You must not use Stripe’s services for any illegal activities or for the businesses or product types listed below. The types of businesses listed here are representative of prohibited categories, but this is not an exhaustive list.
(acts or practices that contravene rules, laws, regulation or guidance prescribed by the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or other local consumer regulatory bodies)
You must not use Stripe’s services for the following activities, unless you have received prior written approval from Stripe. If you think your business falls into one of the restricted categories, please contact us. Due to card network rules, requirements of financial partners, and our own compliance and legal obligations, if your business falls into one of the categories below, Stripe might not be able to grant approval for your business to use our products. If we do provide approval, note that the approval is specific to each service offer and it may be modified or revoked by Stripe at any time per the terms of the Stripe Services Agreement.
Read more about Restricted Businesses in our FAQs
The types of businesses listed below are representative of our Restricted Businesses, but not exhaustive.
Platforms that host or distribute third-party content and enable content creators to:
Note: Individual content creators on approved platforms (for example, connected accounts of an approved Stripe Connect user) and those directly distributing their own content (for example, on their own website) do not require pre-approval. However, all content creators must comply with the Stripe Services Agreement and this Prohibited and Restricted Businesses list (which, for example, prohibits the sale of adult content) and are subject to monitoring by Stripe to ensure compliance.
Consumer use of Stripe Issuing is when an Issuing card is created to fully or partially enable payments for personal, family or household use, including:
When you sign up for Stripe Issuing, you share with Stripe the location of your business, the physical address of your beneficial owners, and the jurisdiction in which your business is registered. Stripe requires that the physical location of your business, its jurisdiction of registration, and the physical address of at least one of your beneficial owners all match. Furthermore, you must use Issuing cards primarily in the same jurisdiction.
You can’t use Stripe Issuing as a method to extend credit to your customers using your own funds, unless you have the appropriate licensing to do so and you have received express consent from Stripe to use Issuing for that purpose.
As a user of Stripe Issuing, you must comply with our US compliance guidelines (or see the EU and UK specific guidelines) and our compliance teams might ask you to update your marketing materials or aspects of your user experience. This helps to make sure that both you and Stripe continue to comply with federal, state or any equivalent local or country specific laws and regulations that govern the use of these financial products. Failure to comply within the requested time frames might result in the closure of your Stripe account.
If there is inactivity on all cards associated with an account for a period of 12 consecutive months, Stripe automatically closes your Issuing account.
If you plan to enable your customers to use Stripe Issuing for purposes of creating cards for your customers’ employees or contractors, you must implement Stripe Issuing on Connect (for example, if you’re a platform that wants to enable your customers to create cards for their employees to use for business travel or marketing expenses, you must create a Connect Account for each of your customers). Please consult Stripe if you have any questions regarding the correct integration type for your business.