Balances and settlement time

Your Stripe account can have one or more balances that hold funds for different products and currencies. Understanding balance states, settlement time, and potential ways to accelerate settlement can help you manage your funds and avoid negative balances.

Balance states

When Stripe processes a payment or a funding transaction, funds move through different balance states before you can use them: pending and available. These two states are generally affected by the settlement timing, which can vary by location and sometimes by payment method. Funds in a Balance transition from pending to available at the corresponding available_on time for each balance transaction.

Pending

Funds in the pending state represent incoming transactions that haven’t settled into your balance. For example, when a customer makes a card payment, the charge amount (minus Stripe’s fee) appears in your pending balance until settlement. You can’t withdraw or spend these funds until they’re available.

Eligible users have options to immediately access pending funds using Instant Payouts, or to reduce settlement time using Stripe features. For more details, see Accelerate settlement timing.

Available

After the funds settle, they move to your available balance. You can use these funds for payouts to bank accounts, refunds, transfers, or any other debit transaction.

Settlement time

Settlement time is the time between when a payment or a funding transaction is made and when the funds become available in your Stripe balance.

For example, if a customer makes a 100 USD card payment on Monday in the US, the funds are initially pending. Then the funds are available in your balance on Wednesday, 2 business days later.

Settlement timing varies based on your country and the payment method used.

Definition of days

There are three definitions of days that affect settlement and payout timing:

• Calendar days: Includes every day, including weekends and holidays.
• Business days: Only includes working days, typically Monday through Friday, and excludes public holidays.
• Weekend adjusted business days: A special type of business operational calculation, where charges created on a weekend begin counting from day 0 as soon as possible (usually with day 1 as the next business day).

For example, a charge created on a Saturday could have three different timings depending on which definition of day you use:

• If you use calendar days, Saturday is day 0.
• If you use business days, the next Monday is day 0.
• If you use weekend adjusted business days, Saturday is day 0 and the following Monday is day 1.

Settlement time by payment method

Bank debit payment methods typically have longer settlement times than card payments because of the underlying banking systems. These payments have a higher risk of returns or reversals, which factors into their longer settlement periods.

To manage your cash flow and cover potential refunds, disputes, and fees that might lead to negative balances, you can set a minimum balance in your Stripe account. See minimum balances to learn more.

Accelerate settlement timing

Stripe offers products and payment methods that have reduced settlement time depending on your location and are subject to eligibility criteria.

2-day ACH settlement

For eligible US merchants, Stripe offers faster ACH settlement that reduces the settlement time from 4 business days to 2 business days from payment creation. For more details about eligibility and activation, see the ACH support page.

Instant Payouts

Instant Payouts gives you access to your funds immediately following a successful card charge. To learn about eligibility requirements, fees, and supported countries, see Instant Payouts.

Best practices for balance management

• Set up a minimum balance: If you use automatic payouts, set up a minimum balance to handle any events that cause your account to go negative because of refunds, fees, and chargebacks. A minimum balance helps you avoid paused payouts and automatic debits to your external accounts.
• Customize your payout schedule: As a general practice, setting your payout schedule to manual or monthly automatic payouts gives you better control over managing your funds flows. Your account might have fees debited from your balance on a daily or monthly basis, so this allows you to keep a balance to cover for any occurrence.