Joe Gateshill

[wooden venture]

Hi there!
Can you share the ID (req_xxx) of the failing API request?
https://support.stripe.com/questions/finding-the-id-for-an-api-request

[stray orchid]

sure: req_gHVeARKKWZ3rba

there is a negative connected account balance of £174.97 which I am trying to clear

[wooden venture]

The issue is that you have automatic payout, and all your current funds are paid out, try switching to manual payout, send the funds you need to the connected accounts and then switch back to automatic payout.

[stray orchid]

i don't quite understand why that is the case though

[wooden venture]

Otherwise, you can add funds to your platform account and send it to the connected account
https://stripe.com/docs/connect/top-ups#add-funds

[stray orchid]

as the connected account 'owes' my platform money

and i want to clear that

and thus reduce the held in reserve

so i don't see why money would need to be transferred from my bank account

i would expect this to be the same as if a connect account balance is negative for 6 months (when they connect account balance is cleared and the reserve reduced)

[wooden venture]

Because as a Platform Account you are responsible for the balance of your Custom Connected Accounts:
https://stripe.com/docs/connect/accounts#custom-accounts

[wooden venture]

Not sure I understand this part...

[stray orchid]

sorry

to try to clarify

for my connect account example

1. A refund is issued
2. The card is refunded by my platform.
3. The connected account goes into a negative balance and funds are marked as 'held in reserve'

this is all fine

typically, when payments are made to that account, the balance returns positive and the held in reserve is cleared

however, if a connected account has a negative balacne for 6 months

Stripe will automatically clear that negative connect account balance

which it calls a 'Connect Collection Transfer'

no money is transferred by my bank account into the platform

I am trying to do a very similar thing but without having to wait 6 months

[wooden venture]

Ah no that's not possible AFAIK.

[wooden venture]

You are referring to this, just to double check that I'm following you:
https://stripe.com/docs/connect/account-balances#understanding-connected-reserve-balances

[stray orchid]

yes

I don't understand why I am unable to mark a connected account's balance as back to zero

as some of our clients have requested to manually send over the balance to us - so that they can start the new year of payments with a clean start

from that same page

it mentions : To clear a connected account’s negative balance, and thereby remove the reserve on your account, send a transfer to the applicable account.

that's what i'm trying to do here

[wooden venture]

You need to make a transfer by adding funds if all y our funds are reserved for payout, that' the only solution I can see honestly...

[stray orchid]

i don't understand why funds need to be added to the platform though

[wooden venture]

yeah exactly, but you need to have funds that are available for transfer...

[stray orchid]

that would be the held in reserve though

[wooden venture]

You add funds to the platform and then you transfer them to the Connected Accounts I mean.

[stray orchid]

when a refund is issued as in this case

stripe withdraw the funds from the platform account

to send to the refunded card

thus sending X amount to the held in reserve

and marking the connect account balance as -X

so I don't quite see why funds are required to be transferred

and if they are, what will happen to the held in reserve?

this seems the same scenario as a connect_collection_transfer

and i am not required to send money to the platform when stripe automatically does that after 6 months

[wooden venture]

But the Platform account will be responsible for that debit

[stray orchid]

but the actual debit itself would have been made 6 months ago

i understand that the platofrm account is responsible for negative balances

so in the case of a negative connect account balance - they effectively 'owe' the platform money

[wooden venture]

Yes, and even if the Connected Account didn't "send money back" to the Platform, the Platform Accounts remains responsible for that debit.

[stray orchid]

yes, i agree

when a connect_collection_transfer occurs - it marks that connected account as no longer owing the platform money

which is what i'm trying to achieve

[wooden venture]

You can't achieve this with transfer API, that's something done automatically and can't be triggered/forced

[stray orchid]

is there an alternative method?

i'm not sure if adding funds to my account will solve this for me

as the funds for this are already in my platform reserve

[wooden venture]

AFAIK, no there isn't.

[stray orchid]

is there anyone else who may know for certain?

would you be able to explain what this section of the documentation means?

To clear a connected account’s negative balance, and thereby remove the reserve on your account, send a transfer to the applicable account.

[wooden venture]

Yes, that's you were doing, sending a transfer.

But again, in order to send a transfer you need to have enough funds available in your platform account to be sent to your connected Account.

[stray orchid]

so as an example

a charge was issued for £100 and that was sent to the connected account

refund was issued

my platform was charged £100 to cover this refund

and the connected account balance marked as -£100

and my platform would have a reserve balance of £100

this is the current situation

if I add £100 to my platform and complete a transfer to the connected account

what will happen to the reserve amount? will that go to 0?

[wooden venture]

Yes, because you filled the fund that were reserved for previously.

[stray orchid]

ok

thank you for your help

[wooden venture]

Welcome!