Why do I need to share personal information to receive payments from Column?

Column supports automatic ACH deposits through two payment gateway partners: Stripe and Dwolla. We must meet “KYC” or “Know Your Customer” requirements to comply with financial protocol regulations.

KYC [Know Your Customer] requirements are legal identity verification requirements that require payment providers to validate the identity of organizations receiving programmatic payments.

The USA PATRIOT Act that became law in 2001 with the objective of criminalizing the financing of terrorism established the concept of CIP verification. CIP verification requires financial institutions to verify the identity of individuals who want to conduct financial transactions. As detailed by the FDIC, the CIP Final Rule has six general requirements:

1. A written program

2. Four pieces of identifying information -- customer name, date of birth, address, and identification number

3. Identity verification procedures

4. Recordkeeping

5. Comparison with government lists

6. Customer notice

For US citizens, the identification number usually comes in the form of a Social Security Number.

Column uses the CIP verification programs managed by our payment gateway providers Stripe and Dwolla. Documentation for their verification programs are available here:

• CIP verification through Dwolla

• CIP verification through Stripe

Column does not store the uploaded KYC information. This information is managed by our Payment Gateway providers and does not hit our servers.