It was in the terms all along.

Three different things get called "frozen." They have different causes, different durations and different fixes. Start by knowing which one you are looking at.

1. The three things called "frozen"

The playbook covers what to do in each case. This page is about what they are.

2. How reserves work

Stripe's definition is the clearest: "A reserve is a temporary hold on a portion of a business's funds for a predetermined period of time. The reserve exists to cover anticipated losses."¹ Every processor uses two shapes.

Rolling reserve

A percentage of each day's sales is held and released a set number of days later, continuously. Stripe: "a set percentage of funds from each new transaction is held in reserve on a rolling basis," normally for "30 to 90 days to give time for customers' refunds and chargebacks to process."¹ PayPal's example: "if you have a 90 day rolling reserve, funds from Day 1 sales will be available on Day 91."² Whop's example is 10% for 90 days.³ Square confirms it uses "what's known as a rolling reserve."⁴

Worked example. You take $12,000 in deposits in March under a 20% rolling reserve with a 90-day term. $2,400 is held and pays out in June. Every month, one fifth of what you earn is three months late. For a business whose costs fall on the wedding day, that lag is the whole problem.

Fixed or minimum reserve

A set amount is held until a date, or a minimum balance must always remain. Stripe's docs give the event example directly: "Set up a fixed reserve plan … release them all the day after the event."⁵ PayPal: "A minimum reserve is a specific minimum amount of money we hold in your reserve balance," reviewed "within every 180 days."²

What triggers one

The processors say so themselves, and the wedding calendar matches every item:

• Square: "If you are collecting payment in advance of delivering the purchased goods or services" and "if you don't have a processing history with us."⁴
• Stripe: an industry "with longer-than-average delivery windows," "an increased risk of not fulfilling customer orders," high disputes, "sharp, unexplained jumps in volume."⁶ Stripe's underwriting page adds that "businesses that take payments far in advance of delivery of goods and services pose a higher credit risk."⁷
• PayPal: "Whether you are selling products or services in advance (preselling orders)" and elevated claims and disputes.²
• Whop: new accounts, high refund or dispute rates, "long gaps between payment and delivery," "sudden shifts in sales patterns."³

Whose money is it? Square: "These funds still belong to the seller."⁸ A reserve is not a fee. It is your money, held, and released if nothing goes wrong.

3. What the terms say, processor by processor

The right to hold is contractual. You agreed to it when you ticked the box. These are the clauses, quoted.

Stripe

• Stripe "may delay or withhold paying out a Transaction amount" where it "reasonably believes that a Dispute is likely to occur," and "may delay or withhold paying out amounts subject to an actual Dispute."⁹
• Stripe may "establish, fund, use, and apply a Reserve" and apply it "without demand, legal process, or notice of any kind," and may fund it by "debiting the User Bank Accounts."⁹
• "User is liable to Stripe for the full amount of all Disputes … regardless of the reason, timing or whether User uses the Stripe Payments Services to manage its Disputes."⁹
• Termination does not end it: "Termination does not affect User's responsibility for Transactions," and remedies survive where Stripe "may incur losses resulting from credit, fraud, criminal activity."⁹
• Stripe's platform documentation sets the ceiling on its own reserve tool: "You can't reserve funds for longer than 180 days."⁵ And "in some rare cases, a reserve may be required indefinitely."⁶

Square

• "We may defer payout or restrict access to your Proceeds, temporarily or indefinitely."¹⁰
• "We may require a Reserve for any reason related to your use of the Services," and "the Reserve may be raised, reduced or removed at any time by Square, in its sole discretion."¹⁰
• "Square may terminate your use of the Payment Services at any time for any reason," and "if an investigation is pending at the time you close your Square Account, we may hold your funds as described herein."¹⁰

PayPal

• PayPal's US User Agreement allows holding a balance "for up to 180 days if reasonably needed to protect against the risk of liability" or for an Acceptable Use Policy violation, and says a hold "may remain in place longer than 180 days" under a court order or regulatory requirement.¹¹ (PayPal's legal pages block automated readers; the wording is quoted from the agreement as indexed, so check the live page.)

Whop

• Whop "may place reserves on your account (up to 100% of funds)" and "may hold funds in reserve for as long as commercially reasonable … but for no longer than 180 days." "We have no obligation to release funds until satisfied that risks have passed or been mitigated."¹²
• "We may suspend or terminate your account at any time, for any reason, in our sole discretion." "Account suspensions or holds may delay settlement or distribution of funds owed to you."¹²
• "You are solely responsible for all chargebacks, payment disputes, returns, and refunds related to your Products."¹²

4. The periods: published, unpublished, adjudicated

Vendors ask one question above all: how long? Be careful with the answers you read online. Here is what is actually documented.

