Cardholder controls

Stripe must screen cardholder information in accordance with legal and regulatory guidelines. Your Issuing and Connect integration must be in compliance with these guidelines.

To make sure your integration is in compliance, you must handle the following types of errors in response to submitting a new cardholder first name, last name, date of birth, or billing address.

Cardholder under review

When a cardholder is under review, you might receive the following errors:

• You can’t update the name for a cardholder under review. Stripe will make a decision and update the disabled_reason field.
• You can’t update the dob for a cardholder under review. Stripe will make a decision and update the disabled_reason field.

These errors indicate that Stripe is conducting a review of the cardholder, and no immediate action is required from you. Wait for the cardholder.updated webhook event, which will inform you of the review decision and any necessary next steps. Don’t retry the API request until you receive this event.

Additional information required

If Stripe needs more information to complete a review, you might see these errors:

• You can’t update the name for a cardholder under review. The past_due field contains information that you need to provide before the cardholder can approve authorizations.
• You can’t update the dob for a cardholder under review. The past_due field contains information that you need to provide before the cardholder can approve authorizations.

If you see these errors, check the past_due field in the cardholder object for details about the required information. Collect this information from your cardholder and submit it using the Update Cardholder API. Don’t resubmit the original request without including the requested information.

Invalid cardholder name

If the provided cardholder name is invalid, you’ll receive this error:

• The specified cardholder name is invalid. If you believe this to be a mistake, please reach out to support-issuing@stripe.com for more information.

If you get this error, verify the cardholder’s name with your customer. If you’ve confirmed the provided name is correct, contact support-issuing@stripe.com for assistance.

Business name as the cardholder name

Stripe requires the actual cardholder’s name, not a business name. If the cardholder name is the business name, you will receive the following error:

• Your cardholder name must not be your business name. If you believe this to be a mistake, please reach out to support-issuing@stripe.com for more information.

If you see this error, make sure you’re using the individual cardholder’s name and not the business name. Exceptions can apply for sole proprietors or specific use cases such as Buy now, pay later, B2B Payments, fleet, and insurance payouts. If you think your case qualifies for an exception, contact support-issuing@stripe.com.

Invalid address

Stripe requires a valid physical address for cardholders. If the address is invalid, you might see these errors:

• Invalid address. Your billing address must be a valid physical address and can’t be a PO Box. You may use a PO Box as your card shipping address.
• Invalid address. Your billing address must be a valid physical address and can’t be a Highway Contract Box. You may use a Highway Contract Box as your card shipping address.
• Invalid address. Your billing address must be a valid physical address and can’t be a private mailbox. You may use a private mailbox as your card shipping address.
• Invalid address. Your billing address is not deliverable. If you believe this to be a mistake, please reach out to support-issuing@stripe.com for more information.

If you see these errors, collect a valid physical address from your cardholder. P.O. Boxes, highway contract boxes, and private mailboxes aren’t accepted as billing addresses. Make sure the street address provided for cardholders is accurate and verifiable. Confirm the street name, number, and other details with your cardholder. If you think the address is correct but you’re still receiving an error, contact support-issuing@stripe.com.

In some cases, certain addresses might pass the initial validation but later be deemed invalid by Stripe. If that happens, you will receive a cardholder.updated webhook event, which informs you of the invalidity of the address.

Test an undeliverable address

Use the following value 123 Fake Street in billing[address][line1] to trigger an undeliverable condition in testing environments.

All the other values result in a deliverable status in testing environments.

Cardholder status

Cardholders have a default active status, which means that a platform has decided to enable a cardholder so that any cards attached to the cardholder can approve authorizations.

Stripe must screen cardholder identity information in accordance with legal and regulatory guidelines. This can block authorizations based on cardholder attributes, even if the cardholder’s status is active. Learn more about watchlist reviews.

You can change the status to inactive by updating the cardholder. An inactive status on a Cardholder means all authorizations will be declined for any attached cards with a reason of cardholder_inactive.

Cardholder creation with the Stripe Dashboard

If you use the Stripe Dashboard to create new cardholders, Stripe automatically applies an updated flow to reflect current cardholder requirements. There is no action required of you.