Anthropic on Thursday, Nov. 5, announced Personal Finance, a feature now in testing that lets Claude users link their bank, credit card, loan and investment accounts and ask about their money in their own words. Anthropic said on Nov. 5 that it was starting to roll it out gradually, from the week of Nov. 2, to people in the U.S. on the paid Pro, Max and Ultra plans, on the web, the desktop app and the iPhone and Android apps. Anthropic says it is reaching people gradually, so some will not see it yet.
In Anthropic's example, a user asks "Where did my money go this month?" Claude adds up spending across the linked accounts and sorts it by category, then answers follow-ups such as "Is that more than usual?" The company says Claude can point out charges that hit twice, unexpected fees or a bill that has crept up all year. In another example, Claude explains a term such as APR, then adds up the interest a person has been charged this year. A Personal Finance page shows spending, accounts, subscriptions and upcoming bills.
People link their accounts through Plaid, a service that connects apps to banks. They sign in to their bank there, so Claude does not ask for or see the password. Claude can only read the accounts: it cannot move, manage or invest money. For each account a person shares, it sees the bank's name, the account's name, type and last four digits, balances and credit limits, and up to two years of transactions. Anthropic says chats on the Personal Finance page are not used to train its models, while money questions in a regular chat follow the user's usual privacy settings.
Anthropic warns that Claude can make mistakes and tells people to check important figures with their bank. Its help page says balances can be a day or two old, and an account linked through two logins may be counted twice. If Claude loses access to a bank, the page's spending figures leave that bank out, so a budget can show more money left than a person has. For investment, loan and card accounts, Claude reads only balances and credit limits, not holdings, rates or terms. Anthropic says the feature is not designed to give investment advice.
Anthropic's version follows a similar feature in ChatGPT. OpenAI began testing it in May with U.S. users on its ChatGPT Pro plan, opened it to Plus subscribers in June, and on Oct. 2 started rolling it out to U.S. users on its Free and Go plans. Anthropic's version needs a Pro, Max or Ultra plan. Pro costs $20 a month, or $17 a month when paid yearly. For bigger money decisions, Anthropic says it is exploring ways for Claude to work alongside licensed professionals and regulated firms. It has not said when Personal Finance will reach other countries or other plans.