Terms of Service

Article 1 (Purpose)

The purpose of these Terms of Service (hereinafter referred to as the "Terms") is to define the rights, obligations, responsibilities, and other necessary matters between the Howmuch Team (hereinafter referred to as the "Team") and the Members regarding the use of the mobile application "Howmuch" (hereinafter referred to as the "Service") provided by the Team.

Article 2 (Definitions)

The definitions of terms used in these Terms are as follows:

• "Service" means the group expense and recurring payment settlement management tool provided by the Team, which refers to the mobile application and its affiliated web pages available regardless of the device or operating system.
• "Member" means a person who agrees to these Terms, registers in accordance with the procedures established by the Team, and uses the Service.
• "Settlement Room" means a dedicated space created by a Member within the Service to settle group expenses or recurring payments. There are two types: General Settlement Rooms (One-time) and Recurring Payment Rooms (Repetitive).
• "Host" (Bangjang) means the Member who creates a Settlement Room and holds the status of a creditor who has prepaid the group expenses.
• "Participant" means a person who is invited to a Settlement Room and is obligated to transfer their share of the expense to the Host. The Host also holds the status of a Participant regarding their own allocated share.
• "Round" (Session) means an individual settlement unit generated according to the repetition cycle in a Recurring Payment Room.
• "Deposit Confirmation" means the procedure whereby a Participant logs a transfer in the Service after sending money to the Host via external banking, and the Host approves it to record the reimbursement.
• "Invitation Link" means a unique URL token issued for each Participant in a Settlement Room.
• "Notice" means general posts or announcements uploaded by the Team to inform Members collectively for service operations.

Terms not explicitly defined herein shall be governed by relevant laws and regulations and general commercial practices.

Article 3 (Posting and Amendment of Terms)

1. The Team shall post the contents of these Terms on the initial screen or a separate linked screen of the Service so that Members can easily view them.
2. The Team may amend these Terms to the extent that it does not violate relevant laws, such as the Act on Regulation of Terms and Conditions, the Framework Act on Electronic Documents and Electronic Transactions, and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection of the Republic of Korea.
3. When the Team amends the Terms, it shall announce the effective date and the reason for the amendment through in-app notices or push notifications at least 7 days prior to the effective date (or 30 days prior for amendments that are material or unfavorable to Members).
4. If a Member does not express dissent before the effective date of the amended Terms, or continues to use the Service after the effective date, the Member shall be deemed to have agreed to the amended Terms. Members who do not agree to the amended Terms may terminate their user agreement by withdrawing from membership.

Article 4 (Rules Outside the Terms)

Any matters not specified in these Terms shall be governed by relevant laws and regulations, such as the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, the Act on Regulation of Terms and Conditions, the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and the Personal Information Protection Act, as well as operational policies separately announced by the Team.

Article 5 (Formation of the User Agreement)

1. The User Agreement is established when a person who wishes to become a Member (hereinafter referred to as the "Applicant") agrees to the contents of these Terms and the Privacy Policy, applies for membership through social login methods supported by the Team (Google, Apple, Kakao), and the Team accepts the application.
2. In principle, the Team shall accept the Applicant's request. However, the Team may refuse acceptance or retroactively terminate the User Agreement in any of the following cases:
   • The applicant is a child under the age of 14.
   • The applicant uses another person's identity or social media account.
   • The applicant provides false information or fails to provide the details required by the Team.
   • The applicant has previously lost their membership status under these Terms and applies for re-registration.
   • The applicant intends to use the Service for illicit purposes (e.g., spam, fraud, money laundering, etc.).
   • Any other case where the Team deems refusal necessary based on reasonable grounds.

Article 6 (Modification and Responsibility for Management of Member Information)

1. Members can view and modify their personal information within the [My Info] menu in the Service. However, modifications to information essential for service operations, such as social login identifiers, may be restricted.
2. Members must update their information immediately if any changes occur. The Team shall not be held liable for any disadvantages resulting from a Member's failure to update their information.
3. Members are solely responsible for managing the security of their social media accounts (Google, Apple, Kakao) used for the Service and must not transfer, rent, or share them with third parties.

Article 7 (Notification to Members)

1. When notifying Members, the Team may do so via the Member's registered email address, the in-app notification box, or push notifications (FCM).
2. For notifications directed at an unspecified large number of Members, the Team may substitute individual notifications by posting an announcement within the Service. However, matters that have a material impact on a Member's rights or duties will be notified individually.

