HeldFundsThe Square file
Square’s Payment Terms allow it to hold a seller’s payouts "temporarily or indefinitely" while it investigates, and to pay no interest on that money while it does. There is no maximum length in the terms.1 Below are 24 first-hand accounts of what that looked like.
Every entry was published by the seller it happened to, under their own posting name, on Square’s own Community forum — a page you can open. They are their reports, not our findings. Where an account answering for Square replied, that is recorded too.
If you are here because a line starting SQ * turned up on your own card statement, this file is about the other side of those payments. What an SQ * charge is, and how to find out who took it.
1. The record
| File | Amount stated | Held since | Hold period quoted | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HF-2026-0131 Business type not stated | $1,730.40 | The payment was received on 16 August 2026 by their account; the post is dated 20 August 2026 | None stated. They say an hour on chat produced a case number and no date. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0132 Service business with a manager, staff payroll and a text-marketing list | several thousand dollars | 5 September 2026, the date of Square’s email about suspicious activity | None given. They say Square’s email cited suspicious activity on the account without saying what it was. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0133 Business type not stated | $610 | August 2023; the post is dated 27 August 2023 | None stated. They say they were not told why the account was deactivated. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0134 Business type not stated | Not stated | August 2023 or earlier; the replies are dated 28 August 2023 | A release date of 22 August 2023, which they say passed without payment | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-0135 Online business that had just moved from Stripe to Square | £6200 | February 2025, their second day on Square; the post is dated 8 February 2025 | None given to them in the post. A reply from an account answering for Square said "we always aim to complete our investigations within 1-2 business days". | HELD |
| HF-2026-0136 Business type not stated | $1,000 | July 2023; the post is dated 30 July 2023 | None stated. They say the email said only that the account was deactivated after a security review. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0137 Jewellery business, first time using Square | $10,545.92 | 16 September 2024 (payment taken); flagged the next day | None. They say Square told them to refund the customer. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0138 Business type not stated | Not stated | December 2023 or earlier; the post is dated 27 December 2023 | 30% of funds held in a reserve for a rolling three-month period, on 30 days’ notice | HELD |
| HF-2026-0139 Business type not stated | over 20k | Late July 2024 ("over a week" before their post on 3 August 2024) | None stated | HELD |
| HF-2026-0140 Incorporated nonprofit organisation trialling tap-to-pay on a phone | Not stated | Late April 2026 (over 10 business days before 12 May 2026) | 4 weeks, which they say a Square support agent told them in chat, saying it was because they are an incorporated entity | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0141 Long-established wholesaler of industrial components for medical and industrial x-ray | $1,000 | June 2023, a week after their first and only transaction | 90 days, which they say had passed by 14 September 2023 without payment | HELD |
| HF-2026-0142 Business that says it does not sell CBD products | $5,000 | Early May 2025 (about two weeks before their post on 20 May 2025) | None stated. They say Square kept asking for CBD certificates of analysis. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0143 Business type not stated; a Square user for years | $2,000 | 20 December 2019, the date of their last deposit | None stated. An account answering for Square replied that the account had been placed "under the hold of our Account Services department". | HELD |
| HF-2026-0144 Business selling gift certificates through Square | $760 | December 2022; the post is dated 28 December 2022 | None stated. They say Square asked for a form and then for an invoice. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0145 New online seller | $2,500 | August 2024; the post is dated 13 August 2024 | None stated. They say the transfer date kept being pushed back. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0146 Small CBD store, on Square for five years and an early user of its CBD program | $17,000 | Months before their post on 15 May 2024 | None. They say each call ended with a promise to hear back in two days. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0147 New seller | $4,000 | November 2023, just after sign-up; the post is dated 13 November 2023 | None. They say Square’s sign-up material said funds would transfer after midnight on the day of payment. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0148 Business type not stated | $5,800 | July 2023; the post is dated 27 July 2023 | None stated. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0149 Business type not stated | Not stated | June 2024; the post is dated 16 June 2024 | Until 14 August 2024, according to the owner; they say the period was then extended, without giving the new date. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0150 Business type not stated | $520 | Wednesday 24 January 2024, when the client paid; the post is dated 26 January 2024 | None stated. They say Square told them the identity review was still in progress. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0151 Business type not stated | $400 | November 2024, after they closed the account; the post is dated 24 November 2024 | None stated. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0152 Construction | $3,300 | October 2025, after the first payment on the account; the post is dated 25 October 2025 | 180 days, according to the business | HELD |
