The email arrived. Here is the next hour.

This is written for the day it happens. Read it once now so you know where it is. If you are reading it because it just happened: breathe, then start at the first hour.

First, work out which of the three it is

The first hour

1. Read the whole email and the dashboard banner. Note the exact wording, the date, any deadline, and the category of reason if one is given. Stripe's policy says its notice "may include" the "category of reason for the account being actioned."³ Screenshot everything.
2. Check whether charges are still going through. If they are, pause any scheduled automatic charges to couples until you understand the situation; money charged into a frozen balance is money you cannot use and cannot easily refund.
3. Open the request, not a complaint. Processors handle information requests in a form or a dashboard task. Replying to the notification email with a frustrated paragraph does not count as answering it. Find the form.
4. Start the evidence folder. One folder, named with the date. Everything you send goes in it, with a log of when you sent it and what they said.

The first day: answer completely, once

Most holds are lifted by documents, and most delays are caused by incomplete answers that trigger a second round. Send everything they asked for and the things they will ask for next.

What they ask for

• Identity and business documents: government ID, EIN letter or state registration, a bank statement showing the linked account in the business's name.
• Proof of what you sell: your website, your pricing page, a sample contract.
• Evidence for specific recent charges: the signed contract, the invoice and the message thread for each flagged payment.

What to add without being asked

• A one-page explanation of your business model, in the processor's own vocabulary: "We are a wedding photography studio. Couples pay a booking payment of about X% when they sign, 9 to 15 months before the wedding, and the balance 30 days before. We deliver 8 to 12 weeks after the event. Our average booking is $N; we completed N weddings in the last 12 months with N disputes." That paragraph answers the future-delivery question before it is asked.
• A list of every open booking: couple, wedding date, amount paid, balance due, contract attached. This is the single most useful document, because the processor's real concern is what happens to those bookings if you fail. Showing them is the answer.
• Your dispute history, including any you won, with a sentence on each.
• Proof of delivery for recent weddings: gallery delivery emails, reviews, social posts.

Write it the way you would write to a bank, because that is what it is. Short, factual, dated, organised. No adjectives about how unfair it is.

The first week: couples and cash

What to tell couples

Usually nothing, because nothing has changed for them: their payment succeeded and their booking stands. If a couple's payment was refunded by the processor as part of the action, tell them the same day, explain that your processor is reviewing your account, and give them a bank-transfer option. Never ask a couple to pay a second time by card into the same account.

Keep taking bookings

Switch new payments to a method outside the frozen account: bank transfer, a second processor you already have, or your own payment links. On Lazo, disconnect the processor in Payments and your thread shows the methods you list instead. Do not open a new account at the same processor under a different name; see below.

Cash

Treat the held balance as unavailable for the stated period and plan around it. If the processor offers partial release for specific delivered weddings, ask for it in writing with the delivery proof attached.

Appealing

Stripe

Stripe's Unacceptable Risk Policy says an appeal "can typically be done through the Stripe Dashboard," and that "a user whose initial appeal is unsuccessful may have the opportunity to make another appeal through the Dashboard."³ For reserves, the Reserves FAQ says to check the Balances page; if the reserve is eligible for appeal an option appears there, otherwise contact support with "any relevant supporting documentation."²

Square

Square's appeal for a compliance deactivation is a form linked from the deactivation email, the dashboard banner or the point-of-sale app, asking you to describe your products and services, attach documentation and explain how you addressed the concern. Square says "appeals are typically reviewed within 48 hours."⁴ For a payout suspension, Square's own FAQ says submitting the requested information is what restores transfers.¹

Whop

Whop's account-health controls, including reserves and pending delays, "ease and lift automatically" as the dispute rate recovers,⁵ and you can see which controls apply in the Payment health dashboard. For a reserve you believe is wrong, write to support with the open-booking list above; Whop's reserves page says that when a reserve is removed the funds are released immediately into your available balance.⁶

Any processor

• One appeal, complete, with the explanation and the open-booking list. Then wait for the stated review time before following up.
• Ask three specific questions in writing: what triggered the action, what would resolve it, and when the held funds will be released. You may not get all three answers, but the record matters later.
• If the outcome is a closure, ask for the release schedule in writing and calendar it.

Three things never to do

Weeks two to twelve: the hold period

If the account was closed, the processor holds the balance for a period it states in its terms, because every booking you have not delivered can still become a chargeback it would have to pay. The period is set by the terms you agreed to; the figures for each processor, with sources, are in Holds, reserves and freezes. During that period:

• Deliver every wedding on time and keep the proof. Each delivered wedding lowers the processor's exposure, and some will release funds against delivery proof if asked.
• Keep the linked bank account open and funded; processors debit it for chargebacks that arrive during the hold.
• Ask in writing, once a month, for a partial release against delivered bookings. Attach the list.

Escalating

If the processor has stopped answering, has passed its own stated release date, or will not say when funds will be released:

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accepts complaints about "money transfers, virtual currency, and money services" and routes them to the company, which "generally respond[s] in 15 days."⁷ The portal is built for consumers, but merchants use it and processors answer it. File at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or call (855) 411-2372.
• Your state's money-transmitter or banking regulator, which licenses most processors; its complaint page is usually under the state Department of Banking or Financial Institutions.
• Your state attorney general's consumer protection office for a processor that has gone silent past a stated date.
• Small-claims court for a held balance under your state's limit, once the stated period has passed. Processors' terms often require arbitration; read yours, and read the small-claims carve-out many of them contain.

Each of these works better with the dated log and the folder you started in the first hour.

Afterwards

Whatever the outcome, two changes are worth making: take balances by bank transfer so the largest payments are outside the card system, and consider a traditional merchant account with underwriting up front, where a hold is governed by a contract you negotiated and a relationship manager you can call. See Choosing a processor.

Questions vendors ask

My payment processor froze my funds. What do I do first?

Read the notice and dashboard banner, screenshot everything, pause any scheduled automatic charges, find the information-request form rather than replying to the email, and start a dated evidence folder.

What documents lift a payout hold?

Identity and business documents, proof of what you sell, and for flagged charges the signed contract, invoice and message thread. Add a one-page description of your booking and delivery cycle and a list of every open booking with contract attached.

How long does a processor hold funds after closing an account?

PayPal and Whop publish up to 180 days; Stripe and Square publish no fixed figure. A UK ombudsman found 120 days after the last payout reasonable in a Stripe case. The period tracks the card networks' 120-day dispute window.

Should I open a new account at the same processor?

No. Processors match owners, bank accounts and devices; the new account is closed too, its balance held, and the behaviour can lead to a terminated-merchant listing that lasts five years.

Where can I complain about a payment processor holding my money?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accepts complaints about money services and companies generally respond within 15 days; your state's money-transmitter regulator and attorney general are the other routes.