Why does Securely ask for a Tax ID or SSN?

We understand the importance of securing private information.  Securely only asks for the information that is required by federal law. When building Securely, we took great care to ensure that the solution was in full compliance with various laws and rules that govern payment processing. As a result, we must collect information to comply with the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and Customer Due Diligence Requirements.

To process your payment securely, we are establishing a Merchant Account for the organization. Establishing a Merchant Account gives you the benefits of faster funding, better reporting, and direct control over refunds, but it does require that we collect information in compliance with various laws and rules, which are commonly known as Customer Due Diligence (CDD) or Know Your Customer (KYC).

We understand the reluctance of people who don’t want to provide this very personal information -- the request is not something that we ask to simply to “have on file.” Rather, this is a requirement imposed by federal law.

The federal government mandated that Merchant Service Providers, like Securely, verify the identity of each organization that we do business with, and to verify the identity of those in control of the payments operation. We are required to collect Tax IDs and Social Security Numbers as part of the USA PATRIOT Act and FinCEN’s Customer Due Diligence rule.