I am a freelance writer and have many of my written works of various types that have been published and/or posted on various websites. I have posted articles on two websites for writers, Substack and Medium, and the management of both sites urged me to register with a company called Stripe that processes payments to writers featured on their sites. When I first went to the Stripe website, I saw that I had to submit my routing number and account number for my bank account, but because I had no prior acquaintance with them, I wrote to them and expressed my concerns. Stripe replied that I should open another bank account for receiving payments so that my already existing bank account would not be in jeopardy. I followed their instructions, and once I had the second account, I contacted them and informed them that I had done it. However, they responded with these words: "We're writing to you because, after conducting a routine review of your business Maurice Holt King, we've found that it presents a high level of risk. "As a precautionary measure, we will no longer accept payments for Maurice Holt King. We're sorry that we can't be of any more help." Two problems: 1) I have never owned nor managed a business in my life, and my status has been a freelance writer since 1983, so being told that my business "presents a high level of risk" is a lie because I never presented myself as a business in any way, shape or form! 2) Many times, I asked them to state THE REASON FOR AN ACCUSATION OF ANY RISK when I never presented myself as any form of business. They claimed that I could file an appeal on their website, but on their website, I was told of many different types of documents that I could present to defend myself, but all of them were documents that business owners/manager have that they can present; I have none because I am not and never have been a business. I am a freelancer, a solo act, and discriminating against me for that reason is blatantly illegal. Their refusal to deal with me is only because they refuse to make payments to me that the two sites on which I have posted articles planned to issue payments to me. For them to refuse to pay me for false reasons is out-and-out fraud and they deserve far more than a severe reprimand. I am in the process of acquiring legal representation to litigate as I see that anything less than that will never get anything to change in my favor. I will be 73 years of age tomorrow on my birthday and have diagnosed, documented disabilities, so not being paid sentences me to living in a below poverty level existence in my later years, something that is not defensible in any way, shape or form, and is obviously a blatant deathwish. I have requested the reason for the "risk," but Stripe continues to refuse to give me any concrete reason for maintaining that my nonexistent "business presents a high level of risk." To date, Stripe has refused to give even one reason,.whether legitimate or not, for why something nonexistent "presents a high level of risk." To my mind, such refusal constitutes fraud. If I am wrong, I wish to be told so. However, I am convinced that I am right and that with no explanation given to me, I am being defrauded and am losing severely needed income from work that I have performed in good faith. Meanwhile, I am getting feedback from my posted articles but not one cent of payment, and Stripe's refusal is the only obstacle to me being paid. Some action needs to be processed on this matter. With my only income being Social Security Retirement, my income is below federal poverty levels, so leaving me deprived of badly needed income does me significant harm and damage, and I am requesting some sort of intervention and assistance. If I am being rejected because of a policy change in a previous banking institution that ended service with accounts that were not business accounts, I have requested a letter confirming that it was a policy change and not any wrongdoing on my part that caused my account to be closed. At least, that was what I was told, but if that banking institution lied to me, sorry, I am not the Morals Squad and cannot be held responsible for unethical behavior, which I have learned is rampant today and too many businesses are guilty, thereby leaving people like me just barely staying alive. I see Stripe's action against me as a deathwish and they should be prosecuted for it; I am working on making that happen. If Stripe DARES to post more alibis and lies on here, they deserve to face a firing squad. Like Sweeney Todd, I never forget and I never forgive, but with types like Stripe, I think I should be pursuing ALL the deeds for which Sweeney Todd became well known; if they give me a deathwish, I only return the "favor" to them and hope the end is agonizingly painful with maximum suffering!

Stripe Is Stealing Money – BEWARE!

I am absolutely OUTRAGED by Stripe's despicable actions. After using their services in good faith, delivering all products and services to my customers without a single complaint or dispute, they suddenly REFUNDED ALL payments (almost $7,000!) to my clients WITHOUT ANY REASONABLE EXPLANATION. This is nothing short of THEFT!

Stripe has essentially stolen my hard-earned money, refunding satisfied customers who already received the services they paid for (some services are delivered 3 months ago). And why? Because they suddenly decided my business is "too risky" after passing every verification and submitting every document they requested! How is that even legal? Do they just make up the rules as they go?

Their so-called "support" is a complete joke, offering zero help, and refusing to reconsider. My business is now suffering, and Stripe doesn't care one bit. If you value your money and your business, STAY AWAY from Stripe. They are unreliable, dishonest, and will rob you blind without warning!

Unbelievably unprofessional and outright disgraceful. NEVER AGAIN.

