Onboarding overview
Take your integration live.
Use this guide to develop and launch an integration using Stripe Issuing (in the US, EU, or UK) or Treasury (US only). To successfully go live, your offering must be a business we support, and you must integrate systems and establish business processes.
Before you go live, you must:
- Get your use case approved: Submit information pertaining to your use case, familiarise yourself with the compliance requirements, and explore testing environments.
- Obtain live mode access: Build in the production environment, manage the necessary operational responsibilities, and complete the required compliance tasks.
- Get ready to launch your BaaS offering: Test the programme out with your employees using real funds.
Enable your customers to fund and manage business expenses using your issued cards.
Complexity: ●●●○○
Example segments: SaaS platforms, e-commerce businesses, and corporate benefits providers.
Milestone 1: Get your use case approved
Start by submitting an intake form that includes a high-level overview of what you’re looking to use Issuing for. If you’re a funded business with a dedicated team of developers, or simply working with a single developer, include those details in the form.
After you submit the form, our team will contact you within 5 days to let you know if your use case is a good fit. We also let you know if we think your desired product or products don’t serve your use case well. During the call, an assigned Stripe account representative asks you more about your use case and motivation as part of our supportability assessment. We also advise you on best practices and how to build a compelling financial services offering.
Following the call, we’ll inform you whether we can support your business within 5 business days (certain use cases can take longer). While you wait, you can build a test integration in a sandbox environment to explore the product’s capabilities, and familiarize yourself with our compliance requirements. If we deem your use case supportable, your account representative provides you with any necessary agreements, and once signed, configures your program.
Milestone 2: Obtain live access
To obtain live mode access, you must complete the required compliance tasks. In parallel, we recommend you build your integration in a production environment and operationalise required processes.
Build your integration
At any time, you can explore an integration in a sandbox environment using our sample app. After you sign the legal agreement, Stripe configures your program to the capabilities required for your business model. After you receive approval, you can begin submitting live transactions.
| Sandbox | Live | |
|---|---|---|
| Usage limits | With no permissions necessary, explore a broad set of platform use cases using the Dashboard or Issuing API | Limited to what you’re approved for |
| Immediate access | Yes | No, you’re granted access after you receive Stripe approval |
| Use real funds | No | Yes |
Manage operational responsibilities
Prior to go-live, you need to take care of various operational responsibilities:
- Customer support: Understand what types of customer enquiries you need to handle and equip your support team with the appropriate information and tools.
- Compliance management: Set up the necessary processes outlined in the marketing section.
- Physical cards: If your use case requires physical cards, you can order standard cards if you want to go to market quickly. Or you can fully customize your cards with unique artwork and materials, if physical cards are a core part of your business.
- Mobile wallets: If your use case necessitates Apple Pay, review the steps required for approval.
Milestone 3: Get ready to launch your BaaS offering
Now you’re ready to request your first virtual or physical card. Using real funds, test the programme out by getting designated employees to complete initial transactions.
Operationalise ongoing activities to remain compliant
Once live, you need to dedicate resources to ongoing operational requirements:
- Marketing: Stay aligned with marketing guidelines.
- Customer complaints: Receive and resolve customer complaints, and report them to Stripe each month.
- Dispute handling: Set up dispute handling processes for your card programme.
- Lost or stolen cards: Allow customers to report lost or stolen cards so you can cancel them immediately and (optionally) request replacements.