Payment’s been paused? Here’s why we do this

We know that, as a business owner, you want your payments to reach their destination as soon as possible. We understand that pausing your payment can be frustrating, but we promise our intentions are good. If this has happened to you, please note that we’re not holding your money – we’ve simply stopped your payment from going through to its intended recipient. Read on to find out why this happens.  

Table of contents

• Why Tide pauses payments
• Payment reviews
• Why are some payments paused for longer than others?
• Why can’t you tell me why you pause payments?
• Can Member Support help to unpause my payment?
• What to do if your payment is paused

Why Tide pauses payments

At Tide, we need to make sure we understand your business and how it operates – and pausing payments is one way for us to be confident we have the full picture. Not only does it help us consider your business needs, but more importantly, it adds an extra layer of security to your transactions.

From time to time, we might need to ask you some questions about your account activity. We do this to maintain peace of mind for ourselves as a regulated banking provider, and for you as a business owner. We know that answering our questions can, at times, feel a bit intrusive – ultimately, we want to safeguard your funds and make sure they don’t end up in the wrong hands. 

If you’ve read our ‘Keep your business safe’ series, you’ll know that scammers can use a range of tactics to try to gain access to your account – and they’re coming up with new ones all the time. Unfortunately, we’ve encountered situations where someone who is not the correct account owner has been granted access to an account. This is one of the reasons why we pause payments: to make sure the transaction has been authorised by the real account owner.

Since we’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we need to comply with certain pieces of legislation to guarantee the safety of our members and the community. There are also legal obligations in place to prevent Tide accounts from being used for illegal means. Another reason for a paused payment is that your account might also be paused. Again, there are several reasons why we might do this, but it includes examining your account activity for any potential or associated risks. It’s crucial that we protect our payment network, and following these regulations means we’re working to keep Tide a safe place for all of our members. 

Payment reviews

Tide has a specialised team who are responsible for monitoring payments. They’ll stay in touch with you in the app or by sending an email to the address listed on your account, so make sure this is up to date. When we have an update about when you can make your payment again, we’ll let you know as a priority.

Why are some payments paused for longer than others?

We don’t pause payments for a set amount of time, but we guarantee that we’ll work as quickly as we can, so you should be able to make the payment again within an hour. Sometimes our checks will take longer than this, either because we need more information or because our team needs more time. We never rush decisions: this is really important because we want your payments to be secure. If we need more information from you, we’ll send you a message in the app or by email. 

Why can’t you tell me why you pause payments?

We know you’ll have questions about why we’ve paused your payment – unfortunately, we’re not allowed to share this information for legal reasons. It also helps us to defend the systems we have in place to keep your account protected, so we hope you’ll understand and we appreciate your cooperation.

We also want you to know that just because we’ve paused your payment, this doesn’t mean we’re accusing you of any wrongdoing. In most cases, this has happened because our systems have picked up unusual behaviour from your account, so first and foremost, we’ve paused your payment to keep both ourselves and you safe.

Can Member Support help to unpause my payment?

Our Member Support team doesn’t handle paused payments, so they won’t be able to unpause one for you. However, they’ll be happy to show you where to look to find any messages relating to your paused payment that our specialist team have sent you. Just so you know, opening new chats with the Member Support team won’t get your payment unpaused any quicker – in fact, it may even confuse or delay the process, so we kindly ask you not to do this.

What to do if your payment is paused

Often, when we pause a payment, we’ll need a simple explanation before we can take our next steps. This can include asking you to provide identity documents or other additional information. This isn’t always the case, but if we need anything from you to resolve the paused payment, we’ll reach out in the app or by email. The sooner you’re able to give us the information we’ve requested, the faster we’ll give you the go-ahead to make the payment again. We appreciate your patience and cooperation.

Image by Morgan Housel, published on Unsplash