Minimum balances for automatic payouts

Automatic payouts default to paying out your entire available balance according to your set schedule. This can result in insufficient funds to manage your payments business on Stripe, preventing you from processing refunds or disputes.

Minimum balances for automatic payouts allow you to set a balance to retain in your Stripe account following an automatic payout. Automatic payouts only pay out funds exceeding this minimum balance to your bank account. This helps minimize the risk of a negative balance due to refunds, disputes, or fees after automatic payouts.

Benefits

• Improved cash flow management: Keep a balance to cover refunds, disputes, and fees.
• Efficient reconciliation: Continue receiving comprehensive reconciliation reports with automatic payouts, including the minimum balance you’ve set.

Reconciliation reports

When you enable minimum balances, your reconciliation reports include information on the retained amount. This helps you understand the impact of the minimum balance on your payouts.

• Report timing: The timing of your reconciliation reports remains unchanged.
• Included information: The reports show the total payout and the amount retained based on the minimum balance.

Example

The following sections illustrate how Stripe pays out and reconciles an account with a set minimum balance.

Balance

• Total Balance: 20,000 USD
• Minimum Balance: 10,000 USD
• Payout Amount: Total Balance - Minimum Balance (20,000 USD - 10,000 USD = 10,000 USD)

Execute payout

• Stripe initiates an automatic payout of 10,000 USD to your linked bank account.
• The minimum balance of 10,000 USD remains in your Stripe account.

Reconciliation report

Your reconciliation report shows the following details:

• All transactions leading up to the total balance: 20,000 USD
• A transaction for the retained amount of -10,000 USD (minimum balance)
• Results in a total payout amount of 10,000 USD

Set up minimum balances

1. Log in to the Dashboard. This feature is only available when you have access to the Stripe Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Payout Settings in the Dashboard. Look for the Minimum Balance section on this page, enable the feature, and set a fixed amount.
3. Specify the amount you want to keep as a minimum balance. This amount remains in your account to cover potential refunds, disputes, and fees.
4. Save your settings. Your automatic payouts will now retain the specified minimum balance.

Manage minimum balances

• You can update the minimum balance as needed. Go to the Payout Settings page and change the amount in the Minimum Balance section.
• Regularly check your balance to make sure it aligns with your business needs and the minimum balance requirement.

Pending and available balances

The minimum balance applies to both pending and available balances to provide a buffer for all potential charges.

We first attempt to replenish your minimum balance with available funds. If you have insufficient available funds, we use the pending balances that are scheduled to become available the following day.

Minimum and negative balances

Consider setting a minimum balance that covers your typical refund, dispute, and fee amounts. Adjust as needed, based on your business activity. We generally recommend 4 to 5 times your average daily processing volumes.

With a minimum balance in place, the likelihood of a negative balance is significantly reduced. However, if you process refund amounts greater than your minimum balance and your balance goes negative, we handle it according to Stripe’s policies.

Enabling and disabling minimum balances

Minimum balances work with all automatic payout schedules.

You can enable or disable minimum balances through the Dashboard. The reconciliation report attached to your automatic payout will continue to be accessible as expected, either through the API or the Dashboard.

When you turn off minimum balances, Stripe no longer retains the specified minimum balance during automatic payouts. Your entire available balance will be disbursed according to your payout schedule.