Wallet and balance

The wallet is your church’s balance in Stripe Connect before it’s transferred to the bank. It has two components worth understanding separately.

Available vs pending

Type	Meaning
Available	Money already settled, ready for payout
Pending	Money charged but still in Stripe’s hold period (typically 2-7 days)

For example:


Wallet — La Roca Church
  Available:  $3,240.50  USD  ← goes out in the next payout
  Pending:    $1,875.00  USD  ← moves to "available" in the next 2-7 days
  Total:      $5,115.50  USD

Why there’s a pending balance

Stripe holds payments as “pending” for a period (configurable, default 2 days in the US, 7 in some countries). The hold lets Stripe handle:

Disputes / chargebacks: if a donor reports an unauthorized charge.
Quick refunds: without having to recover money already sent to your bank.
Final payment method validation.

It’s payments industry standard. No way to “skip” this period.

When payouts run

The payout is the automatic transfer of available balance to your bank account.

Configurable in your Stripe dashboard:

Daily: each business day, available balance is transferred.
Weekly: once a week (you pick the day).
Monthly: once a month (you pick the day).
Manual: you decide when to hit “Pay out”.

We recommend weekly. Reduces bank reconciliation noise without delaying cash flow much.

Exceptional holds

Stripe can issue an extraordinary hold if:

A donation amount significantly exceeds the church’s average.
It detects suspicious patterns (10 $9,999 donations in an hour).
There are pending disputes equaling the available balance.

When this happens, you’ll get an email from Stripe explaining the reason and steps to release the hold (typically: provide more info about the activity).

Reserves (rolling reserve)

For new accounts or limited history, Stripe may apply a rolling reserve of 5-10% of balance, held 90 days, as protection against chargebacks.

If your account has an active reserve:


Wallet — La Roca Church
  Available:  $3,240.50  USD
  Pending:    $1,875.00  USD
  Reserve:    $   384.20  USD  ← Stripe releases in 90 days

The reserve usually clears after 6-12 months of clean operation.

Wallet operations

From Donations → Wallet:

Pay out now (force payout): if in manual mode.
See payout history: link to Payouts.
Reconcile: download CSV of every wallet movement (charges, fees, payouts) to square with the bank.

Why Stripe shows different amounts

Sometimes the wallet in the Stripe dashboard shows a different number than Ministrium does. It’s always timing: Ministrium updates via webhook with seconds of lag, and the Stripe dashboard is the source of truth. If the difference is >$1 after 5 minutes, escalate to support.