Legal
Payments Guild — Terms of Use
Last updated: August 2026
1.Who we are
Payments Guild (paymentsguild.com) is a free educational platform about the payments industry, operated by Dinakaran Balaji as an independent personal project ("we", "us"). By creating an account or using the site, you agree to these terms.
2.What the Guild is — and isn't
Payments Guild provides educational content: a structured curriculum, quizzes, interactive simulators, an examination, a news briefing (The Wire), and an industry directory. All content is provided for general education only. It is not financial, legal, investment, or professional advice, and it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representative of any card scheme, bank, regulator, or company mentioned on the site. All rates, fees, and worked examples are illustrative and invented for teaching; real commercial rates are confidential, vary by market, and change over time. Do not rely on site content for commercial decisions without independent verification.
3.Accounts
You need an account for progress tracking, quizzes, the examination, and certificates. You agree to provide accurate information, keep your login secure, and not share your account. You must be at least 16 years old. One account per person. We may suspend or delete accounts that violate these terms.
4.Acceptable use
You agree not to: attempt to breach, probe, or overload the site's security or infrastructure; scrape or bulk-download content; use another person's account or sit the examination on someone else's behalf; misrepresent your identity to obtain a certificate; or resell or republish the curriculum as your own.
5.The examination and certificates
The Guild Certificate attests that the named holder completed the Payments Guild curriculum and passed the Guild Examination. It is an independent educational credential — not a government-accredited qualification, license, or professional designation. Examination rules (timing, attempts, cooldowns) are shown before you sit it. We may revoke a certificate if it was obtained through impersonation, cheating, account sharing, or other misrepresentation; revoked certificates are marked as revoked on their public verification page. Certificate verification pages are public by design — see the Privacy Policy.
6.Our content and your license
The curriculum, simulators, examination content, and site design are our intellectual property. You may use them for personal learning and share links freely. You may quote short excerpts with attribution to Payments Guild. You may not reproduce substantial portions, use content to train commercial products, or remove attribution. The Wire carries only headlines and links; all linked articles belong to their publishers.
7.Third-party links
The Wire and the Directory link to external sites. We don't control them and aren't responsible for their content, accuracy, or practices.
8.Availability and changes
The Guild is a free service provided "as is." We don't guarantee uninterrupted availability, and we may change, add, or remove features, content, or these terms at any time. Material changes to these terms will be posted on this page with an updated date. Continued use after changes means acceptance.
9.Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss arising from use of the site, reliance on its content, service interruptions, or loss of data. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.
10.Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
11.Contact
Questions about these terms: dinakarbalaji@gmail.com