Privacy Policy

Who we are

SettleMe is an invoicing tool for studios and independents, operated by BARGE Studios Inc., a company registered in Delaware, US. For the personal data described here, we act as the data controller when you use SettleMe as a customer. When you send invoices to your own clients, you are the controller of that client data and we process it on your behalf as your processor.

Information we collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account data — your name, email address, authentication identifier, and any profile details you choose to add.
• Workspace data — your organisation name, branding, team members, roles and settings.
• Invoice & client data — the invoices, quotes, line items and the customer contact details you enter in order to bill your own clients.
• Payment data — billing details for your SettleMe subscription. Card payments are handled by Stripe; we do not store full card numbers on our servers.
• Usage & device data — log data, IP address, browser type and product interactions, collected to keep the service secure and reliable.
• Analytics data — only if you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics 4 records which pages you view, an approximate location derived from your IP address, and a random identifier stored in your browser. It is not used for advertising or cross-site profiling, and it never runs before you accept. See our Cookie Policy.
• Anonymous invoice tool — if you use our no-login invoice creator, we store your draft against a device cookie (not your identity) until you sign in or it expires. Only if you opt in, we also store a hashed device signal — never the raw details, never personal data — solely to enforce a fair-use limit of one free invoice per month. We record first-party funnel events (keyed to that same anonymous cookie id, with no personal data) to understand and improve the sign-up flow. Drafts and events are deleted on a retention schedule; if you sign in, your draft becomes a normal invoice in your workspace.
• Communications — messages you send to our support team and your contact preferences.

How we use your information

• To provide, maintain and improve the SettleMe service.
• To create and administer your account and workspace.
• To process subscription payments and send billing receipts.
• To send service messages and, where permitted, product updates you can opt out of.
• To provide support and respond to your requests.
• To monitor, secure and troubleshoot the service and prevent abuse.
• To comply with our legal, accounting and regulatory obligations.

Legal bases for processing

Under the EU and UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Contract — to deliver the service you signed up for and to manage billing.
• Legitimate interests — to secure, improve and promote our service, in a way that is balanced against your rights and freedoms.
• Consent — for analytics cookies, the optional fair-use device hash and certain marketing. Analytics runs on this basis alone, never on legitimate interests, and you can withdraw at any time from the Cookie Policy.
• Legal obligation — to meet accounting, tax and other statutory requirements.

Sharing and subprocessors

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with trusted service providers who help us operate SettleMe, under contracts that require them to protect it. Our key subprocessors are:

• Stripe — payment processing for subscriptions and client-portal payments.
• Resend — delivery of transactional and notification emails.
• Google (Google Analytics 4) — website analytics, and only for visitors who accept analytics cookies. Nothing is sent to Google before that, and the advertising signals stay switched off for the whole visit.
• Our cloud hosting provider — secure hosting of the application and database.

We may also disclose information where required by law, to enforce our agreements, or in connection with a corporate transaction such as a merger or acquisition.

International data transfers

We are established in the United States. BARGE Studios Inc is a Delaware company, and the personal data described here is processed in the US. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, using SettleMe therefore means your personal data leaves your country.

Where you give us data directly — creating an account, writing an invoice, emailing support — that transfer is necessary to provide the service you asked us for. For everything else, and for the onward processing our providers carry out on our behalf, we rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, and on the UK International Data Transfer Addendum for personal data coming from the United Kingdom. We apply supplementary technical measures alongside them: encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, and tenant isolation.

Google, our analytics provider, processes data under its own Standard Contractual Clauses and its certification to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. Analytics is the only non-essential transfer on this list, and it does not happen at all unless you accept analytics cookies.

Data retention

We keep personal data for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the service. After you close your account, we retain limited records for a reasonable period to meet legal, tax and accounting obligations, after which the data is deleted or anonymised.

Security

We use technical and organisational measures — including encryption in transit, encryption at rest, access controls and tenant isolation — to protect your data. No system can be perfectly secure, but we work continuously to safeguard the information you entrust to us.

Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to access, correct, delete or receive a portable copy of your personal data, and to restrict or object to certain processing. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. To exercise these rights, contact us using the details below. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority — the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are in the UK, or the data protection authority of your member state if you are in the EEA.

Cookies

We use a small number of cookies to keep you signed in and to remember your preferences, plus Google Analytics cookies that are set only if you accept them. For the full details — including the control that changes that choice — see our Cookie Policy.

Children’s privacy

SettleMe is a business tool that is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with data, please contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will revise the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, notify you.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Email our privacy team at privacy@settle-me.com, or write to BARGE Studios Inc., Delaware, United States.