COOKIE POLICY · 18 SEPTEMBER 2026

Optional technologies stay off until you choose.

This policy covers cookies and similar storage technologies used by Payoff Atlas. Browser local storage is not a cookie, but UK PECR rules can apply to both.

Your controls

On your first visit, Reject all and Accept all are presented at the same level, with a separate option to manage purposes. Analytics is off by default. Advertising is disabled site-wide.

Use Cookie preferences in the footer on any page to review or change your choice. Rejecting or withdrawing does not stop the calculator from working. Browser or device controls can also delete stored information, but blocking all storage means the site may ask again on a later page.

Strictly necessary local storage

Name: payoff-atlas-consent-v2

Purpose: remembers separate analytics and advertising states, the consent-notice version, choice method, choice and withdrawal timestamps, and expiry. This prevents repeated prompts and applies later withdrawals.

Contents: schema and policy versions, boolean category choices, action history, updatedAt and expiresAt. It does not contain calculator inputs, a name, email address or advertising identifier.

Retention: up to 180 days after the latest choice, then the site requests a new choice. Clearing site data removes it sooner.

Access: read by first-party Payoff Atlas code in this browser. The preference code does not transmit this record to Payoff Atlas or Google.

Analytics cookies — optional

Only after Analytics is enabled does the site load Google Analytics. The site configures these first-party cookies for 180 days from creation and disables expiry refresh:

_ga — distinguishes a browser for audience measurement.
_ga_<measurement-id> — keeps session state for the configured GA4 property.

Google documents a two-year default for these cookies, but Payoff Atlas requests the shorter period above using cookie_expires and cookie_update: false. Browser behaviour and future Google changes can affect the exact result. See Google's current Google Analytics cookie documentation.

Analytics is used for page and limited feature measurement. Financial inputs and results are not allowed event parameters. See the Privacy Policy for the event and data categories.

Advertising cookies — not currently used

Google AdSense scripts are disabled in this build, even though a publisher ID and ads.txt entry are present. This self-hosted preference interface is not a Google-certified CMP and cannot enable advertising.

If the controller later completes a Google-certified CMP integration and enables advertising, the policy and consent version must be updated before scripts are deployed. Depending on the certified CMP choices and Google service, possible cookies may include:

NID — ad delivery and preferences; Google states six months after last use.
IDE or id — ads on non-Google sites or non-personalised-ad preference; Google states 13 months in the UK.
_gads — ad measurement and delivery; Google states 13 months.
_gac_* and _gcl_* — campaign and conversion measurement; Google states 90 days.

These are examples, not a claim that they are currently set. A future certified CMP must provide the live vendor, purpose and storage list. Check How Google uses cookies and Google's CMP requirements for UK publishers.

Third parties, rights and complaints

Optional Analytics involves Google. Links to external sites are governed by those sites' own notices and may set their own cookies after you follow a link. Payoff Atlas does not control storage on another website.

The responsible controller is not yet supplied — UK publication blocker. Privacy contact: not yet supplied — UK publication blocker.

You may withdraw optional consent at any time through the footer control. For other data-protection rights, see the Privacy Policy. You may also complain to the ICO.

Scope of this baseline

This implementation is a technical compliance baseline based on current published guidance. It is not legal advice or a guarantee that the operator has met every UK obligation. The operator must verify the deployed tags, providers, contracts and notices before launch and after material changes.