Sign up, get checked,
get paid.
Five stages, and we have written down the awkward one rather than leaving you to discover it. Most businesses are taking payments the same day.
Tell us about the business
Your trading name, what you sell, and whether you are a sole trader or a limited company. Two or three minutes, and it decides which questions come next — a company is asked about its directors and owners, a sole trader is not.
No sales call. No site visit.
The identity checks
Name, date of birth and address for whoever is responsible, plus company details if you have them. This is the part nobody enjoys, and it is not us being nosy — a business taking card payments has to be identified before the schemes will let money move.
Usually instant. Occasionally a document is needed.
Where the money goes
A UK sort code and account number. These are exchanged for a token before they touch your account record — they are never written to our database or our logs, and the only lasting copy sits with Stripe.
One bank account, changeable later.
Start taking money
Tap to Pay works as soon as you are approved, on a phone you already own. A terminal, if you ordered one, arrives ready to pair.
Same rate whichever you use.
Watch it land
Every payment shows the fee against it — what the customer paid, what we took, what reached you — rather than one lump deduction at the end of the month that you cannot reconcile against anything.
Payouts run daily on the schedule set for your account.
Why anyone needs your passport
It is the question we get most, and the honest answer is more reassuring than the vague one.
Taking card payments means moving other people’s money. The card schemes and the regulations behind them require whoever is doing that to be identified first — the business, and the people who own and run it. Every provider has to do this. The difference is whether they tell you up front or spring it on you after you have already switched.
Payments through the app, the card reader, payment links and online checkout are processed by Stripe, a certified PCI Service Provider Level 1. Payments on a countertop card machine are processed by Verofy on your own Verofy account. Cheekypayments never sees or stores full card numbers. Your identity documents go to Stripe directly rather than through us, which is why the last step opens on their site and brings you straight back.
Before you start
How long does approval actually take?
Most accounts clear the checks within minutes. Where more is needed it is usually a document — a photo of a passport or driving licence — and that turnaround is normally hours rather than days. We show you exactly what is outstanding at every point rather than leaving you to guess.
Why do you need my date of birth and home address?
Because anti-money-laundering rules require the people behind a business taking card payments to be identified, and a home address is what identity checks are run against. It is a legal requirement on us, not a preference — no provider can waive it, and one that says it can is worth avoiding.
What if I am a limited company?
You will be asked for the company as Companies House has it — registered name, company number, registered office — plus the directors, anyone owning 25% or more, and anyone else authorised to sign. That is more questions than a sole trader faces, and it is the same set every acquirer asks a company.
What can hold it up?
Usually a mismatch: a trading name entered where the registered name was wanted, a company number that does not match the register, or a director missing from the list. The setup page names whatever is outstanding in plain terms, and where something cannot be fixed from a form it hands you to Stripe to finish it.
Do I have to commit to anything?
No long contract. Cancel whenever you like.