Stripe Account ID: acct_1PdG6W2Md8rmJyw5

I wouldnt even give one star for the mental emotional distress this company has given me. DO NOT USE STRIPE. Unless you want to lose a piece of your sanity. I have been trying to edit my bank acct info on their site for months. This is abasic function. I attemped contacting cust support, which is a nightmare bc they dont even have a number. EVERY rep was not able to understand that when I hit edit, it sent me to an error page. They just kept repeating to edit it on my dashboard. THE WHOLE ISSUE IS THAT THERE IS A GLITCH THAT WONT ALLOW ME TO DO IT. It wont recognize my email. SO I wait for an EMAIL from a supposed supervisor and guess what - ROBOTIC SAME ANSWER AS IF THEY DIDNT EVEN READ MY ISSUE. "just edit it following these steps. SAME ANSWER. They havent even read my original problem, like none of the 5! Reps ive spoken to. They will lit make you lose your mind. Menawhile I have no way moving forward or any option to fix this error code Im getting, and I have no more motivation to try. So theyll just take my money and keep it I guess. Ive never had a worse experience with cust relations in MY LIFE> AVOID USING THIS COMPNAY AT ALL COSTS

Stripe has hailed $3000 of my money for over 30 days I've called and they refused to let me talk to a manager but they're too afraid to say that they're not allowed to let me talk to manager when I told him I was recording the phone call they threaten me I'm still going to post it: https://share.icloud.com/photos/02blso5Qzw4reFtzaXFFkTrag

Summary:
1) Stripe cut our account overnight, without pre-warning
2) They never explained it properly, we only received template responses
3) They refuse to transfer our payment profiles to another payment processor. With that, they go against what they state on their website, and according to our understanding also against the law (e.g., GDPR), counting on you not suing them.

Here's the full story:

Stripe cut access to our account suddenly, without any pre-warning. Therefore, we weren't able to process our clients' payments anymore, causing us loss of significant revenues, and upset clients. We never found out why they did that. They only sent templates stating that we're "too risky" for them. We asked them why – we never got any more detailed information.

When telling others about this case, we learned that this isn't unusual at all. Stripe seems to accept clients very quickly, and down the road, when you're invested in them, they cut you access and don't care about losses you have.

As unfair as that is, according to their terms of use, they can do that. However, what they cannot do, is that they hold your client payment profiles hostage, refusing to transfer them to another payment processor (this is important, so that existing clients can be charged automatically again in case of subscriptions). On their website, they state the opposite. For example, they state:

"We believe that our customers should own the sensitive data they entrust to Stripe, and we work hard to ensure your access to this data—even if you're moving elsewhere. If you decide to leave Stripe for another payment processor, we'll work with your new processor's team to securely transfer your credit card data."

But they don't do that, they refuse any transfer of data. Why? Again, we only got the response because it's "too risky" for them. Maybe processing of those payments is risky, but why should it be risky to transfer them to another provider? We asked, no response.

Cutting our account is one thing, but not allowing us to transfer the client payment profiles is a different level. It goes against what they state on their website, and according to our understanding also against the law (including GDPR). It seems they count on you not suing them.

What's especially frustrating is that they give you the feeling that they never want to sort it out. Maybe there were real issues with our account, who knows? But in the manner they deal with it, they unequivocally make clear: you're unimportant, we don't need to spend time on your case, and explain properly what's going on. It's utterly disrespectful.

You have been warned. If you still pick them, and the same happens to you, you cannot complain.

P.S.: This isn't an anonymous review. We are Inisev Ltd., a company incorporated in Malta, and stand by every word we say.

Let's begin with my review, which of course Stripe will later reply that they're sorry and for me to contact them over support email, which of course they do not respond, while I'm emailing them for more than 100 days.

BEGIN:
I created a business account, my business is legally registered in the UK, somewhere in January 2023, I received two payments on the account, both transactions have the "Risk evaluation" marked as NORMAL, so there wasn't any problem with the transactions.
A day later after I received these two transactions, my account gets immediately suspended permanently, then they disabled the option for me to directly CALL them, I can only email them, I email them to ask what is going on, and they said a person who did a payment on my website wasn't the authenticated person who made the charge ( it means that someone else pretended to be that customer), which of course later while you're reading this you will find it's not true, I contacted both of my customers to see what is going on, they swore that they didn't do it, and said that they can personally email Stripe and tell them that they are lying and making a mistake, of course, Stripe didn't accept that. They locked my funds for 120 days and didn't wanna unsuspend my account, because they said it was "HIGH RISK", how is it high risk when both of these transactions have RISK EVALUATION as NORMAL?
So we came to the conclusion that Stripe is one big scam company and that they lie.
Let's get to the END, so they said that the payment on my website was not made by the original owner of the credit card, if that happened, the bank would immediately refund the funds to the real owner, but of course, it wasn't that situation, I received a payout 120 days later, so what did we figure out? If one of those two payments were not originally made by the owner, they would be refunded by the bank immediately, but as you can see 120 days later, I receive my payout, so that means that the original owners did make the payment on my website and that the Stripe is just lying because they are a scam company.

