Here is pertinent verbiage from the Plaid Privacy Statement.
Information we collect from your financial accounts. The information we receive from the financial product and service providers that maintain your financial accounts varies depending on the specific Plaid services developers use to power their applications, as well as the information made available by those providers. But, in general, we collect the following types of identifiers, commercial information, and other personal information from your financial product and service providers:
Account information, including financial institution name, account name, account type, account ownership, branch number, IBAN, BIC, and account and routing number;
Information about an account balance, including current and available balance;
Information about credit accounts, including due dates, balances owed, payment amounts and dates, transaction history, credit limit, repayment status, and interest rate;
Information about loan accounts, including due dates, repayment status, balances, payment amounts and dates, interest rate, guarantor, loan type, payment plan, and terms;
Information about investment accounts, including transaction information, type of asset, identifying details about the asset, quantity, price, fees, and cost basis;
Identifiers and information about the account owner(s), including name, email address, phone number, date of birth, and address information;
Information about account transactions, including amount, date, payee, type, quantity, price, location, involved securities, and a description of the transaction; and
Professional information, including information about your employer, in limited cases where you’ve connected your payroll accounts.
The data collected from your financial accounts includes information from all your accounts (e.g., checking, savings, and credit card) accessible through a single set of account credentials.
I never used Plaid, but it reads like information used in typical bank application for credit. Why would anyone willingly share this much without get something major in return?
Does Plaid bank the underbanked? I am not sure what their appeal is.
Automatic verification of funds, of employment, of income. Plus you can have plaid automatically setup a stripe account in stripe connect, you’d be shocked at how many people screw up their bank account information when filling out a form.
Information we collect from your financial accounts. The information we receive from the financial product and service providers that maintain your financial accounts varies depending on the specific Plaid services developers use to power their applications, as well as the information made available by those providers. But, in general, we collect the following types of identifiers, commercial information, and other personal information from your financial product and service providers:
Account information, including financial institution name, account name, account type, account ownership, branch number, IBAN, BIC, and account and routing number;
Information about an account balance, including current and available balance;
Information about credit accounts, including due dates, balances owed, payment amounts and dates, transaction history, credit limit, repayment status, and interest rate;
Information about loan accounts, including due dates, repayment status, balances, payment amounts and dates, interest rate, guarantor, loan type, payment plan, and terms;
Information about investment accounts, including transaction information, type of asset, identifying details about the asset, quantity, price, fees, and cost basis;
Identifiers and information about the account owner(s), including name, email address, phone number, date of birth, and address information;
Information about account transactions, including amount, date, payee, type, quantity, price, location, involved securities, and a description of the transaction; and
Professional information, including information about your employer, in limited cases where you’ve connected your payroll accounts.
The data collected from your financial accounts includes information from all your accounts (e.g., checking, savings, and credit card) accessible through a single set of account credentials.