Ensure your company has set up a statement descriptor to prevent payments being potentially marked as fraud.
❗ Important ❗
Stripe has added a new field for KYC verification for businesses. Even if you've already connected Stripe, please follow the steps below to ensure your payments aren't potentially marked as fraud.
This article is intended for companies who have already set up their Stripe accounts. If you are still needing to set this up, please follow the following article for a full walk through:
Table of contents
What is a statement descriptor?
A statement descriptor is a business name that appears on your customer’s bank statements in order to identify where a payment came from. This must match your business name.
Why is a statement descriptor important?
Having an identifiable business as your statement descriptor helps your customers recognize their purchases and reduces the risk of chargebacks or their banks marking the payment as fraud.
Types of businesses that need to change their statement descriptor
All businesses should ensure they have a valid statement descriptor. If this isn’t filled out, the statement descriptor defaults to the website you provided during setup.
Editing the statement descriptor
To edit the statement descriptor:
- In V1, go to payments.
- Click “view Stripe payouts.”
- Click the pencil edit button under business details. This will open a new tab to edit Stripe setup.
- Click “edit” on the “public details” card where it lists the public descriptor.
- Add your business name as the statement descriptor and click “continue.”
- Confirm the changes at the bottom of the page.
Note: these changes can only be done by the studio owner or admin representative.
Statement descriptors for franchises
If you are part of a franchise, this statement descriptor needs to match the business plus location. For example, Incourage has multiple locations, so the Fairfax location would label the statement descriptor as "Incourage Fairfax."
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What happens if I don’t fill out the statement descriptor correctly?
If the statement descriptor is not filled out clearly, there is a higher likelihood of customers’ banks labeling the payment as fraud or your customers not recognizing the payment and issuing a dispute.
Is there a character limit to the statement descriptor?
The statement descriptor is recommended to be between 5 - 22 characters (letters and spaces).