Article 8 (Provision of Services)

1. The Team provides the following services to its Members:
   • Creation of Settlement Rooms (General/Recurring), and invitation and management of Participants.
   • Deposit confirmation requests, approvals, and rejections.
   • Automatic Round generation and round-by-round settlement management (for Recurring Payment Rooms).
   • Tracking and lookup of settlement history and outstanding balances.
   • Push notifications and in-app alerts.
   • Additional supplementary services developed and provided by the Team in the future.
2. The Essence of the Service: This Service is strictly an administrative tracking tool designed for logging, viewing, and sending notifications regarding settlement details. The Team does not involve itself in actual fund transfers or payment processing. Financial transfers between Members must be conducted directly through external financial institutions or banking applications utilized by the users themselves.

Article 9 (Service Availability, Modification, and Suspension)

1. In principle, the Service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, unless there are exceptional operational or technical difficulties faced by the Team.
2. The Team may temporarily suspend all or part of the Service in the following cases, providing prior notice whenever possible. In urgent or unavoidable circumstances where prior notice is impossible, notification may be issued retroactively:
   • For routine or urgent system inspection, maintenance, or replacement.
   • In the event of power outages, telecommunication failures, or service disruptions of third-party cloud providers (Supabase, Google Cloud, etc.).
   • Due to force majeure events such as natural disasters, war, riots, etc.
   • Any other reasonable operational necessity.
3. The Team may modify or terminate all or part of the Service as required by operational or technical needs, provided that the reasons and schedule are announced in advance.

Article 10 (Service Fees)

1. The Service is provided free of charge unless otherwise explicitly announced.
2. The Team reserves the right to convert certain features into paid services in the future. In such cases, the Team will announce the transition 30 days prior and will only charge Members who give their explicit prior consent.
3. Any auxiliary costs, such as mobile data communication fees and network charges incurred by receiving push notifications, shall be borne entirely by the Member.

Article 11 (Operation of Settlement Rooms and Responsibility for Transactions Between Members)

Crucial Notice: This is the most critical clause in these Terms. Members must fully read and comprehend this section before registering and utilizing the Settlement Rooms.

1. Status of the Team: The Team acts solely as a data processing service provider that records settlements and sends notifications. The Team is not a party to any financial transaction, fund transfer, payment gateway routing, or escrow arrangement between Members.
2. Responsibilities of the Host:
   • The Host is responsible for accurately inputting all Settlement Room details (total amount, allocated splits, banking account info, and the participant list).
   • The Host must issue a "Deposit Approval" only after verifying that the actual funds have been transferred from the Participant. The Host must not falsely approve unmade transfers or unfairly reject valid transfers.
   • The Host shall bear full responsibility for any transfer accidents or errors resulting from mistakes in the account information they provided.
3. Responsibilities of the Participant:
   • The Participant is responsible for transferring the exact allocated amount to the account designated by the Host.
   • The Participant must submit a "Deposit Confirmation Request" only after an actual transfer has occurred, and must not make fraudulent requests.
4. Dispute Resolution: Any disputes regarding missed transfers, incorrect amounts, or refunds must be resolved directly between the involved Members. The Team is not a party to these transactions and disclaims all liability. However, upon request, the Team may provide logs of the settlement history retained in the system to help resolve disputes.
5. Limitations of Information: Outstanding balances, cumulative deposit metrics, and Round progress data displayed within the Service are based entirely on inputs and approvals performed by the Host. Consequently, this data may not perfectly match actual bank ledgers. Members are obligated to verify their transaction details independently through their respective external financial institutions.

Article 12 (Obligations of Members)

Members shall not engage in any of the following activities:

• Registering false information during signup or updates.
• Misusing another person's social media account, payment details, or legal identity.
• Infringing upon the rights (intellectual property, trademarks, portrait rights, honor, etc.) of the Team or third parties.
• Using profanity, threats, insults, or sexually explicit language toward other Members.
• Utilizing the Service to participate in illegal activities such as fraud, money laundering, gambling, or unlawful fundraising.
• Defrauding others or causing financial harm by abusing the Settlement Rooms or Deposit Confirmation features.
• Accessing the Service or scraping data using unauthorized abnormal methods (such as automated tools, crawlers, or reverse engineering).
• Disrupting service operations or compromising system integrity.
• Engaging in any acts that violate relevant laws, these Terms, or the Team's operational policies.

Article 13 (Obligations of the Team)

1. The Team shall not engage in any acts prohibited by law or contrary to public order and morals, and will exert its best efforts to provide stable and continuous service.
2. To protect Members' personal data, the Team establishes, publishes, and strictly abides by its separate Privacy Policy.
3. The Team will maintain the necessary personnel and systems to handle reasonable suggestions or complaints from Members and address them within a reasonable timeframe. If a resolution requires an extended period, the Team will notify the Member of the cause and expected timeline.

