# Source: https://docs.stripe.com/financial-accounts/connect/handling-complaints.md

# Handling complaints

Learn how to properly handle complaints about Financial Accounts for platforms or Stripe Issuing.

Complaints are any expression of dissatisfaction with a product, service, policy, or employee related to Stripe Financial Accounts for platforms or Issuing, except those expressions made by employees of your company. Proper handling of complaints is mandatory when offering financial services products.

You must provide your customers with an easily identifiable and accessible way to submit complaints. Include instructions on how to efficiently submit complaints close to your customer support contact information or an equally obvious location. You’re ultimately responsible for resolving complaints, but Stripe can provide guidance and support when needed.

Stripe expects you to acknowledge all operational (standard) complaints within 5 business days and resolve them within 15 business days from the complaint submission date. You must maintain records of all complaints and resolutions in accordance with applicable law. Upon request, you must provide Stripe with reasonable access to all pending and resolved complaints.

When you or someone representing your platform becomes aware of an executive complaint regarding Financial Accounts for platforms or Issuing products, promptly notify Stripe within 1 business day of the complaint submission date. Executive complaints include any threats of litigation or complaints from regulators and complaints that allege Unfair or Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP), discrimination, consumer harm, or legal concerns. Upon receipt of an executive complaint, please refrain from further interaction with the customer until Stripe reviews the complaint. Stripe works closely with you to resolve all executive complaints.

In addition, you must report an aggregated list of complaints to Stripe on a monthly basis. Stripe uses the list to make sure that the product is adhering to regulatory requirements. Facilitate easy complaint submission by providing clear and obvious options on your support site or other relevant customer service product area.

| Complaint type | Notification to Stripe          | Acknowledgement to customer | Resolution              | Aggregated reporting              |
| -------------- | ------------------------------- | --------------------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Executive      | Within 1-2 business days        | Within 5 business days      | Within 15 business days | Monthly by the tenth of the month |
| Operational    | Reasonable access, upon request | Within 5 business days      | Within 15 business days | Monthly by the tenth of the month |

To demonstrate your adherence to these complaint handling requirements, Stripe asks that you keep thorough records of all complaints. This includes email interactions and any documentation developed in the course of resolving complaints.

Given that you’re responsible for managing customer support, as well as resolving most complaints, it’s important to distinguish between a regular customer service inquiry and a complaint. The following guidelines help you distinguish between general customer service inquiries and complaints. If you’re uncertain, forward the customer inquiry to Stripe to help determine whether the communication constitutes a complaint.

## Complaint channels

Your platform can receive complaints through various means, including by telephone, in person, social media, email, a regulatory agency, direct written communication, and so on. You must address all complaints, regardless of how you receive them.

## Complaint types

The following table provides guidelines to determine the type of complaint you might receive.

| Executive                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | Operational                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Legal/regulatory complaints, which include:
  - A private practice attorney or lawyer acting on behalf of their client
  - A federal or state attorney general acting in response to a person who has filed a complaint with a regulatory agency
  - A federal or state government agency acting in response to a person who has filed a complaint with a regulatory agency
  - A person threatening to bring a legal action against your platform, Stripe, or a banking partner
  - Complaints that allege Unfair or Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP), discrimination, or consumer harm | - Product or service complaints, which are complaints about customer service or product functionality and might include complaints related, but not limited to, the following:

    - Fees or premiums
    - Disclosures or notices
    - Servicing
    - Application form
    - Transactions
    - Account management
    - Third-party service providers
    - Advertising or marketing

  - Privacy or security complaints, which are complaints related, but not limited to:

    - Fraud
    - Identity theft
    - Criminal activity, such as robbery or theft
    - Unauthorized access to a customer’s information
    - Honoring opt-in, opt-out, and do-not-call requests
    - Unauthorized product enrollment, account openings, or upgrades (including the addition of unauthorized ancillary add-on products), or other improper sales practices |

## Differentiating between complaints and customer service inquiry

A customer service inquiry can be verbal or written, and includes a request to you for information and assistance related to a Financial Accounts for platforms or Issuing program element. This could include address changes; account inquiries; questions about a product’s availability in certain jurisdictions; technical inquiries related to your platform, Stripe’s platform, or a third-party platform that’s integrated with Stripe’s platform; or a request for refund of fees.

The key distinguishing factor that differentiates an inquiry from a complaint is the customer’s expression of dissatisfaction, which might be transparent either in the use of specific phrasing (“trigger words”) or in the customer’s general tone in communicating.

