Hi Ken,

We arrive in your inbox today for a joyous-ish occasion:

The Legally Required Annual Celebration of Privacy Policy Updates and Disclosure of Regulation E Guidelines for Electronic Fund Transfers! Hooray!

If that somehow sounds both boring and kind of scary, don't worry. It's not a huge deal, but the information is pretty important. We'll do our best to make it a bit less boring.

Oh hello, updates to our privacy policy, nice to meet you

Simple's privacy policy explains the type of information we collect and what we do with it. In short, we don't sell your data to anyone. We do use it to meet legal requirements and to learn how to make Simple better.

New this year in our privacy policy:

• We can share data to and from a third-party partner to help us gear up for faster external account verification.
• Shared a link to make opting out of interest-based advertising easier.

Cracking the mysterious mysteries of Regulation E

Regulation E is a set of rules to explain exactly how we handle cases of fraud on our customers' accounts. Let's translate this big hunk of legalese into human-speak as we go.

We presently offer many bank services that may be considered "Electronic Fund Transfers," including, but not limited to, Automated Teller Machine ("ATM") transactions; point-of-sale ("POS") transactions; ACH transactions, including, but not limited to, direct deposits and preauthorized withdrawals; automated telephone transfers; and online transfers.

Translation: This first paragraph is a bunch of words and acronyms (which is the whole deal with legalese, basically) to define the common ways Simple helps you move money into and out of your account through card swipes, transfers, and ATMs.

Tell us AT ONCE if you believe your card and/or PIN has been lost or stolen, or if you believe that an electronic fund transfer has been made without your permission. Telephoning or messaging us is the best way of keeping your possible losses down You can also block your card from within the Simple app. You could lose all the money in your account. If you tell us within 2 business days after you learn of the loss or theft of your card/PIN, you can lose no more than $50 if someone used your card/PIN without your permission.

If you do NOT tell us within 2 business days after you learn of the loss or theft of your card/PIN, and we can prove we could have stopped someone from using your card/PIN without your permission if you had told us, you could lose as much as $500.

Also, if your statement shows transfers that you did not make, including those made by card, PIN or other means, tell us at once. If you do not tell us within 60 days after the statement was made available to you, you may not get back any money you lost after the 60 days if we can prove that we could have stopped someone from taking the money if you had told us in time. If a good reason (such as a long trip or a hospital stay) kept you from telling us, we will extend the time periods.

Translation: These three paragraphs offer some important lessons about what you should do when you think your card has been lost or stolen. Basically, do something, fast! As soon as you suspect that something's not right, block your card in the app and get in touch with us.

Acting fast is important to protect your information and your money. The longer you wait, the more money you might lose. This is a rule designed to prevent common types of bank fraud.

If you believe that your Card or PIN has been lost or stolen or that someone has transferred or may transfer money from your account without your permission, immediately contact the Customer Relations team at 888-248-0632. You may be required to confirm the information provided by writing to us at the following address:

Simple Finance Technology Corp
PO Box #28462
Portland, OR 97228
Phone: +1 888-248-0632
https://www.simple.com

Translation: There might actually be rare cases when you have to write us a letter to officially document fraudulent activity on your account. A real letter, like, on paper! If this happens, it will probably be the first real letter we've ever received at Simple. Exciting! To commemorate the occasion, we promise to write those first 50 letter-writers back, by hand, using our fluffiest feather quill.

But really, it's unlikely we'll ever ask you to do this. If we do, we'll be in touch early and often and do everything we can to make it as easy as possible. We certainly won't ask you to dig up the address from this email.

In Case of Errors or Questions About Your Electronic Transfers telephone us at +1 888-248-0632. Write us at Account Services, Simple Finance Technology Corp, PO BOX #28462, Portland, OR 97228 (or email us at support@simple.com) as soon as you can, if you think your statement or receipt is wrong or if you need more information about a transfer listed on the statement or receipt. We must hear from you no later than 60 days after we sent the FIRST statement on which the problem or error appeared.
• (1) Tell us your name and account number (if any).
• (2) Describe the error or the transfer you are unsure about, and explain as clearly as you can why you believe it is an error or why you need more information.
• (3) Tell us the dollar amount of the suspected error.

If you tell us orally, we may require that you send us your complaint or question in writing within 10 business days.

We will determine whether an error occurred within 10 business days after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. If we need more time, however, we may take up to 45 days to investigate your complaint or question. If we decide to do this, we will credit your account within 10 business days for the amount you think is in error, so that you will have the use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation. If we ask you to put your complaint or question in writing and we do not receive it within 10 business days, we may not credit your account.

For errors involving new accounts, point-of-sale, or foreign- initiated transactions, we may take up to 90 days to investigate your complaint or question. For new accounts, we may take up to 20 business days to credit your account for the amount you think is in error.

We will tell you the results within three business days after completing our investigation. If we decide that there was no error, we will send you a written explanation. You may ask for copies of the documents that we used in our investigation.

Translation: Whew! That was 362 words about what happens when you get in touch with us about a potentially fraudulent charge. If you're feeling brave, there are lots of dates and details in there. But here are the basics:

1. You let us know when something looks weird. (Sooner is always better.)
2. We figure out what happened, let you know, and fix it.

(That was just 23 words, by the way.)

And that's pretty much it for our Annual Celebration of Privacy Policy Updates and Disclosure of Regulation E Guidelines for Electronic Fund Transfers! Hooray! Did you make it this far? If so, you now know more about bank rules than most people in the world. You also get this puppy photo:

May the rest of your day be free of legalese,

- The Team at Simple