| HF-2026-0153 Auto repair garage | $1,579 | Early September 2022, after they changed the linked checking account the week before | None stated. | HELD |
| HF-2026-0154 Business type not stated; they describe running events | $7,500 | Mid-January 2024, when they say the reserve was put in place | A rolling reserve of 20%, each amount released 90 days after its transaction | HELD |
16 of the 24 entries give a dollar figure. Those figures add up to $54,699.40. 4 more give a figure in pounds, in an unnamed currency or as a range, shown as the seller wrote it. None of this is an audited number: it is what each seller said was held on the day they wrote. 22 are recorded as held and 1 as released, because that is where each seller’s own last dated post leaves it — a post that stops being updated is not the same as a loss. Read each entry in full, with its source and archived copy →
2. What Square says a review takes, and what sellers say happened
Accounts answering for Square on its forum have put a number on a review more than once, and it is always short:
- "we always aim to complete our investigations within 1-2 business days" — February 2025, to a seller paid in pounds whose £6,200 was held on their second day.2
- "Once the required information is submitted, the case will be reviewed within 2 working days." — July 2024, in a reply that tells the seller to look for email from "Square AU Account Services".3
- "our team will review it and follow up within 1-2 business days." — December 2024.4
The first and third accounts are labelled "Alumni" on the forum today; the second is labelled "Square". Each wrote as Square ("we", "our team"). Against those numbers, sellers in this record and on the same forum report:
- A company told by email to wait 90 days for just under $1,000 from its first and only payment, writing on day 90-plus that the period "has now come and gone" and the money was still not transferred.5
- A seller given a release date of 22 August 2023 who, six days after it, was told by a representative the money would arrive in "one or two business days".6
- An Australian nonprofit told in chat that transfers would not start for 4 weeks. After a forum volunteer flagged the thread to Square staff, Square asked for the president’s ID; the nonprofit says every pending transfer arrived within 24 hours of providing it, on about 18 May 2026.7
- An HVAC business on Square for 12 years, not in the record because the post gives no amount, who says this has happened to them four or five times, that each time they are told the hold "should be released within 2-3 days", and that it has always taken at least a week and once almost a month.8
- A CBD store owed "$17k" that says every phone call ended with a promise it would hear from someone in two days, over a period of months.9
The terms explain the gap. The one to two business days is a target for a review. Nothing in the Payment Terms ties the hold itself to it, or to 90 days, or to any other number.
3. What the Payment Terms say
The seller accounts above are one person’s word each. The contract is not. The Square Payment Terms (US), last updated 30 July 2026, are published by Square. Four passages answer the questions sellers in this record were asking.1
"We may defer payout or restrict access to your Proceeds, temporarily or indefinitely, if we need to conduct an investigation or resolve any pending dispute related to your use of the Services"
"We may require a Reserve for any reason related to your use of the Services." It "may be raised, reduced or removed at any time by Square, in its sole discretion".
"You will not receive interest or any other earnings on any funds that we handle for you." The same section assigns to Square "any interest and/or other earnings that may accrue or are attributable to our holding of your Balance in a Pooled Account or Reserve."
"If an investigation is pending at the time you close your Square Account, we may hold your funds as described herein."
One seller in this record asked on the forum whether they would be paid interest on the $610 Square was holding after deactivating them.6 Section 15 is the answer, and it goes further than a no: whatever the held money earns belongs to Square.
Now read the terms for what is not in them. The whole of the Payment Terms contains two periods in days: 30 days to report a processing error, and 120 days to refund a payment. The number 90 does not appear at all. The "90 days" sellers say they were told after a deactivation comes from Square’s emails, not from its contract.1 A construction business in this record says it was told 180 days, another number the contract does not contain.13
A reserve can also cost a seller a loan from Square itself. One business in this record says a 20% rolling reserve, each amount held 90 days, had tied up "7.5K and counting" by March 2024. Its dashboard then marked the reserve as the thing "affecting your eligibility" for a Square loan, the loan it had hoped would pay the bills the reserve left unpaid.14
4. Two patterns in this record
New accounts. Seven of the 24 entries — HF-2026-0135, 0137, 0140, 0141, 0145, 0147 and 0152 — are sellers in their first days on Square or on their first payments. The business in 0152 says this was its third try, and that each time Square waited for the first payment before deactivating the account.13 In one, an account answering for Square explained that new sellers can transfer at most $500 a day.10 In another, a jeweller in Canada used Square for one $10,545.92 invoice. It was flagged the next day and, by their account, ended with Square making them refund a customer who already had the goods.
