Refund obligations remain after new sales stop

Build the list of obligations before treating the account as finished

Start with genuine refund requests, provider refund records and open disputes. Record the reference, amount, currency, current state and any actual deadline or next action. A customer request and a refund already recorded by the provider are different stages; keep the distinction so an unsubmitted request does not disappear from the list.

Match related items by the original payment reference inside your authorized records. If a refund and a dispute concern the same payment, flag their relationship before anyone treats them as independent amounts or takes another action. This worksheet identifies the overlap; it does not decide the correct response or authorize another credit.

Date the list and name the person responsible for keeping it current. It records known obligations at that point. Stripe's closure guidance says responsibility for refunds and disputes continues after closure, so an empty list today is not evidence that no later case can arise. Preserve an account contact who can receive and act on actual notices.

Available funds answer a narrower question than the displayed balance

Stripe's refund documentation says refunds draw from the available balance. When that balance is insufficient, card refunds can remain pending; refunds for other payment method types fail. Read the method and state on each actual refund rather than applying the card-pending rule to every case.

Record the available amount, currency and observation time from the account that holds the obligation. Keep any held, reserved or otherwise restricted amount under its own label and source reference. Do not add a held amount to available funds because both appear on the same screen. Ask the provider whether a documented release or permitted use applies to those funds.

Do not allocate the same available funds to every open item independently. Keep a single dated balance reference and show which unresolved items depend on it. If a balance changed after the snapshot, obtain the later record before treating the earlier amount as still available. This is a map of recorded obligations and balances, not a forecast of future refund demand.

Replace the expectation of new receipts with an explicit funding question

Once new sales stop, a note saying that the next sales will cover a pending refund no longer closes the funding question. For each unfunded or uncertain item, identify whether the provider has already issued an instruction for that account. Keep the instruction's date, permitted method, currency, stated conditions and responsible account contact.

If no instruction exists, the open question is specific: what supported funding process is available for this account and this unresolved obligation, and what record will show that the funds are available for use? Do not substitute bank details from a support message, another account's procedure or an assumed transfer between providers.

A planned funding action and a completed refund are separate records. After the authorized owner follows the documented process, check the actual balance and then the refund's current state. The existence of funding instructions does not establish a refund-arrival date. For a dispute, retain its own response requirements and deadline even while a funding question is unresolved.

Settle the closure sequence and preserve the response path

Stripe's owner-close guidance says an account cannot be closed with an existing balance. A negative balance must be brought to zero, a positive balance paid out, and scheduled payouts still occur; manual payouts require the full balance to be paid out. Those conditions describe that closure flow. They are not instructions to empty an account before examining its pending obligations.

Stripe separately suggests leaving an account dormant rather than closing it when refunds or disputes may still need attention. Keep that option distinct from a claim that dormancy is free, preserves every feature or guarantees record access. Ask the provider how its documented closure or dormant-account process addresses the actual open items and ongoing access.

Retain the provider's answer, the person authorized to act, the person responsible for customer communication and the next follow-up date. A closure confirmation and a completed refund each need their own record. One must not be used as evidence of the other.

For a Prism processing consultation, summarize the website, research-only products, the end of new sales and the unresolved funding or record question. Any assistance with an existing account requires agreed scope and authorized access; fees and terms are discussed before work. Use the public form for the question, keeping financial and customer records in their authorized systems. Follow-up is by email, and the inquiry is not a processing application or purchase.

Runoff obligation and funds map

Complete this from the account's real records as of a stated date. Repeat the obligation rows for each item and link related refund and dispute references privately. Keep currencies separate and do not count a held amount as available or allocate the same balance twice. An unresolved funding question needs an owner and follow-up, not invented future sales.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.