Important Terms:
Funds Hold: A funds hold, or funding hold, is standard in credit card processing and helps to mitigate risk. A funds hold delays part or all of a deposit from reaching your bank account. These held funds usually come from processed transactions that Stripe withholds to protect against identified risks from unusual processing patterns.
Funds Hold Workflow:
After account activation or an audit, your credit card processing account may be on a funding hold while the processor reviews and verifies your information. You will not receive deposits for processed payments until the review is done. If a funding hold occurs, Stripe will contact you via email from no-reply@stripe.com. Here is an example of the email:
Minimize hold times by following these steps:
- Respond promptly to Stripe's requests for documentation.
- Contact Stripe directly; Service Fusion cannot expedite holds.
Common Reasons for a Funds Hold:
- The account is brand new and the processor is finalizing the underwriting process by verifying the first few processed transactions
- A processed transaction seems unusual or outside of normal volumes
- For example, if you typically process $100 transactions, but today you charged a customer $1,000, the processor will likely flag the transaction and request information to ensure it was not fraudulent or accidental
- Uncommon account activity
- Large number of declined transactions
- Large number of refunds
- Multiple charges on the same card in a short period of time
- A high number of chargebacks
- Processors typically look for a chargeback ratio of under 1% of total transactions (in number or dollar amount). If your chargeback ratio begins to exceed this, your account may be flagged
Typical Documents Requested by the Processor:
- Proof of authorization, like a signed contract
- Copy of the invoice for that transaction
- Your business bank statements (2 months)
- Detailed business description
If you plan to process a transaction that falls into one of these categories, you can proactively reach out to Stripe support with the proper documentation, to prevent or reduce a hold.