In your balance platform, funds are held in balance accounts. These balance accounts may hold a single or multiple currencies. For each currency, a balance account consists of the balance types described in the following table.
| Balance type | Description |
|---|---|
| Balance | The sum of transactions that have already been settled. This is also referred to as the current balance. |
| Available | The balance that is available for transfers. The available balance is equal to the lower of the following values:
|
| Pending | The sum of transactions that will be settled in the future. The pending balance can be positive or negative. |
| Pending available | The balance that will become the available balance after the pending balance is settled. The pending available balance is equal to the lower of the following:
|
| Reserved | The balance currently held in reserve. The reserve balance consists of:
|
You can configure webhooks to get notified when a balance change meets certain conditions for any of these balance types. Based on this information, and to avoid negative balances, you can top up or transfer funds between the balance accounts in your platform when you receive the notification.
Multiple currencies
A balance account can have balances in multiple currencies. To check the balances in all currencies of the balance account:
- Make a GET /balanceAccounts/{id} request.
- Listen to the balancePlatform.balanceAccount.balance.updated webhook event.
- In your Customer Area, go to Balance accounts > Balances.
Examples
The following examples show how balances are calculated in different scenarios.
Example 1: Balance changes over time
On January 1, the following events happen in your user's balance account:
- EUR 100.00 are settled from an incoming payment processed two days ago.
- Adyen processed a EUR 20.00 incoming payment for your user. These funds will be settled in January 2.
- Adyen processed a EUR 30.00 outgoing refund for your user. These funds will be deducted in January 3.
The following table shows the balances on January 1, January 2, and January 3 respectively.
| Balance type | Balnace on January 1 | Balance on January 2 | Balance on January 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balance | EUR 100.00 | EUR 120.00 | EUR 90.00 |
| Reserved | EUR 30.00 | EUR 30.00 | EUR 0.00 |
| Available | EUR 70.00 | EUR 90.00 | EUR 90.00 |
| Pending | EUR 20.00 | EUR 0.00 | EUR 0.00 |
| Pending available | EUR 20.00 | EUR 0.00 | EUR 0.00 |
On January 2, the incoming payment settles, moving funds into the balance. However, Adyen automatically holds a EUR 30.00 reservation for the pending refund. This reservation reduces your available balance while keeping both pending buckets at 0.
On January 3, the refund is settled. The system deducts the €30.00 from your total balance and clears the reservation. Your available balance remains unchanged because the funds were already deducted from your spending power the previous day.
Example 2: Future balance changes make the available balance negative
On January 1, your user's balance account has a balance of EUR 50.00. On this day, Adyen also processed a refund of EUR 70.00 that will be settled on January 2.
The following table shows the balances on January 1.
| Balance type | Balance on January 1 |
|---|---|
| Balance | EUR 50.00 |
| Reserved | EUR 0.00 |
| Available | EUR -20.00 |
| Pending | EUR -70.00 |
| Pending available | EUR -70.00 |
Although the current balance is positive, the available balance is negative because the future balance change (the refund) is already being considered.
Example 3: Pending balance is different from pending available balance
On January 1, your user's balance account has a balance of EUR -30.00. On this day, Adyen also processed an incoming payment for your user, which will be settled on January 2.
The following table shows the balances on January 1.
| Balance type | Balance on January 1 | Balance on January 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Balance | EUR -30.00 | EUR 20.00 |
| Reserved | EUR 0.00 | EUR 0.00 |
| Available | EUR -30.00 | EUR 20.00 |
| Pending | EUR 50.00 | EUR 0.00 |
| Pending available | EUR 20.00 | EUR 0.00 |
The pending balance shows the funds of the incoming payment that will be settled on January 2. In contrast, the pending available balance shows only the balance that will become available for use on January 2.