Ask HN: Stripe holding funds for 120 days for no reason

Post by Turing_Machine » Sat, Oct 22, 2022, 9:45 PM UTC

jasonlotito wrote: post #96

abnercoimbre wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This pattern is so pervasive with all the payment processors: * Your funds are suddenly frozen. No easy recourse (if any) * The percentage they withhold is suddenly higher. Tough luck * Your business is deemed high risk and they cut ties. Their reasoning is a black box Why is there never advance warning? It's the lack of courtesy that gets to me.

> Why is there never advance warning? It's the lack of courtesy that gets to me. They give you advanced warning in the T&C. If they gave more warning, this could assist people who commit fraud. Fraud is not some imaginary issue. It's very real and very problematic. I'll say it again, get your own merchant account if you don't like this.

Post by ev1 » Sat, Oct 22, 2022, 10:10 PM UTC

alberth wrote: post #22

Is there an equivalent to Stripe, from a DX perspective, that allows you to create an actual merchant account instead of being a sub account of Stripe? Having an actual merchant account, and going through KYB, seems like it’d solve a lot of these problems.

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 2:35 AM UTC

aliqot wrote: post #72

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #42

Contact your state’s money transmitter regulator [1]. If you suspect bad faith, looping in FinCEN may not be a bad idea [2]. [1] https://www.mtraweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Contact-l... [2] https://www.fincen.gov/contact

Given how buddy-buddy payment industry is, I'd advise against this unless a lawyer is willing to take it pro-bono on the basis that your case is so strong it'd be a layup.

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 2:43 AM UTC

inetknght wrote: post #47

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> are literally funding themselves out of deposits No, they probably are not. It’s illegal and money transmitters are regulated. What they are doing is collecting interest. One tends to see less scrupulous transmitters hold funds longer when rates rise. I didn’t think Stripe fell in this category, but it’s becoming difficult to say. > good one is business selling gift cards You’re right. (Also customer deposits.) Thi…

> It’s illegal and money transmitters are regulated. It's only illegal if the regulator enforces action. Good luck getting regulators to enforce action on something like this.

Post by draebek » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 6:44 AM UTC

thot_experiment wrote: post #85

johnhaddock wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree - there's multiple problems to solve (a) make incorrect actions exceedingly rare (b) correct them quickly (c) give people who reach out about them substantive help. Have major initiatives underway to improve on all 3. We're furthest along on (a), more to share soon. Interaction of (b)(c) is particularly complex, as we find the right way to make high-stakes decisions while being responsive to people asking for h…

I'm not sure what the disconnect here is, I'm pretty sure the answer is uncomplicated. You hire support people and train and pay them well. I get that this isn't some sort of sexy tech solution but like, that's what we want as customers. I don't really care about any of this crap, nobody cares. We want two things from you, we want to charge people's credit cards, and if something goes wrong we want to be able to TALK…