The following trigger words differentiate a complaint from a customer service inquiry:

- Abuse or abusive **
- Marital status (married, single, or divorced)
- Angry or mad
- Military or service member
- Annoyed
- National origin **
- Attorney or lawyer
- Opt in or opt out
- Bait and switch **
- Predatory **
- Bias or prejudice **
- Privacy
- Deceived **
- Problem
- Disclosure or disclose
- Race, minority, or color **
- Discrimination or discriminate **
- Redlining or redline **
- Disgraceful **
- Regulator or regulatory
- Exploit or manipulate **
- Religion, age, or disability **
- Fairness or unfair **
- Ridiculous
- Financial injury
- Sex or gender **
- Foul language
- Sexual orientation **
- Fraud or ID theft
- Sue
- Hide or hidden
- Unauthorized
- Lawsuit
- Unbelievable **
- Litigation
- Unfair **
- Low income or poor
- Unhappy or not happy
- Ludicrous

\** Complaints containing these trigger words or synonyms might allege unfair or deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) or discrimination. This list isn’t exhaustive and Stripe might add other trigger words to this list.

In addition to the preceding trigger words, consider the tone of the communication and reference the examples below when making a determination and consider similar circumstances for complaint identification.

- A customer expresses dissatisfaction with you, your Stripe-run products or services, Stripe, or a bank partner.
- A customer states that they wish to file a complaint.
- A customer states that a business practice or employee interaction is misleading, unfair, deceptive, abusive, or a combination of these.
- A customer alleges discrimination.
- A customer threatens to file suit against you, Stripe, or a bank partner.
- Customer alleges that you, your Stripe-run products or services, Stripe, or a bank partner violate a specific law or regulation or questions the legality of a practice.
- A customer notes multiple or repeated attempts to obtain information or resolve a concern (use of words like “still,” “repeated,” and so on).
- An attorney sends a complaint letter on behalf of a customer.
- A regulatory or government agency initiates a complaint.

Examples of what isn’t a complaint:

- A customer address correction or change.
- Account inquiries or requests for assistance.
- Inquiries regarding technical assistance (for example, error messages) or problems interacting with the Stripe platform, its integration with third-party services, or both.

## Complaints tracking

Stripe requires all Issuing and Financial Accounts for platforms platforms to regularly share complaints received from their connected accounts. You must complete reporting each month before the tenth calendar day of the following month.

Each platform receives a unique and secure form after onboarding to record complaints.

If you don’t receive any complaints in a month, you must still let Stripe know by following the steps in the **No complaints attestation** tab in your platform’s unique complaints form.

### Required information

A standard set of fields is required for each complaint received. All fields are required except where noted. You can also find this table in the **Definitions** tab of your complaints form.

| Complaint Field                    | Stripe’s Definition                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `date_input`                       | The date the complaint information was first added to this tracker.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| `date_received`                    | The date of ticket or case creation for the complaint.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| `user_name`                        | Business name (Business’s DBA).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `received_by`                      | Servicer or personnel managing complaint intake.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| `account_ID`                       | Business unique identifier or token.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| `complaint_classification`         | Classify whether it’s an operational or executive complaint.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `stripe_product`                   | The Stripe product that the complaint pertains to. If related to a card, select **Issuing**.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `complaint_category`               | Classify the category of complaint as: Privacy or Security, Legal or Regulatory, or Product or Service.                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| `complaint_sub_category`           | The type of activity the complaint is about.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `complaint_channel`                | The intake channel for the complaint.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| `complaint_description`            | Brief description of the user’s complaint.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| `alleges_UDAP_or_discrimination`   | Classify whether the complainant alleges a UDAP (unfair or deceptive acts and practices) or discriminatory acts. Ultimately, whether a complaint alleges a UDAP or discriminatory practice hinges on the language used (see list of “trigger words” above) and the general sentiment of the business’s complaint. |
| `user_stage`                       | Classify the stage for the user in the customer lifecycle.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| `systemic_issue_identified`        | Disclosure of whether the complaint revealed a systemic issue that needs rectifying.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| `date_resolved`                    | The date a resolution was communicated to the customer and executed to close the ticket. **Required only after complaint is resolved**                                                                                                                                                                            |
| `redress_reqd`                     | Disclosure of whether a rectifying action (for example, reimbursement) was necessary to resolve the ticket. **Required only after complaint is resolved**                                                                                                                                                         |
| `description_of_corrective_action` | Description of resolution steps undertaken to close the ticket. **Required only after complaint is resolved**                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| `internal_links`                   | Internal links of items such as documents and correspondence that were used to resolve the ticket. **Optional**                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `user_correspondence_links`        | Links to user correspondence that allows an auditor or a regulator to review the ticket history and resolution. **Required if applicable to the case, but not required if there is no source of user correspondence**                                                                                             |
| `reason_exceeded_15_days`          | The reason that the resolution took longer than 15 business days. **Required only after complaint is resolved and resolution exceeded 15 business days**                                                                                                                                                          |