Hi @AngelicAF222. First, I’m sorry you find yourself in this predicament. Yes, it can be highly frustrating, but maybe I (as a fellow seller) can help shed some light on this “cash advance” thing. Bear with me, though. The explanation can be a little confusing until you read from beginning to end! My explanation has to do with an issue that credit card issuers have with sellers (or their immediate family members) using personal cards to by from themselves. Having said that, here’s an example.
Say that I am a retailer, and decide to buy something from my shop for my home. The easiest way to do this and not raise red flags is to pay cash for that item. No one will care. Sometimes, retailers assume that they can use their personal credit or debit cards, or even worse a company cards, to close that transaction. I can’t stress enough that this is ALWAYS the wrong decision. Credit card companies do not look kindly upon this at all. Here’s why — they consider it cash advance since it is your card being used in your business. Cash advances are subject to a much higher fee than regular purchases. Trust me when I say that retailers have been using this “trick” for decades and the card issuers finally watch for it constantly.
Understand that I’m not saying that you were trying to do anything wrong or illegal here. You probably (as I did once) didn’t realize that this can be a problem. If you did do this, and your card issuers asked Square to look into it, you’d never know until something like a new loan approval came up. Also, if you did do this, even once, then it’s not as simple as saying “I’m sorry” and making it go away. It won’t go away for a while, mostly because Square’s Terms of Service document is very clear about using personal/company cards at our own businesses.
If this happened to you, you are not the first seller it has happened to. I can’t tell you when — if ever — this flag will drop from your account if it is there. Neither can Square employees, since they are only following federal banking regulations and laws. If you did do this (purchase something from your own business using a personal/company card), then I’ll strongly recommend you don’t do it anymore. In the worst case, Mastercard, etc, can revoke your card processing privileges permanently. I’ve known it to happen.
Anyway, if you are certain that this never happened at your business, I’m sorry for wasting your time, as I have no idea what else would raise the “cash advance” red flag.
Regards,
