Using Stripe: Frequently Asked Questions

What will show on my customers' credit card statements?

The business name you enter when setting up your Stripe account will be shown on your customer's statements. Power Diary's name will not appear anywhere.

How do I receive my payment "Payouts"?

Payments processed via your Stripe account (minus any transaction fees) will be paid directly to your nominated bank account by Stripe.

Power Diary does not hold or have access to your money at any time.

Processed payments are transferred to your account based on Stripe's Payout guidelines which vary depending on your country. As an example in the USA and Australia, Payouts are typically made within two business days of the transaction. Full details of this can be found here.

How are integrated payments through Stripe different from a physical credit card terminal?

Stripe is a platform specifically designed to be able to legally, safely, and securely process credit card transactions in an online environment where the card is not (always) present. 

Using our integration with Stripe will only incur a per-transaction fee, whereas physical credit card terminals will typically have a monthly rental charge plus per-transaction fees. Additionally, the contract for physical terminals specifies that only 'card present' transactions should be processed.

Manually processing credit cards via these terminals when the card is not present (i.e. the card is provided over the phone) is considered a violation of the contract and can result in penalties. With Power Diary's integration with Stripe, you'll never have to worry about these issues again.

Why do my clients see this error message "Live charges cannot be accepted" when they try to make a payment?

Login to your Stripe account and see if perhaps the account is under review by Stripe. You should contact Stripe support too. 

What if a customer disputes a transaction?

All disputes are handled through Stripe. Here is some information from Stripe's website on what to do once you’ve been notified of a dispute. You have a few options:

• If you have contact details for the customer, you can get in touch with them to understand the reason for the dispute. It’s possible (maybe even likely) that the customer simply did not recognise the transaction; contacting them can often help resolve the issue quickly. If the dispute is the result of a misunderstanding, the customer can ask their bank to withdraw the dispute. Even if your customer withdraws, it’s still important to provide evidence in the case.
• You can respond to the dispute. To do this, simply visit the dispute’s page (at the URL Stripe emails to you) and provide evidence appropriate for the dispute category. Stripe will guide you through the appropriate evidence to provide depending on the type of dispute. Stripe will also submit any information you can provide to your customer’s credit card company and keep you posted afterwards.
• You can accept the dispute — effectively agreeing to the bank’s refund of the transaction. You should always perform this action if you do not intend to respond and submit evidence.

How can I securely collect and store my clients' credit card details?

• Send clients a Power Diary online form with the ''Credit Card (Stripe)' linked profile field;
• Enter them directly via the Client Profile. (Power Diary → Client Profile → Billing → Billing Setup → Add Credit Card); or
• Select ‘Securely Store Credit Card Details’ when processing a payment in your Power Diary account; or
• Clients select ‘Securely Store Credit Card Details’ when they process a Stripe payment when booking online, or via an Invoice Pay Link. 

Are the security standards different for storing medical vs credit card information?

Whilst the security and encryption methods used to secure credit card information vs medical information are very similar, they are implemented in different ways to meet different purposes. For example, medical records need to be encrypted once entered, and then unencrypted again anytime the practitioner wishes to review them.  

However, under the PCI DSS credit card information can not be handled in this manner.  Once a merchant enters credit card information the data needs to be encrypted and then not decrypted to be displayed again.

This means in most circumstances once entered, credit card information can not be made visible again to the merchant in a full and usable form. Instead, when the card is subsequently used, the established security protocols facilitate the communication of card information directly with the bank systems.

To ensure compliance with the PCI DSS, when a card is entered into Power Diary and is ‘stored for later use’ the card information is stored directly in your Stripe account. We simply store an ID and some partial card information to match to records in your Stripe account for subsequent transactions. 

Why am I Unable to Save Card Details?

We have come across reports where our users received the following error notification when trying to save credit card details:

This issue was caused by the internet provider and users were able to save card details successfully when switching to an alternative internet provider/internet source.

Why Is HSA/FSA Card Declined?

Client credit cards can be declined for various reasons. You will see an error message that will provide the reason and error code. In most circumstances, the reason and the code would be self-explanatory, such as 'Insufficient Funds' or 'Card Not Activated'. 
When it comes to HSA/FSA cards, they operate somewhat differently than the typical post-paid credit cards one might obtain from a bank. HSA and FSA cards are typically restricted to certain Merchant Category Codes (MCC) that correspond to healthcare-related expenses. If your merchant's MCC doesn't match the allowed categories, the transaction may be declined. 
However, enabling an account to accept HSA or FSA payments does not guarantee a card will not be declined. Card issuers are still at liberty to authorize or decline any payment as they would with any other type of credit card. Please refer to this Stripe Support page for more detailed information. 

Am I able to use one Stripe Account for multiple platforms?

Starting from July 2021, Stripe has begun to enforce a single platform connection policy: only one Platform (such as Power Diary) can be connected to a Stripe account at any one time. This change ensures that in the rare case that a user interacts with two platforms, each platform’s activity is kept distinct in separate accounts.
Users that plan to use Stripe with multiple platforms can create individual accounts under the same Stripe user login to connect to different platforms. For more information, please click here. 

Are Stripe payments HIPAA Compliant?

Although processing payments through a credit card processor can generate personally identifiable information, Health and Human Services (HHS) have stated that collecting payments is excluded explicitly from HIPAA mandates.