Benefits Checker

Legal

Privacy policy

Last updated 9 October 2026 · Benefits Checker by Eligibuddy (US, UK and France estimates) · Operated by Chris Tzep

Estimates, not an official decision. Not a government eligibility decision, and not legal, tax, or benefits advice. Agencies decide eligibility. Benefits Checker does not submit applications or accept legal terms for you. Social Security numbers, National Insurance numbers, NIR, ITINs, full street addresses, and other government IDs are not accepted.

What we collect

  • Household facts you choose to share: coarse location (US state / UK nation or region / optional French département), ages, income types and amounts, rent and utilities, current benefits, and optional flags (e.g. pregnant, student). No street addresses.
  • Your email, only if you opt in to re-check reminders.
  • Disability or health: optional. Disability or health status can be sensitive (and may be “consumer health data” under some state laws / UK GDPR / GDPR special-category data). Share it only if you want disability-pathway screening. You can skip this — many programs still work without it.
  • Immigration (US only): optional coarse category. Immigration status is optional and sensitive. We only use a coarse category (e.g. citizen / LPR / other) for US programs that need it (Medicaid/CHIP immigrant rules change 1 Oct 2026). Skip if you prefer — estimates will note lower confidence. UK/France intake does not collect immigration documents or residence permits.

What we never collect

  • ssn
  • itin
  • social_security_number
  • national_insurance
  • national_insurance_number
  • ni_number
  • nino
  • nir
  • numero_securite_sociale
  • numéro_sécurité_sociale
  • tax_id
  • ein
  • passport
  • drivers_license
  • full_street_address
  • street_address
  • address_line1
  • legal_name
  • full_name
  • first_name
  • last_name

That includes US Social Security numbers, UK National Insurance numbers, and French NIR / numéro de sécurité sociale.

Legal bases (UK GDPR / GDPR)

For UK and EEA users, we process the coarse facts you submit as necessary to provide the estimate you request (contract / legitimate interests in answering your query). Special-category health data is only processed if you consent. Reminder emails are opt-in. We do not sell personal data. You may ask us to delete reminder profiles.

Retention

  • We store nothing by default (persistIntakeByDefault=false).
  • Opt-in reminder profiles: up to 365 days.
  • We never submit benefit applications or accept legal terms on your behalf.

Rules engines

US and UK calculations may call PolicyEngine with de-identified household scenarios only (no names, street addresses, or government IDs), per their API terms. We call their API or unmodified Docker image and do not modify PolicyEngine source (AGPL).

France estimates may call the OpenFisca-France web API (AGPL). The public instance at api.fr.openfisca.org is for prototyping (no SLA). Attribution: OpenFisca (AGPL-3.0), source at github.com/openfisca.

Contact

Benefits Checker by Eligibuddy is operated by Chris Tzep, an individual developer, who is responsible for the processing described in this policy (data controller). Eligibuddy is the project name, not a separate company. It is an independent project, not affiliated with any government or agency. Privacy questions, access or deletion requests: support@benefitscheckerai.com. See also the support page.