PART 3: I emailed them 120 days later after I received a payout, telling them that they made a mistake and that they lied to me, and that I want unsuspend of my account, but of course, Stripe is not responding my emails for more than 10 days, they don't want to admit that they made a mistake. Filthy scammers and liars.
I will attach screenshots that both of those payments were under RISK EVALUATION NORMAL, which means %100 that they are made by the owners of the card, and that they have no risk at all, but Stripe whatsoever said they are big risks, again Stripe is a liar.
Let's begin with my review, which of course Stripe will later reply that they're sorry and for me to contact them over support email, which of course they do not respond, while I'm emailing them for more than 100 days.

BEGIN:
I created a business account, my business is legally registered in the UK, somewhere in January 2023, I received two payments on the account, both transactions have the "Risk evaluation" marked as NORMAL, so there wasn't any problem with the transactions.
A day later after I received these two transactions, my account gets immediately suspended permanently, then they disabled the option for me to directly CALL them, I can only email them, I email them to ask what is going on, and they said a person who did a payment on my website wasn't the authenticated person who made the charge ( it means that someone else pretended to be that customer), which of course later while you're reading this you will find it's not true, I contacted both of my customers to see what is going on, they swore that they didn't do it, and said that they can personally email Stripe and tell them that they are lying and making a mistake, of course, Stripe didn't accept that. They locked my funds for 120 days and didn't wanna unsuspend my account, because they said it was "HIGH RISK", how is it high risk when both of these transactions have RISK EVALUATION as NORMAL?
So we came to the conclusion that Stripe is one big scam company and that they lie.
Let's get to the END, so they said that the payment on my website was not made by the original owner of the credit card, if that happened, the bank would immediately refund the funds to the real owner, but of course, it wasn't that situation, I received a payout 120 days later, so what did we figure out? If one of those two payments were not originally made by the owner, they would be refunded by the bank immediately, but as you can see 120 days later, I receive my payout, so that means that the original owners did make the payment on my website and that the Stripe is just lying because they are a scam company.

PART 3: I emailed them 120 days later after I received a payout, telling them that they made a mistake and that they lied to me, and that I want unsuspend of my account, but of course, Stripe is not responding my emails for more than 10 days, they don't want to admit that they made a mistake. Filthy scammers and liars.
I will attach screenshots that both of those payments were under RISK EVALUATION NORMAL, which means %100 that they are made by the owners of the card, and that they have no risk at all, but Stripe whatsoever said they are big risks, again Stripe is a liar.

STRIPE eine Betrüger Firma.

Wir vermieten unsere eigenen Ferienwohnungen über Booking.com und Gäste können mit Kreditkarte mittels Stripe bezahlen. Der Kunden bekommt einen payment Link den er selber ausfüllt und mit 3DS/ChargeBack Protection ausfüllt. Stripe teilt uns auf einmal mit unser Geschäft wäre ein High Risk, welches Sie nicht mehr Unterstützen können und daher unseren Account für zukünftige Transaktionen sperren. In dem Account waren 42.000 Euro - alles Transaktionen mit 3DS. Stripe hat ALLEN Kunden alles zurückgezahlt obwohl wir eindeutig beweisen konnten das nicht wir sondern die Kunden selber das charging machen! Stripe hat dieses nicht interessiert. 100 Robotemails wurden uns zugesendet, keiner des Stripe "review teams" hat jemals etwas überprüft nur Ausreden und verschleierung. Das ist eine MAFIA / GANGSTER Firma. NIEMALS mit Stripe zusammen arbeiten!

STRIPE a scam company.

We rent our own vacation rentals through Booking.com and guests can pay by credit card through Stripe. The customer receives a payment link which he fills out himself and fills in with 3DS/ChargeBack Protection. Stripe suddenly tells us our business would be a high risk, which they can no longer support and therefore block our account for future transactions. The account contained 42,000 euros - all transactions with 3DS. Stripe paid everything back to ALL customers, although we could clearly prove that it was not us but the customers who did the charging! Stripe didn't care about this. 100 robot emails were sent to us, none of the stripe "review team" ever reviewed anything just excuses and obfuscation. This is a MAFIA / GANGSTER company. NEVER work with Stripe!

