co.uk. We aim to respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk. We'd appreciate the chance to put things right first.

9. Children

Helena.finance is intended for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.

10. Cookies

We use essential cookies for session management and optional analytics cookies. See our Cookie Policy for details.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make a material change, we will update the date above and may ask you to review and accept the updated policy the next time you sign in.

12. Contact

Independent Check Ltd
Celtic House, Caxton Place, Cardiff, CF23 8HA
info@independentcheck.co.uk