1. Who we are and what this policy covers
DollarVisor (“we,” “us,” “our”) operates dollarvisor.com, a US personal finance comparison site covering insurance, credit cards, loans, and investing. This privacy policy explains what information we collect when you visit the site, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices and legal rights you have.
This policy covers dollarvisor.com only. It does not cover third-party websites we link to: insurance companies, banks, government sites, or anyone else. Once you leave our site, their privacy policies apply, not ours. Related site policies live on our Terms of Use, Disclaimer, and Advertising Disclosure pages.
2. Information we collect
We collect information two ways: automatically, when your browser loads the site, and directly, when you choose to send it to us. We do not offer user accounts, so we never collect passwords, financial account numbers, Social Security numbers, or payment details.
Collected automatically
- Log and device data. Like nearly every website, our servers and analytics tools record your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device type, screen size, referring page, the pages you view, and the date and time of each visit.
- Approximate location. Your IP address tells us your general location, usually at the city or state level. Because DollarVisor is built on state-level numbers, we look at this only in aggregate, to see which states our readers come from. We never receive precise GPS location.
- Cookie data. Cookies and similar technologies set by us and by third parties such as Google. Section 3 and Section 4 cover these in detail.
- Calculator inputs. Numbers you type into our calculators (loan amounts, rates, terms) are processed in your browser. We do not store them on our servers or tie them to your identity.
Provided by you
- Contact form and email. If you use our contact page or email us, we receive your name (if given), email address, and the content of your message. We use it only to reply and to fix whatever you reported.
- Corrections reports. If you report an error in our content, we keep the report and our response as part of our corrections log, described in our editorial policy.
3. Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser. Some come from us (“first-party cookies”) and some from companies whose technology we use, mainly Google (“third-party cookies”). Here is what runs on dollarvisor.com:
| Type | Set by | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | DollarVisor | Basic site functions, such as remembering a cookie-consent choice. These can’t be switched off. |
| Analytics | Google Analytics | Counts visits, pages viewed, and traffic sources so we know which guides help readers. See Section 5. |
| Advertising | Google AdSense and its certified ad partners | Serves ads, limits how often you see the same ad, measures ad performance, and (unless you opt out) personalizes ads based on your visits to this and other sites. See Section 4. |
You can also control cookies directly in your browser: every major browser lets you block or delete cookies in its settings (typically under Privacy or Site Settings). Blocking all cookies may break small parts of some sites, but dollarvisor.com’s content remains fully readable without them.
4. Advertising: Google AdSense and third-party cookies
DollarVisor is funded by display advertising served through Google AdSense. That funding model is why we can promise no pay-to-rank: advertisers buy ad space through Google’s network, never placement in our rankings. How the money works is documented on our Advertising Disclosure page. Here is how the data side works:
- Google uses advertising cookies on this site. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to dollarvisor.com and other websites across the internet.
- Personalized ads. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to show you ads chosen for your interests, inferred from your browsing across sites and apps that use Google’s ad services.
- Ad partners. Google works with certified third-party ad-technology vendors that may also place and read cookies when ads are served here. Google publishes how it and these partners use data at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
- What we see. We never see the individual browsing profiles Google builds. We receive only aggregate reports (impressions, clicks, earnings) with no personal identities in them.
How to opt out of personalized ads
- Google Ads Settings: turn off ad personalization for your Google account and browser at adssettings.google.com. You will still see ads here, but they won’t be based on your interests.
- Industry-wide opt-out: opt out of many third-party vendors’ personalization cookies in one place at optout.aboutads.info (Digital Advertising Alliance’s WebChoices tool) or optout.networkadvertising.org (Network Advertising Initiative).
- Browser controls: block third-party cookies in your browser settings. Most modern browsers offer this switch, and some enable it by default.
Opting out does not reduce the number of ads: only how closely they match your browsing history.
5. Analytics
We use Google Analytics to understand site traffic: which pages get read, how visitors find us, and roughly where they are. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects data such as your IP address, device information, and page interactions. We use IP anonymization where the tool supports it, and we do not use Analytics data to identify individual visitors.
Google explains its handling of this data at policies.google.com/privacy. You can block Google Analytics in any browser with Google’s opt-out add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
6. How we use your information
We use the information described above only to:
- Operate, maintain, and secure the website;
- Understand which content helps readers, so we can write more of it and keep it updated;
- Serve and measure advertising through Google AdSense, which funds the site;
- Respond to messages, questions, and corrections reports;
- Detect and prevent abuse, such as scraping, click fraud, or attacks on the site;
- Comply with legal obligations.
We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you, and we do not build individual marketing profiles of our readers.
