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Hey HN! One of the founders here. We're really excited to share this today. It's just a start, but this is something we’ve wanted to release for a long time now

Hey HN! One of the founders here. We're really excited to share this today. It's just a start, but this is something we’ve wanted to release for a long time now :). We believe that data portability and an open ecosystem will be table stakes for all fintech companies. You should have granular, differential control of your data. You should be able to grant access to specific functions or aspects of your financial account without wholesale sharing your account login information. You should be able to verify your identity without sharing other personal information. We ultimately intend for this API to be full read / write capable, including the ability to read transaction data, set rules programmatically, verify identity, create & manage virtual numbers, and transfer funds. That said, security is core to what we do at Privacy.com and this extends to our API. We want to empower people to build applications on top of our API that delight users, without compromising their privacy or security. We would really value your feedback as a user, developer, or information security professional!

wyattjoh 8y ago
Would really love to see Privacy.com come to Canada now that Plaid announced support[0]! [0]: https://blog.plaid.com/plaid-in-canada/ https://blog.plaid.com/plaid-in-canada/
- boling11 8y ago
  We'd love to as well! Unfortunately we don't have a public timeframe we can share yet :(.
HEHENE 8y ago
This is wildly cool. I signed up when I saw your original post here on HN and have used it occasionally. In the last week or so I have started using it religiously for every online purchase. Now I'm in the process of moving all my recurring charges to Privacy. You have absolutely delighted this user, and your API is just the icing on the cake. Keep up the great work.
- boling11 8y ago
  Thank you!
osrec 8y ago
Hi, we have a fair few US users of our accounting app (https://usebx.com https://usebx.com) - would you consider providing early API access to our devs so that we can integrate with your service?
ikeboy 8y ago
I used privacy but had issues after transactions were let through when cards were closed /paused. When I tried disputing them, my account was closed and disputes denied. Why does your marketing claim falsely that transactions cannot happen on a closed card? Why did I never get emails when the disputes were closed, having to reach out to support to find out what happened? I still have yet to receive any documentation for why the disputes were closed despite requesting that multiple times. Your disputes process is badly broken (at one time, I was told I couldn't dispute because there was "maintenance on the dispute process".)
- boling11 8y ago
  Hey there! I'm really sorry to hear about the negative experience. I can't speak to a specific case on a public forum. However, you are correct that in very rare cases, merchants can push through transactions without prior authorization - it's against card network rules, and it’s typically a simple chargeback to win. Even in cases where we don’t win, we typically cover out of pocket. I’m happy to look into this. Can you shoot me a note at bo@privacy.com?
  - ikeboy 8y ago
    I'll look up the emails and forward to you. I think I was covered for some, then I stopped getting responses. Wasn't all force post, but the disputes process wasn't great on the other ones either (had to write a long reason for disputing, minimum word length enforced, when "didn't authorize charge" or the like wasn't enough).
  - ikeboy 8y ago
    Sent you an email. Looks like I did get refunded for the force post, but had issues later with other transactions.
  - tomnipotent 8y ago
    > merchants can push through transactions without prior authorization Why was the transaction not denied? What entity was responsible for the authorization? Trying to understand if your network was involved at any point during that transaction, and if so why a charge was allowed to go through. I'm aware that pre-auth for automatic billing can get pass closed accounts at traditional CCs, but if Privacy.com follows that same practice than doesn't that sorta defeat the purpose of disposable numbers?
lgregg 8y ago
Do you not support firefox? I visited your site but it's just a blank page, so I tried chrome and it worked perfectly.
- boling11 8y ago
  Uh oh - thanks for the heads up. Could you share what version of FireFox / OS you're on to help us repro?
  - lgregg 8y ago
    I sent you an email with some screenshots and info.
politician 8y ago
It looks like Privacy.com is build on top of Plaid.com for handling the backend ACH processing. Plaid.com exposes a ton of personal information to its customers like Income, Assets, and Employment Verification. What is the scope of your engagement with Plaid? Do you recommend that users should protect themselves from Plaid.com personal data harvesting by setting up a secondary checking account to use with Privacy.com that is trickle-fed from a primary checking account?
- boling11 8y ago
  Hi there! We use Plaid for instant bank account verification and for balance information (to ensure we don't accidentally trigger an overdraft). We don't utilize the Income / Assets / Employment APIs. We don't use them for ACH - We build our own NACHA files in house. Plaid itself takes user privacy really seriously (part of the reason why we're working with them). They don't resell any of your sensitive data. A secondary checking account is A-Ok with us. Many of our users do this. The only thing I would say is to be careful to use a bank that doesn't assess overdraft fees. We also are allowing micro-deposits for our more security conscious users on a limited basis (drop me a line bo@privacy.com and I'll set you up). Lastly, card top ups is something we're also looking hard at. As you can tell, unfortunately there isn't a perfect solution yet - we're trying to be a part of that solution.
  - politician 8y ago
    Thanks for the details. This service is very interesting. Are these cards funded on a prepaid basis (micro-deposits?), or are the ACH withdrawals performed after the fact?
    - boling11 8y ago
      They’re performed after the fact.
- whockey 8y ago
  Hey! Co-founder of Plaid (plaid.com) here. We take privacy extremely seriously, I'm actually an early privacy.com user and major fanboy. Privacy only has access to the information needed to authenticate your bank account and make sure you don't get over-drafted. They don't use any of our income or assets products.