When looking at online dating sites, few are more wholesome than MouseMingle, the dating site for Disney fans. Oddly, credit card processors like Stripe and PayPal choose to see MouseMingle.com as being no different than Ashley Madison or any other sexually oriented hookup sites.

MouseMingle was happily serving Disney fans for over 5 years when PayPal suddenly terminated our credit card processing account, giving no notice, warning, or reason as to why. After nearly 2 years, the site finally got a software integration working with Stripe.com, another credit card processor designed for online businesses. For 2 months everything worked well, until Stripe notified MouseMingle that the dating site for Disney fans was among the categories of prohibited businesses. However, upon deep study of Stripe's website – specifically their prohibited businesses section – MouseMingle clearly does not fit into any of the categories of prohibited businesses in the United States. Stripe's public, written policies are clear which businesses they do not allow, including "sexually oriented dating services", "Extended warranties and subscriptions over one year", "Sex toys", and "Unregistered charities" – none of which of MouseMingle fits into – unless the term 'sexually oriented' means 'human.'

In the world of credit card processing, a common term is "high risk business." Any intelligent person, even outside of the industry, could come up with a list of high risk businesses that could adversely affect a credit card processor. Those businesses might include selling scam lottery tickets, porn sites, weapon sales, auction websites, weight loss scams, or online gambling. But even an idiot can see the difference between Disney dating and porn.

MouseMingle is a small, niche dating site created by a former Disneyland Tour Guide and locomotive engineer. He created the site because none of the big corporate dating sites had a focus for people who love the happy and fun niche. "It's heartbreaking that MouseMingle might die simply because these credit card companies won't pick up the phone to help solve the problem." says MouseMingle founder, Dave Tavres. Many couples have met on the site, gotten married, had children together, and have been happily dating because they found someone who loves what they love – Disney.

After repeated requests to Stripe, they refuse to give any reason or information as to why they have chosen to hurt the small business. Every request has returned a canned response of exactly the same text:

"Unfortunately, following an additional review of your account, we're still unable to support your business as it falls under one of our restricted businesses categories." https://stripe.com/restricted-businesses

…yet they will never say which category they are putting MouseMingle in – or literally give any other reason or response. And so, MouseMingle was nearly forced to shut down because a service company refuses to have a conversation with their customer.

Wheres my money $1500 been over a month won't reply to email and no phone number, THEIVES WARNING DO NOT USE 0/10 VERY BAD

Stripe has withheld our funds for years citing a "high risk" for disputed payments. Our dispute rate has declined for years, and they continue to withhold funds. In Stripe's terms of service, they say that instead of holding a reserve, they can simply debit your bank account. Their terms say "Stripe will initiate a withdrawal back from your bank account to cover the negative balance".

When we inquired with Stripe customer support, they said the following: "Regarding the link that you have sent, we can debit to the bank account. However, it is advisable that we placed a reserved funds on the account that will cover the upcoming refunds and disputes."

They never explained to us why they would hold a reserve instead of debiting. Despite our dispute rate falling for years, they refused to return tens of thousands of dollars to us. For the past ~3 months, our dispute rate fell to 0 disputes. In March, Stripe told us via email they would pay us the remaining funds on May 29th.

On May 26th, just 3 days before the payment was due, they emailed us to say they would not be giving us the remaining funds back, but only a partial balance. They said it was due to "elevated risk". As a small business, imagine waiting for 3 months to get tens of thousands of dollars of your own revenue back, during a global pandemic, only to have Stripe email you at the last moment to tell you they changed their mind, with absolutely *no* explanation as to why.

We have asked repeatedly what "elevated risk" means, and Stripe has said "I'm afraid we can't offer much in the way of specifics regarding our review process for the sake of security, but please rest assured that we did a thorough review of your business and tried our hardest not to reserve your funds."

So even though our dispute rate has fallen consistently, and even though we have gone several months with exactly 0 disputes, they emailed us 3 days before the payment to say they wouldn't pay us in full, and continue to refuse a proper explanation. It has been an absolutely abysmal experience with them.

It shouldn't be hard to explain to us in plain english what risk they see. If we can better understand the risk, it's possible we can help facilitate reducing that risk. But Stripe won't explain any of it. Even though our disputes now stand at 0 for months, they still won't explain it. Avoid at all cost. There are plenty of payment providers out there.

They'll reply to you and say "Oh we'd be happy to help!" but trust me when I say they offer not a single bit of help. We regret using this service and fully expect at this point that Stripe will merely hold onto thousands of dollars worth of our revenue in perpetuity by citing "elevated risks" which they will never explain due to "security risks".

Do not use.