Stake Policy

Accountability uses a performance-based stake model. When you join a challenge, you commit to a stake amount that represents your financial accountability. Nothing from your stake is collected upfront. At the time you join, only a platform fee (plus any applicable taxes) is charged, and your payment card is saved securely on file through Stripe. If you and your team finish the challenge strong, no additional charge is ever made. If any portion of the challenge is left incomplete, you are charged only the unearned portion of your stake at the end of the challenge.

Your potential stake charge is calculated from two factors, each weighted according to a 60% personal / 40% team split by default (the challenge administrator may adjust the split, with a minimum of 50% personal): - Personal Completion: The percentage of required workouts you personally completed, applied to the personal portion of your stake. - Team Completion: The average completion percentage across all challenge participants, applied to the team portion. Formula for the shortfall charged to you at the end of the challenge: Personal Shortfall = Stake x (Personal Split %) x (1 - Personal Completion %) Team Shortfall = Stake x (Team Split %) x (1 - Team Completion %) Total Charge = Personal Shortfall + Team Shortfall Example with a $100 stake and a 60/40 split: if you complete 90% of your workouts and the team averages 80%, your end-of-challenge charge would be ($100 x 0.60 x 0.10) + ($100 x 0.40 x 0.20) = $6 + $8 = $14. If you and your team complete 100%, your total charge is $0.

A non-refundable platform fee is charged at the time of joining a paid challenge, along with any applicable sales tax. This fee covers payment processing, platform maintenance, and operational costs. The current platform fee and tax amounts are displayed on the checkout screen before you confirm. The platform fee is separate from your stake and is never applied toward the stake amount.

When you join a challenge, your payment card is saved securely via Stripe (your card details are never stored on our servers). By joining, you authorize Accountability to charge the card you saved up to the stake amount at the end of the challenge, based on the completion formula above. You may update or replace the saved card at any time from your Payment Methods settings prior to the end-of-challenge charge.

After a challenge is marked as completed by the administrator, Accountability automatically calculates each participant's shortfall. If the shortfall is greater than zero, a charge is initiated against your saved card. You will receive a notification when the settlement is processed. If the shortfall is zero (100% personal and team completion), no charge is made and the settlement is marked as waived.

If a settlement charge fails (expired card, insufficient funds, bank decline, etc.), you will be notified and prompted to update your payment method. Accountability may retry the charge against the updated card. Repeated failures may result in restrictions on creating or joining future paid challenges until the outstanding amount is resolved.

If a workout check-in is flagged by another participant and subsequently removed by the challenge administrator through the dispute process, that workout will not count toward your completion percentage. This may increase your personal shortfall and therefore the amount charged at the end of the challenge. Review the Dispute Policy for full details on the flag and review process.

If a challenge allows relief weeks and you receive an approved relief request for a given week, that week is excluded from your completion calculation. An approved relief week will not increase your end-of-challenge charge. Relief requests must be submitted and approved by the challenge administrator before the affected week ends.

Once your stake is paid or your card is placed on file as your stake commitment, you are locked into the challenge for its full duration. The platform does not provide a mechanism to leave, switch to spectator, end the challenge early, or delete the challenge after any stake is recorded. If you stop participating, the remaining workouts are treated as incomplete and the unearned portion of your stake will be charged at settlement. "Changing your mind," dissatisfaction with your own performance, and general unwillingness to continue are expressly not grounds for a refund, release, or waiver. Legitimate inability to continue (illness, travel, injury, family emergency) must be handled through the Relief Week system before settlement runs.

A challenge may only be cancelled or deleted by the administrator if no participant has paid in. Once any participant has paid their stake, the challenge will run to its scheduled end date; the administrator cannot delete the challenge or end it early. If a challenge is cancelled before any stake is paid, no end-of-challenge charge will be made, and any platform fee or taxes already paid remain non-refundable.

Challenges with no stake amount ("free challenges") do not involve any end-of-challenge charges. Platform fees may still apply depending on the challenge configuration. All other platform features (scoring, leaderboards, flags, chat) function identically in free challenges.

Any amount charged at the end of a challenge (the shortfall) is handled according to the challenge's configuration, disclosed before you join: - Platform Operations: Shortfall charges are retained by the platform to support maintenance, development, and operational costs. - Charity Donation: Shortfall charges are donated to a registered charity designated by the challenge administrator. The charity name is displayed in the challenge details. Under no circumstances are shortfall charges redistributed to other participants. Each participant is charged independently based on their own stake and performance.

This platform operates as a self-funded commitment device. Each participant risks only their own committed stake and is charged only based on their own performance (weighted against their team's performance, which they voluntarily opt into). There is no pooling, redistribution, or transfer of one participant's funds to another. This structure ensures the Service is an accountability tool, not a wager or game of chance.

If you believe your end-of-challenge charge was calculated incorrectly, you may contact us at support@accountability.app within 14 days of the charge. Include your challenge name, the charged amount, and a description of the discrepancy. We will review the calculation and respond within 7 business days. Charges related to flagged or removed workouts are handled through the Dispute Policy.

Challenges that began under the previous refund/escrow model continue under those rules until they complete. If you are enrolled in a legacy challenge, your buy-in remains held in escrow and your refund is calculated according to the prior Refund Policy at the time of challenge completion. All newly created or joined challenges use the stake model described here.

For questions about stakes, settlements, or this policy, please contact us at support@accountability.app.