wyattjoh 8y ago

Would really love to see Privacy.com come to Canada now that Plaid announced support[0]! [0]: https://blog.plaid.com/plaid-in-canada/ https://blog.plaid.com/plaid-in-canada/

boling11 8y ago
We'd love to as well! Unfortunately we don't have a public timeframe we can share yet :(.

HEHENE 8y ago

This is wildly cool. I signed up when I saw your original post here on HN and have used it occasionally. In the last week or so I have started using it religiously for every online purchase. Now I'm in the process of moving all my recurring charges to Privacy. You have absolutely delighted this user, and your API is just the icing on the cake. Keep up the great work.

boling11 8y ago
Thank you!

osrec 8y ago

Hi, we have a fair few US users of our accounting app (https://usebx.com https://usebx.com) - would you consider providing early API access to our devs so that we can integrate with your service?

ikeboy 8y ago

I used privacy but had issues after transactions were let through when cards were closed /paused. When I tried disputing them, my account was closed and disputes denied. Why does your marketing claim falsely that transactions cannot happen on a closed card? Why did I never get emails when the disputes were closed, having to reach out to support to find out what happened? I still have yet to receive any documentation for why the disputes were closed despite requesting that multiple times. Your disputes process is badly broken (at one time, I was told I couldn't dispute because there was "maintenance on the dispute process".)

boling11 8y ago
Hey there! I'm really sorry to hear about the negative experience. I can't speak to a specific case on a public forum. However, you are correct that in very rare cases, merchants can push through transactions without prior authorization - it's against card network rules, and it’s typically a simple chargeback to win. Even in cases where we don’t win, we typically cover out of pocket. I’m happy to look into this. Can you shoot me a note at bo@privacy.com?
- ikeboy 8y ago
  I'll look up the emails and forward to you. I think I was covered for some, then I stopped getting responses. Wasn't all force post, but the disputes process wasn't great on the other ones either (had to write a long reason for disputing, minimum word length enforced, when "didn't authorize charge" or the like wasn't enough).
- ikeboy 8y ago
  Sent you an email. Looks like I did get refunded for the force post, but had issues later with other transactions.
- tomnipotent 8y ago
  > merchants can push through transactions without prior authorization Why was the transaction not denied? What entity was responsible for the authorization? Trying to understand if your network was involved at any point during that transaction, and if so why a charge was allowed to go through. I'm aware that pre-auth for automatic billing can get pass closed accounts at traditional CCs, but if Privacy.com follows that same practice than doesn't that sorta defeat the purpose of disposable numbers?

lgregg 8y ago

Do you not support firefox? I visited your site but it's just a blank page, so I tried chrome and it worked perfectly.

boling11 8y ago
Uh oh - thanks for the heads up. Could you share what version of FireFox / OS you're on to help us repro?
- lgregg 8y ago
  I sent you an email with some screenshots and info.

politician 8y ago

It looks like Privacy.com is build on top of Plaid.com for handling the backend ACH processing. Plaid.com exposes a ton of personal information to its customers like Income, Assets, and Employment Verification. What is the scope of your engagement with Plaid? Do you recommend that users should protect themselves from Plaid.com personal data harvesting by setting up a secondary checking account to use with Privacy.com that is trickle-fed from a primary checking account?

boling11 8y ago
Hi there! We use Plaid for instant bank account verification and for balance information (to ensure we don't accidentally trigger an overdraft). We don't utilize the Income / Assets / Employment APIs. We don't use them for ACH - We build our own NACHA files in house. Plaid itself takes user privacy really seriously (part of the reason why we're working with them). They don't resell any of your sensitive data. A secondary checking account is A-Ok with us. Many of our users do this. The only thing I would say is to be careful to use a bank that doesn't assess overdraft fees. We also are allowing micro-deposits for our more security conscious users on a limited basis (drop me a line bo@privacy.com and I'll set you up). Lastly, card top ups is something we're also looking hard at. As you can tell, unfortunately there isn't a perfect solution yet - we're trying to be a part of that solution.
- politician 8y ago
  Thanks for the details. This service is very interesting. Are these cards funded on a prepaid basis (micro-deposits?), or are the ACH withdrawals performed after the fact?
  - boling11 8y ago
    They’re performed after the fact.
whockey 8y ago
Hey! Co-founder of Plaid (plaid.com) here. We take privacy extremely seriously, I'm actually an early privacy.com user and major fanboy. Privacy only has access to the information needed to authenticate your bank account and make sure you don't get over-drafted. They don't use any of our income or assets products.