FinPal

FinPal is a financial wellness platform designed to make money management feel empowering, not intimidating. We were inspired by OneEthos’ mission to make financial resources more accessible and uplifting for low-income individuals, so our goal became to automate budgeting, provide financial literacy, and offer real assistance within one simple app. FinPal uses non-judgmental language, supports multilingual interaction, and focuses on the future instead of punishing users for the past.

The current version of FinPal features a mock Plaid integration that simulates connecting to a sample bank account. It then anticipates recurring expenses, automatically sets that money aside, and calculates a “safe-to-spend” budget so users can spend without guilt. When things don’t go as planned, like an overdraft, FinPal directs users to Dale, our helpful AI agent powered by the Google Gemini API. Dale provides guidance on financial literacy, helps users locate food banks or rental assistance, and offers practical support resources in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole.

We built FinPal using HTML, TailwindCSS, and JavaScript, and integrated the Google Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview model directly through API calls to power Dale’s responses. Out of caution (and a bit of hackathon anxiety), we didn’t host it publicly. Instead, it’s run locally for demo purposes, showing off both the budgeting automation and chatbot interaction.

Originally, we started with a much more complex version that used the Plaid API and our custom UI from Figma, but we ran into major merge issues that broke most of the code. So, in true hackathon spirit, we started from scratch late in the game, stripped it down to the essentials, and focused on getting Dale and the budgeting system working smoothly.

We’re incredibly proud of what we accomplished and the message it stands for: solidarity with low-income individuals who often feel excluded or shamed by mainstream finance apps that cater to the wealthy.

This was our first hackathon, and it was a crash course in creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork under sleep deprivation. We learned our weaknesses (UI integration) and our strengths (determination and adaptability), and we came out of it more confident than ever. FinPal might have started small, but it represents a bigger vision: making financial wellness accessible, empathetic, and stigma-free.

Thank you for reading! 💚 Team FinPal 💚