When Stripe terminates a merchant account, it typically imposes a hold on funds that were in the settlement pipeline at the time of termination. The hold is a buffer against anticipated chargebacks on transactions that were processed before the termination date but whose chargeback window had not yet closed. Stripe's standard hold period can extend from 90 days to 180 days depending on the merchant's product type, and in some cases longer. During the hold period, the merchant cannot access the held funds, and Stripe will deduct any chargebacks that arrive against the held balance before releasing the remainder.
The fund hold compounds the operational impact of a Stripe account termination. The merchant loses payment acceptance and access to a portion of its recent revenue at the same time, while simultaneously needing to invest in deploying replacement payment processing. For merchants in industries with elevated chargeback rates, the held funds may be subject to significant deductions before they are released. Merchants who have experienced a Stripe termination and fund hold can contact 27 Blockchain to discuss the payment processing restoration independently of the fund hold situation, since the two are resolved through separate processes. The 27 Blockchain payment gateway can be live and processing new transactions while the Stripe fund hold situation runs its course.
