Privacy and beta rules

During the beta, Stampede runs on play money. Nobody is charged, nobody receives money and no bill gets paid. While the site runs on play money or test cards, a banner at the top of the app says so. The section on real payments below applies once they're switched on.

If you need help with a bill

Posting here will not get a bill paid. Dial 211 to reach local bill assistance.

What we store

• Your email address, if you sign in with Google or by email.
• If you sign in with Google: the ID Google gives us for your account, so we recognize you next time.
• The name you pick for the Board.
• The bills you post and the stamps, props and thanks you give.
• Brag images you create when you open the brag screen while signed in.

Signing in with Google

When you choose "Continue with Google", Google tells us three things: your name, your email address and an ID for your Google account. We keep the email and the ID. We use your first name once, to suggest a Board name you can change, and don't keep the rest. We can't see your password, your contacts, your mail or anything else in your Google account, and we don't post or act there. No Google code runs on our pages.

What other people see

People see your Board name, your stamps and your rank. If you turn on quiet stamping, the Wire shows "Someone" for those stamps, and they don't count toward your rank on anyone else's screen. Bills show the type, the amount, the place you chose and your note. They never show your name or email.

Keep it clean

• Don't post names, addresses, account numbers or phone numbers.
• Every posted bill is reviewed before it appears.
• Names and notes pass a word filter. Hateful or abusive ones are refused.
• You can report any bill, stamp or person with the Report link next to it. A person reads every report.
• You can block someone. Their bills and stamps disappear from your screens, and they aren't told.
• We remove posts and block accounts that break these rules.

The mobile app

The Stampede app for iPhone and Android shows the same bills and keeps the same account. It stores a sign-in token on your phone, and nothing else about you. Google sign-in opens in your phone's browser and hands the app back a one-time code. It doesn't track you, show ads or read your contacts. If you add a bill photo, it uses the camera or photo library only for that. Card payments open in your phone's browser on Stripe's page, not inside the app.

When real payments are on

Posting a bill also asks for the name on the account, the company, the account number, the payment address and a photo or PDF of the bill. Only our reviewers can see these. They're encrypted, every time a reviewer opens them is logged, and they're deleted 30 days after the bill is paid, or 7 days after a bill is turned down or taken down. We keep the company's name, the amount and the payment confirmation as the record of the gift.

If you use "Fill this in from my photo," the photo goes to Anthropic's Claude API to read the fields. You check and correct everything before posting.

Card payments go through Stripe. We never see or store card numbers. We keep what you gave, when, and which bill it went to.

Money goes to the company that sent the bill, never to the person who posted it.

Deleting your account

Open the You tab and choose Delete account, on the site or in the app. It happens right away:

• Your Board name and your email are erased, along with your sign-ins, the link to your Google account, props, brag images and blocks.
• Bills you posted that nobody stamped are removed with their private details. The note you wrote on any other bill is erased.
• What you gave stays on the record, because it paid real bills, but it shows as "Someone" with no name attached.
• If a bill of yours has money on it that hasn't reached the biller, or you have card money you haven't given yet, we'll ask you to settle that first so nobody's money is stranded.

You can sign up again later with the same email. You start as a new person.

Reaching us

Use the Support page, or Support in the You tab. If you'd rather we delete something for you, ask there.