Why 120 to 180 days keeps appearing: it is roughly the card networks' dispute window. Visa allows a "not received" dispute up to 120 calendar days from "the last date that the Cardholder expected to receive the merchandise or services," not to exceed 540 days from the transaction.¹⁷ A processor that closes your account holds your balance until the disputes that could still arrive on your delivered bookings are unlikely. For a wedding business with bookings a year out, that logic is why closures hurt so much, and why delivering and documenting every open booking during a hold matters. See Chargebacks.

5. Why they can do this

Stripe, Square, PayPal and Whop are payment facilitators. They hold one master account with an acquiring bank and sign you up underneath it, taking on your dispute risk themselves. Instant approval is possible only because they reserve the right to look at you later and act on what they find. Stripe describes its own process: it runs underwriting and "also conducts periodic account reviews of your business to ensure that it is in good health as it evolves over time,"⁷ and its guidance to platforms is explicit: "For newer sellers or service providers that might be riskier, consider delaying or holding payouts until goods or services are delivered."¹⁸ Stripe also tells platforms that "dispute activity above 0.75% is generally considered excessive."¹⁸ PayPal tells sellers to "try to keep complaint rates below 1% of your sales."² Those internal lines are far below the card networks' 1.5%,¹⁹ and for a business taking a few large payments a month they are easy to cross with one dispute.

6. The public record

This is not a theoretical risk. Documented cases, from news outlets and regulators:

• Square, 2020. Square began holding 20% to 30% of some merchants' card sales for up to 120 days during the pandemic; reporting at the time put the number of affected businesses around 1,300 and described a petition with roughly 1,500 signatures. Square's own explanation: "when the macroeconomic environment shifts, certain industries may become 'riskier' than before."²⁰
• Block (Square's parent), 2026. Bloomberg Law reported in October 2026 that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating Block over complaints about "frozen or deactivated accounts," following a records demand in January 2026 after more than 1,500 consumer complaints; Digital Transactions reported that the FTC's petition described Square accounts frozen or deactivated holding up to $2.5 million since 2022.²¹
• PayPal, 2026. A Georgia jewelry seller's business account was deactivated with about $9,720 inside, held for "up to 120 days" to cover possible reversals, according to WSB-TV.²²
• Square, 2026. A Tennessee repair business owner told WATE he had waited nearly a year for about $1,500 after Square deactivated his account.²³
• Better Business Bureau. Square's BBB profile showed 3,106 complaints in the prior three years and Stripe's 1,903, with held funds after deactivation a recurring theme in both, as read on November 9, 2026.²⁴ Complaint counts are not a rate and both companies serve millions of accounts; they show the pattern exists, not how common it is.

We did not find a news story specifically about a wedding vendor's frozen funds. We do hear it from vendors directly, which is why this resource exists. If you have a documented case you are willing to share, write to vendors@meetlazo.com.

7. The list you never want to be on

A closure for cause can go further than a hold. Mastercard's MATCH database, in Stripe's description, is "Mastercard's global database of businesses terminated by acquirers because of severe rule violations, fraud, or high chargebacks." "Acquirers must screen all applicants against these databases before approval," and "listings remain active for 5 years."²⁵ The excessive-chargeback reason code applies when monthly Mastercard chargebacks "exceed 1% of total monthly Mastercard sales transactions and total 5,000 USD or more."²⁵ Visa keeps an equivalent list, also five years.²⁵ "Closing a processing account doesn't prevent a listing."²⁵

Most aggregator closures do not result in a MATCH listing. The behaviours that do are the ones in the playbook's "never" list: excessive chargebacks, misrepresenting the business, and opening new accounts to evade a closure. Avoid those and a closure is a hold, not a career problem.

Questions vendors ask

What is a rolling reserve?

A percentage of each day's card sales held by the processor and released a set number of days later, continuously. Stripe says reserves normally run 30 to 90 days; Whop's example is 10% for 90 days; PayPal's example releases day-one sales on day 91.

Why do payment processors put reserves on wedding vendors?

Because wedding vendors take payment long before delivery. Square, Stripe, PayPal and Whop each list advance payment or long payment-to-delivery gaps as a reserve trigger, since undelivered bookings can become chargebacks the processor must cover.

How long can Stripe hold my money?

Stripe says reserves are normally 30 to 90 days and its reserve tool is capped at 180 days; it publishes no fixed hold period after an account closure. A UK Financial Ombudsman decision in 2025 found 120 days after the last payout reasonable in a Stripe case.

How long does Square hold funds after deactivating an account?

Square publishes no fixed period; its terms allow deferral temporarily or indefinitely. Deactivation notices posted by sellers cite 90 days, subject to change if more chargebacks arrive.

Is a reserve a fee?

No. Square states the funds still belong to the seller. A reserve is your money held for a period and released if no disputes or refunds consume it.

What is the MATCH list?

Mastercard's database of merchants terminated by acquirers for fraud, severe rule violations or excessive chargebacks. Acquirers screen applicants against it and listings stay for five years.