CBD checks on sellers who say they sell no CBD. One entry says Square asked for CBD lab certificates for products the seller does "not even sell" while holding over $5,000.11 Another, a CBD store, says it was told to remove kratom from a website that had listed it only briefly, three years earlier.9
5. If your Square payouts have just stopped
This site is a record, not a law firm, and nobody can honestly promise a way to make Square pay out faster. Three things are worth doing on the first day:
- Look for an information request before anything else. An account answering for Square told one seller that the request is in the Dashboard under Account & Settings > Information Request, and that the email about a review should link to it.4 In the one entry here that ended with the money released, the hold ended once a document Square had not asked for before was supplied.7
- Think twice before taking more card payments through the account. The volunteers who answer these threads keep giving the same warning: payments you take while the hold is on only "add more $$$ into this limbo situation".12 The nonprofit above said it would stop taking cards until the hold was lifted.7
- Get the length in writing, and keep it. Ask in a written channel how long the balance is held and what happens at the end. Every entry above turns on the gap between what the seller was told and what then happened. You can only show that gap if you kept the message.
Then file the case here. If you are in the US, a complaint to the CFPB reaches Square: it is on the CFPB’s list under its parent company, Block, Inc. How that works, and what it can and cannot do.
6. If you are choosing a provider
This file makes no recommendation and nobody has paid for a mention on it. Compare it with the Stripe file, the PayPal file and the Shopify Payments file. The question to ask any of them, in writing and before your first sale, is the same: if you hold my payouts, how long for, what extends it, and how do I get the money at the end?
Sources
- Square Payment Terms (US), published by Square, "Last updated: July 30, 2026". Quotations from sections 12, 14, 15 and 38. squareup.com/us/en/legal/general/payment · archived copy. Retrieved and searched in full on 24 September 2026. The day counts are for these Payment Terms as published on that date. Square’s General Terms and its terms outside the US are separate documents.
- MichaelAlan, "ID verification & Funds Held", Square Community, 8 February 2025, and the reply from the account Sineaid on 11 February 2025. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0135.
- Reply from the account Breffni, 3 July 2024, on JohnOL, "Withholding Transfer with no advice", Square Community, 30 June 2024. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. JohnOL’s post names no amount, so it is not a record entry.
- Reply from the account MayaP, 12 December 2024, on PsgGallery, "Transferred money from my own debit card to my Square account; now my account is under review", Square Community, 8 December 2024. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Not a record entry: no amount is stated.
- mcio, "Square deactivated my account and has not released my money after 90+ days.", Square Community, 14 September 2023, and their replies of 15 September 2023. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0141.
- Shanejay, "How and why can't I get my money and why is my account deactivated", Square Community, 27 August 2023, with replies from Shanejay and DJBUILD2 on 28 August 2023. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0133 and HF-2026-0134 — two sellers, one thread.
- careacar1, "Still waiting for funds transfer to bank account", Square Community, 11 May 2026, and their replies to 18 May 2026. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0140.
- Reply from bcochran5180, 9 September 2026, on chriswagoner881, "why does my account go under reviewafter every sells transaction I have?", Square Community, 30 March 2026. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Not a record entry: no amount is stated.
- PhenomWell, "Square holding money", Square Community, 15 May 2024. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0146.
- APEXTraders, "Transfer Holds for New Users", Square Community, 13 November 2023, and the reply from the account Laurie_ on 19 November 2023. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0147.
- lis62, "Square is holding my money for weeks now", Square Community, 20 May 2025. community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0142.
- Reply from the account HC_Charlie, a forum member, 6 February 2024, on VOS2024, "How do I contact a Square customer service rep??", Square Community, 6 February 2024. community.squareup.com. Read in full and verified 24 September 2026. Not a record entry: no amount is stated.
- mdconcrete, "Who do I keep getting my account deactivated", Square Community, 25 October 2025, and their reply of 26 October 2025. community.squareup.com. Read in full and verified 25 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0152. No archived copy yet.
- Cauldron, "Are you still eligible for loans if you have a reserve on your account?", Square Community, 29 February 2024, with their replies of 1 March 2024, community.squareup.com · archived copy; and their post of 1 March 2024 in "Has anyone received a loan offer in 2023?", community.squareup.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 25 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0154.
Every factual claim on this page is sourced below. Last verified against primary sources on 25 September 2026.