Why does Square need access to my bank statements?

[Vonnie7]

I have received my first SQUARE invoice and I am not comfortable nor am I understanding why Square needs to have access to my personal bank account statements, since my business is new. I co-owned a business a few years ago and use of Square was far easier and less intrusive. 

I just want my money and now I feel it is being held hostage by Square until I upload my personal bank statements, which makes zero sense to me.

[Minion]

Hi @Vonnie7 

Just to make sure that I am understanding correctly, they (Square) wants access to statements from your linked bank account , which this is your personal account, is that correct?

I am not 100% sure of why they would want them in your situation, but i have to assume that it would have to deal with some sort of account verification.  Making sure that you are the account holder etc.  Nothing more, nothing less. 

You could try to call into Square support and see if there is another way you can verify without bank statements or connecting to an account if you are not comfortable doing that.  Maybe there is another option they can provide. 

[crogers4]

Yeah, this seems like a load of bull. I am currently in the same situation. Did you ever find out another way to fulfill whatever information they needed besides letting them access your bank statements?

[Minion]

Are they asking you to upload a certain amount of statements to the account that you have connected, or are they asking to link the account that you have connected?

This is pretty standard and common practice by many companies for verification.  

[crogers4]

I can either upload bank statements continuously or link the bank account. Either way, square has no business with my bank account. I’m curious as to what relationships you would say this practice is a standard and common? I have no other relationship where a third party is requesting me to link my bank account to their service. I have confirmed deposit amounts before to “verify” it was my account. That seems kosher. This is different. They are withholding my money unless I let them access my bank account. It’s not their money. 

[Minion]

---

@crogers4 wrote:

I can either upload bank statements continuously or link the bank account. Either way, square has no business with my bank account. I’m curious as to what relationships you would say this practice is a standard and common? I have no other relationship where a third party is requesting me to link my bank account to their service. I have confirmed deposit amounts before to “verify” it was my account. That seems kosher. This is different. They are withholding my money unless I let them access my bank account. It’s not their money. 

---

Continuously uploading bank statements sounds a  bit odd to me.  3 statements used to be the normal unless something has changed.   Have you tried to contact support to inquire about this and why they would need continuous statements to be uploaded?

Any financial institution can review your account at any time, whether it be new or have years of use or sales.  Per this article regarding squares information requests I pulled this 

"Reviewing financial information such as bank statements helps us better understand your business, including cash inflows and outflows and the ability to support any payment disputes should they arise. We want to make sure that your business is best protected should anything go wrong."  

I am definitely here to try and help you to get your money that is rightfully yours, but since we don't have access to specific accounts , you may need to seek support by calling in to see if anything else can be done.