Article 14 (Management of Posts and Inputted Information)

1. The ownership and responsibility for any data inputted or registered by a Member (e.g., room details, participant names, memos, chat messages, or inquiries; hereinafter referred to as "Posts") rest entirely with the respective Member.
2. The Team reserves the right to delete, move, or reject the registration of any Posts without prior notice if they fall under any of the following categories:
   • Content that infringes upon the rights or defames the reputation of third parties.
   • Content related to criminal actions such as fraud, money laundering, or illegal fundraising.
   • Content containing obscene, violent, or harmful material to minors.
   • Content that violates the registration criteria established by the Team.
   • Content deemed in violation of relevant laws and regulations.
3. If a third party's rights are infringed by a Member's Post, the right holder may request the deletion or temporary masking of the Post in accordance with the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and the Team shall process it according to legal mandates.

Article 15 (Termination of Agreement and Loss of Membership Status)

1. Members may terminate their User Agreement at any time through the in-app menu: [Settings > App Settings > Delete Account].
2. Upon account deletion, the Member's personal data will be processed in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable laws. However, the following details will be preserved for a specified period for dispute resolution and statutory compliance:
   • Transaction logs and deposit history inside Settlement Rooms: 5 Years (from the completion of settlement).
   • Identification data for preventing fraudulent re-registration: 30 Days (from account deletion).
3. Host Withdrawal Restriction: To protect Participant rights, a Host who manages active Settlement Rooms marked as IN_PROGRESS cannot delete their account until those rooms are set to COMPLETED or CANCELLED.
4. The Team may suspend, restrict, or terminate membership after giving prior notice if a Member violates their obligations under Article 12 or falls under any of the following categories. In cases of severe violations or where emergency mitigation is necessary, the Team may act immediately without prior notice:
   • Violating these Terms or applicable legal statutes.
   • Receiving multiple verified reports from other Members regarding fraudulent actions, such as deceitful deposit confirmations.
   • Absence of any service access logs for more than 1 consecutive year (processed under dormancy policies).

Article 16 (Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability)

1. The Team is exempted from liability for failure to provide the Service if such failure is caused by force majeure events, including natural disasters, war, power outages, or infrastructure failures of third-party cloud and telecommunication providers.
2. The Team shall not be held liable for any service disruptions or usage errors attributable to reasons caused by the Member.
3. The Team does not guarantee that the Service will meet specific financial yields or settlement outcomes expected by the Member.
4. The Team is under no obligation to intervene in disputes arising between Members or between a Member and a third party mediated by the Service (especially regarding unpaid funds, overpayments, or refunds), and shall not be liable for any damages resulting therefrom.
5. The Team does not warrant the reliability, truthfulness, or accuracy of any information, data, or facts posted or input by Members within the Service, and disclaims liability for any resulting damages.
6. For services provided free of charge, the Team shall not be held liable for any damages suffered by Members unless specified otherwise by mandatory provisions in applicable laws.

Article 17 (Indemnification)

1. If the Team inflicts damages upon a Member due to intentional misconduct or gross negligence, the Team shall indemnify the Member for such damages in accordance with applicable laws. This does not apply if the situation falls under the disclaimers listed in Article 16.
2. If a Member violates these Terms and inflicts damages upon the Team, the Member shall be obligated to indemnify the Team for all resulting damages.

Article 18 (Intellectual Property Rights)

1. All copyrights and intellectual property rights regarding the Service and its embedded content (including software, architecture, designs, logos, text, and images) belong exclusively to the Team or its legitimate licensors.
2. Members may not modify, sell, reproduce, distribute, or use any information obtained through the Service for commercial purposes without the prior written consent of the Team.
3. The copyright of Posts registered by a Member belongs to that Member. However, the Team may utilize a Member's Posts non-exclusively and free of charge to the extent necessary for the operation, improvement, and promotion of the Service.

Article 19 (Governing Law and Jurisdiction)

1. These Terms and all disputes arising between the Team and Members shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Korea.
2. In the event of a dispute regarding these Terms, the parties shall first attempt to resolve it through mutual consultation in good faith.
3. If an amicable settlement cannot be reached, the competent court shall be determined in accordance with the Civil Procedure Act of the Republic of Korea. However, if the Member is a consumer residing outside South Korea (such as in the EU/EEA), the mandatory consumer protection regulations of their country of residence may take precedence.

Addendum

These Terms of Service shall enter into force on May 3, 2026.