How long is money held in a reserve for?

The money is held as long as any of your connected accounts for whom you are responsible for losses have a negative balance. After a connected account has held a negative balance for 180 days, Stripe will move funds from the reserve to the connected account to zero out the balance. At any point before then, you can transfer funds to the connected account to achieve the same effect.

What are the different options I have to "clear" my Connect Reserve balance?

1. If the connected account goes positive on its own, the system will automatically release the funds held in the platform reserve. These funds will go back in the platform's available balance.
2. Platforms can issue transfers to any of your platform loss-liable connected accounts with a negative balance to reduce the reserve. If you send out transfers for the full amount of the negative balance across their connected accounts, your platform reserve will be reduced to $0. Here are instructions for sending transfers.
3. Enabling the `debit_negative_balances` flag on an account will attempt to recover negative balances from connected accounts automatically. When those funds are made available on the connected account, it will trigger an auto-release. This will only work for connected accounts in countries that can be debited: https://support.stripe.com/questions/what-happens-when-i-have-a-negative-balance .
4. After 180 days, Stripe automatically clears aged balances. This means that any negative balance persisting for more than 180 days on a connected account will be zeroed out using funds transferred from the platform reserve.

Is this reserve a requirement for a platform account?

Yes, but you can remove the reserve at any point by transferring funds from your platform account to your connected accounts to zero out the balance. If any accounts go negative, the reserve will reappear for the corresponding amount of the negative balance.

How was this original amount put in the reserve determined?

The amount was determined by the sum of all negative available balances on connected accounts across your platform. To view connected accounts with negative balances, you can use your dashboard to navigate to Connected accounts → filter on Balance less than 0.

Where can I find additional documentation and references?

• https://stripe.com/docs/connect/account-balances
• https://support.stripe.com/questions/considerations-for-platforms-using-connect
• https://stripe.com/connect/terms
• https://stripe.com/docs/api#retrieve_balance
• https://stripe.com/docs/api#account_object-debit_negative_balances
• https://support.stripe.com/questions/what-happens-when-i-have-a-negative-balance

Will the reserved amount show up in data exports?

Yes, it shows up as `reserve_transaction` in your balance history export, and also appears in the monthly report.

What happens if a platform reserve is created (while my connected accounts have a negative balance) but my platform doesn't have the funds?

If your platform account’s balance doesn’t have funds, Stripe will debit your platform account’s bank account. Then, when your connected account becomes positive again, Stripe will credit your platform available balance.

Why is the negative balance on my platform fluctuating so frequently?

The negative balance on a platform is based on the sum total of negative available balances across all child accounts. Whenever the available balance on a connected account changes (i.e., as a result of transfers, charges, refunds, or disputes), causing it to go negative or non-negative, this changes the total amount held in the platform reserve. This amount can change multiple times per day.

What should I do about connected accounts that are fraudulent?

You should reject them and ensure transfers are disabled. You can read more about best practices for preventing fraud on Connect here: https://stripe.com/docs/connect/best-practices#fraud

Why are funds moved out of the reserve after 180 days?

After 180 days, it's less likely that a connected account will recover on its own from a negative balance. At this point, the platform reserve, which set aside funds for this possibility, will be used to zero out the balance.

Why are funds being held in my Connect Reserve even after my connected account bank withdrawal has posted?

Stripe will hold funds in a Connect reserve for an additional three business days after a connected account bank withdrawal has posted in case that ACH transfer fails. Once those three business days elapse, the relevant amount will release automatically from the Connect Reserve.