Inspiration

FinPilot – Project Story

💡 Inspiration

FinPilot was inspired by a simple but dangerous reality: Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) feels harmless.
Small installments don’t look like debt, and because they’re spread across platforms, most users never see their true financial exposure.

As students ourselves, we realized how easy it is to stack EMIs without understanding the long-term impact. We wanted to build something that acts like a financial co-pilot — guiding users before they drift into hidden debt.

🛠️ How We Built It

FinPilot is a full-stack fintech intelligence platform.

• Backend: Flask-based server integrated with the Gmail API using secure OAuth authentication.

  • With user consent, FinPilot reads relevant emails, filters BNPL-related messages, and extracts installment details using parsing logic.
    
  • Data is structured and stored in a database.

• Financial Intelligence Layer:

  • Calculates total BNPL exposure
    
  • Tracks monthly EMI burden
    
  • Computes debt-to-income ratio
    
  • Provides risk classification (Low, Medium, High)

• Simulation Engine: Allows users to test hypothetical BNPL purchases and instantly see how it affects their financial risk.

• AI Advisory Layer: Provides contextual recommendations based on income, expenses, and borrowing patterns.

• Frontend: Built with React + Tailwind, deployed on Vercel.

• Backend Deployment: Hosted on Railway.

• Secure cross-domain authentication and API communication ensured smooth integration.

🧠 What We Learned

Building FinPilot taught us:

• How OAuth authentication works in real production systems
  
• The complexity of cross-origin session management
  
• The importance of secure API design in fintech applications
  
• How to transform raw transactional data into meaningful insights
  
• How AI can assist — not replace — responsible financial decisions

Most importantly, we learned how technology can promote financial awareness rather than just convenience.

⚡ Challenges We Faced

• Authentication Management: Handling secure session persistence between separate frontend and backend deployments.

  • Debugging redirect loops and cookie behavior required deep understanding of browser security policies.

• Delivering Insight, Not Just Data:

  • Extracting emails was technical.
    
  • Designing meaningful risk metrics and simulation logic required thoughtful financial modeling.

🌍 The Bigger Vision

FinPilot acts as a financial co-pilot — helping users understand their borrowing limits before crossing them.

By combining automation, risk modeling, behavioral insights, and AI-driven guidance, FinPilot transforms invisible micro-debt into informed financial decisions.

Built With

• axious
• css3
• flask
• framer
• geminiapi
• git
• github
• gmailapi
• google-gmail-oauth
• html5
• javascript
• pyjwt
• python
• python.env
• railway
• react
• sqlite
• tailwind
• vercel
• vite