An “SQ” on your bank statement means the charge was processed through Square, the payment platform used by millions of small businesses to accept cards. The descriptor follows the format SQ * followed by the merchant’s business name, so a coffee shop called Perk Up would post as SQ *PERK UP. Most of these charges turn out to be legitimate purchases from a business whose name didn’t jump out at you, and Square runs a free lookup tool that can identify the merchant in about a minute.
What the Descriptor Actually Shows
Square builds every descriptor the same way: the SQ * prefix, then the business name the merchant typed into their Square dashboard, and sometimes a store number tacked on. A pharmacy might appear as SQ *MYPHARMACY*#02943. Only 20 characters are available after the prefix, so longer names get truncated, which is part of why these lines look cryptic.1Square Developer. Statement Descriptions – Card Payments
Some SQ lines also carry the URL gosq.com. Square adds that when the descriptor doesn’t give you enough to go on; the link redirects to Square’s receipt lookup page.2Square Seller Community. Charge from gosq.com on my bank statement
One thing to keep in mind before you panic: refunds from Square merchants also post as SQ * lines. What looks like another charge may actually be money coming back into your account.3Square. Manage customer refunds
Why the Name Might Not Match the Store
The biggest reason people don’t recognize an SQ charge is that the descriptor name and the storefront name don’t match. A place you know as “Sunrise Cafe” may post under the owner’s legal name or a parent company, because that’s what was entered in the Square dashboard. The purchase is real; the label is just unfamiliar.
Square hardware is cheap and portable, so it shows up wherever a business doesn’t run from a fixed checkout counter: farmers’ market stands, food trucks, pop-ups, mobile service providers like locksmiths or house cleaners, independent barbers, photographers, personal trainers.4Square. Receipt lookup Think back through where you tapped or swiped in the last week or two before assuming the worst.
How to Identify the Charge
Square runs a free receipt lookup tool at squareup.com/receipts built for exactly this situation. You need two things: the date of the transaction and the dollar amount. Enter both, and the tool searches Square’s system for the matching receipt, which will show you the business name, location, and contact information.4Square. Receipt lookup
The tool needs an exact match on date and amount. Banks sometimes post a charge a day or two after the purchase actually happened, and if you added a tip the total on your statement won’t match the pre-tip amount. If your first search comes up empty, try the day before and the day after.
Email is often faster. If you ever gave a Square merchant your email address, digital receipts may be sitting in your inbox already. Search for “Square,” the dollar amount, or the date, and the receipt usually surfaces.
If the charge belongs to a business you can now identify but you still want your money back, call the merchant directly. Square sellers can issue refunds from their own dashboard, which is faster than a bank dispute and doesn’t put a chargeback on the merchant’s record.
When You Really Don’t Recognize It
If the lookup fails, no one in your household made the purchase, and you can’t tie the charge to anything, treat it as unauthorized and contact your bank. Your protections and your deadlines depend on whether the charge hit a credit card or a debit card.
Credit Card
Credit card disputes are governed by the Fair Credit Billing Act. You have 60 days from the date the statement was sent to notify your card issuer in writing of a billing error, which includes unauthorized charges. The issuer must acknowledge your notice within 30 days and resolve the dispute within two billing cycles, capped at 90 days from receipt of your notice.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Your maximum liability for unauthorized credit card charges is $50, and most major issuers waive even that under their own zero-liability policies.
Debit Card
Debit card disputes fall under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E. Your bank must investigate within 10 business days of receiving your error notice, or extend the investigation to 45 days if it provisionally credits your account within that initial 10-day window.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors For point-of-sale debit card transactions, which is what most SQ charges are, the investigation window extends to 90 days rather than 45.7eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
Debit card liability rises the longer you wait. Notify the bank within two business days of learning about the unauthorized transfer, and your loss is capped at $50. Wait longer than two business days but report within 60 days of the statement, and you can be liable for up to $500. Miss the 60-day window, and you can lose everything the unauthorized transfers took from your account.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability
The order of operations is the same either way: identify the merchant first, contact them second, involve the bank only if those steps fail. Filing a dispute against a legitimate small-business charge you simply didn’t recognize creates real problems for the seller and can be reversed once the paperwork catches up, so the receipt lookup is worth the two minutes it takes.