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Comment by aaronbrethorst | Hacker News Reader

How does this jive with laws around transmitting money?

Tl;dr: we work with a bank to do this; we do lots of checks; and you're required to verify the identity of the recipients. See https://stripe.com/docs/tutorials/sending-transfers#verifyin... for more info.

Do the funds ever sit in your (Stripe's) account or is the ACH transfer direct from the card to the destination account?

Our implementation might change over time, but we don't ever take title of the funds at the moment.

Nor does any money transmitter.

You didn't answer the question.

And your question has a "gotcha" axe to grind.

Looks like the HN backend needs another stealth founders-only feature: highlight known troublemakers to remind people to probably not interact with them unless you know you can win a pet argument.

Doesn't even need to be a backend feature. A Chrome extension (a la Reddit Enhancement Suite) that lets you tag people would be more than sufficient.

I understand Aaron's motivation. Asking for that info on HN though is the same as starting a fight in a Starbucks. We're better than that.

I'd say it's more like asking a fellow air passenger, in earshot of others, whether that thing they just put to their lips is a candy cigarette or a real one.

Payments systems are complex and the regulations are complex. I don't think it's rude to ask questions about complex topics, and here I honestly do not know what Stripe is doing. As both a Stripe customer and competitor I have the right to ask.

I think it's the "if I answer this guy's questions he'll likely pop me in as a defendant in a crank lawsuit" that turns folks off.

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/5:2013cv0...

Disagree with the crank lawsuit part.

Yes, the law is being metered out in a discriminatory fashion. No, this is the not the way to go about fixing it.

i.e. "Can I sue you as a money transmitter as well."

Exactly.

They sit in the Stripe/Wells Fargo account exactly like any other transfer. You can't do credit card directly to ACH.

Come on Aaron. As someone who formerly ran a payments company, you know that going direct from a credit card to a bank account is not possible with today's banking infrastructure. Of course the funds go to their account. You know that, but you're clearly trying to prove a point here. Please, do it somewhere else.

Of course it's possible. Stripe could give its processor the routing and account number of its customer to deposit the funds in in place of its own routing and account number. This is why the Department of the Treasury distinguishes between payment processing companies and money transmitters.

By the way, I still run a payments company, and you should not assume that you know what I know (or don't).

My fault, I stand corrected.

How does Stripe verify the business (which service do you leverage), besides matching against the OFAC blacklist?

"Stripe is not a bank or a money services business (“MSB”) and Stripe does not offer banking or MSB services as defined by the United States Department of Treasury."

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