7. When we share information
We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in these situations:
- Service providers. Companies that help us run the site (web hosting, Google Analytics, Google AdSense, and email) process data on our behalf or under their own policies, as described above.
- Advertising partners. As covered in Section 4, Google and its certified ad partners collect data through cookies when serving ads. This sharing may count as “sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising” under California law; Section 9 explains your opt-out rights.
- Legal requirements. We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or court order, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of DollarVisor, our readers, or others.
- Business transfer. If DollarVisor is ever acquired or merged, reader information may transfer to the new owner under this same policy, and we would post notice of any material change here.
8. How long we keep data
- Server logs: kept up to 12 months for security and abuse prevention, then deleted or anonymized.
- Analytics data: retained in Google Analytics for 14 months, the shortest standard retention setting, then automatically deleted.
- Contact emails: kept up to 24 months after our last exchange, so we have context if you write again, then deleted. Corrections reports are kept longer as part of our permanent corrections log, with personal details removed on request.
- Advertising cookies: lifetimes are set by Google, not us; most expire within 13 months. You can clear them any time in your browser.
9. Your privacy rights
If you are in California (CCPA/CPRA)
The California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA, gives California residents the right to:
- Know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose, and request a copy of it;
- Delete personal information we hold about you, subject to legal exceptions;
- Correct inaccurate personal information;
- Opt out of “sale” or “sharing” of personal information. We do not sell data for money, but cookie-based ad personalization may qualify as “sharing” under California law. To opt out, use the cookie and ad controls in Section 4, enable Global Privacy Control in your browser (see Section 10), or email us;
- Limit use of sensitive personal information, not applicable, as we do not collect sensitive personal information as defined by the CPRA;
- Non-discrimination: we will never degrade your access to the site for exercising any of these rights. All content is free to all readers either way.
To exercise any of these rights, email contact@dollarvisor.com with the subject line “Privacy request.” We will confirm receipt within 10 business days and respond within 45 days as the law requires. We will ask you to verify your email address; we never ask for government ID or financial details to process a privacy request. You may also use an authorized agent, whose authority we will verify.
If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland (GDPR)
DollarVisor is written for US readers, but if you visit from a GDPR jurisdiction, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you (Article 15);
- Rectify inaccurate data (Article 16);
- Erase your data: the “right to be forgotten” (Article 17);
- Restrict or object to processing, including objecting to processing based on legitimate interests (Articles 18 and 21);
- Data portability: receive your data in a machine-readable format (Article 20);
- Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent, such as advertising cookies;
- Complain to your national data protection authority.
Our legal bases are: legitimate interest for security logs and basic analytics, consent for advertising and analytics cookies where consent is required, and legal obligation where the law compels us to retain or disclose data. To exercise any GDPR right, email contact@dollarvisor.com; we respond within 30 days.
Other US states
Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws (including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, and Oregon) have similar rights of access, correction, deletion, and opt-out of targeted advertising. The same email route applies, and we honor these requests regardless of which state you live in.
10. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Our site honors the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal: if your browser sends GPC, we treat it as a valid opt-out of cookie-based ad “sharing” for California and other states that recognize it. Older “Do Not Track” browser signals have no industry-agreed meaning, and like most sites we do not change behavior based on DNT alone: use GPC or the opt-out tools in Section 4 instead.
11. Children’s privacy
DollarVisor is a personal finance site for adults. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email contact@dollarvisor.com and we will delete it promptly.
12. Data security
We serve the entire site over HTTPS, restrict access to contact-form messages to the small team listed on our authors page, and keep the software behind the site updated. No website can promise perfect security, but we collect so little personal data that our best protection is the simplest one: there is very little here to steal. If a breach ever affects your personal information, we will notify you and regulators as applicable law requires.
13. International visitors and data transfers
DollarVisor is operated from and hosted in the United States. If you visit from outside the US, your information is processed in the US, where privacy laws may differ from your home country’s. Google, our advertising and analytics provider, participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for transfers from Europe; details are in Google’s privacy policy linked in Section 5.
14. Links to other sites
Our guides link to government sources, regulators, insurers, banks, and other third parties. We link to primary sources because our methodology demands it, but we do not control those sites, and this privacy policy does not apply to them. Check their policies before submitting personal information anywhere.
15. Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we will update it here and revise the effective date at the top and bottom of the page. For material changes (anything that expands what we collect or share) we will post a notice on the homepage for at least 30 days. We will never apply a material change retroactively to data collected under an older version.
16. How to contact us
For any privacy question, request, or complaint, email contact@dollarvisor.com or use our contact page. We answer privacy requests within the legal deadlines above and general questions within 3 business days.
Effective date: August 2, 2026 · DollarVisor · contact@dollarvisor.com · Back to home