When a new Stripe account is created, Stripe places relatively low limits on ACH transaction amounts and weekly volume. Usually about $6,000 per transaction and $10,000 per week. If your account hits these limits, payments may fail with errors such as:
charge_exceeds_ach_weekly_limit
charge_exceeds_source_limit
(Or other very similar errors)
These limits are set by Stripe and must be increased directly by their support team.
How to Request Higher ACH Limits from Stripe
Step 1: Contact Stripe Support
Go to:
Or, if you’re logged into Stripe:
Click the Help icon (question mark) in the top-right corner of your Stripe dashboard
Step 2: Ask to Speak with a Human
In the AI chat assistant, say:
“I need to talk to a human about increasing our ACH transaction limits.”
If the assistant responds with help articles, repeat the same message. After a few attempts, Stripe will allow you to contact a human support representative.
Depending on the time of day, you may be able to:
Chat live
Send an email
Request a phone call
What to Tell Stripe Support
Once you reach a human, provide clear business context for your request. For example:
We are a local government (website: https://example.gov) and we use Stripe to accept online payments. We need to be able to accept ACH payments up to $_____ per transaction and $_____ per week.
Providing your organization’s website and explaining the nature of your payments (taxes, fees, licenses, etc.) usually helps speed things up.
How Long Will This Take?
We aren't sure how long it takes to have the request reviewed by their team.
Stripe has told us that this process is faster if you already have a failed transaction in your Stripe account because of this issue so they can see proof that you need a higher limit. But you can request an increase to this limit proactively. It just may take a few more days.
Optional: Setting a Per-Transaction Limit in Civic Review
While this won’t override Stripe’s weekly ACH limits, you can set a maximum per-transaction amount inside Civic Review.
You’ll find this setting at:
Look for:
“Maximum allowable amount for online payment”
This can be useful for providing a better user experience if you simply want to prevent unusually large single payments.