Question posted in 
I have a platform where teachers provide online lessons, and I’m using Stripe Express connected accounts to pay teachers when users subscribe to their lessons. The problem is that many of the onboarding teachers don’t want to provide personal information, like their SSN etc, upfront when they sign up—they’d prefer to wait until they’ve actually used the platform and see that it’s working.
My plan is to create a Stripe Express account for teachers when they sign up, and then allow them to provide the additional information (SSN, personal details) only when they want to get paid / cash out. However, when I try to create a transfer or do a destination charge, I get an error saying that users need to provide SSN and other personal information to enable transfers.
I know about KYC requirements, but is it possible to:
- Create the Stripe Express account for teachers with minimal information when they sign up(name, email).
- Allow them to start earning money (via destination charges or transfers).
- Delay collecting additional personal information (SSN, etc.) until they want to payout?
Currently, Stripe is blocking the transfers until they complete the full onboarding. Is there any way to allow earning and then request more information only at the payout stage?
Any advice or clarification would be greatly appreciated!
2
Answers
No that’s not possible. You can’t create transfers to connected accounts until they provides necessary information to enable transfers.
I think you can try another approach that is to save the basic information when teachers signup. You don’t have to create transfers immediately when they signup. Instead, the first time they cash out, you ask them to provide the necessary details for Payout. These details will then be saved in the their associated Stripe Customer account.
You can save the Stripe Customer ID to the teacher account, and then the next time they cash out, they don’t have to fill in anything (unless they want to update the bank account).