Fund flow

The money for a payment run moves from your bank to your organisation's own account with our regulated payment provider, then to your creators.

The steps

1. A run is prepared (pending_approval). From approved invoices, by your team, the StrideHQ Agent, an AI client or the API. No money moves.
2. A person approves the run (awaiting_funds). Someone with approval permission reviews it in StrideHQ. The run gets its reference, for example PR-ABC-26-017. No money moves.
3. You fund the run (funded). Send a bank transfer for the run's total from your business bank account to your organisation's account details, shown in StrideHQ on the In progress tab of Payment runs. Use the run's reference as the payment reference. The run is funded once the full amount arrives. A run that isn't funded within 7 days of approval expires.
4. A person releases the payouts (paying). They confirm with a code sent to their email.
5. Creators are paid (completed). Each payment is converted where needed and sent to the creator's bank account in their currency. Each one shows as paid or failed, with a reason. If some payments fail, the run is partially_completed; if they all fail, failed.

Where the money is

If you send too little

If less than the run's total arrives, the run shows as partially_funded and nothing is paid. StrideHQ shows the amount outstanding. Send the difference with the same reference; the payments add up, and the run is funded once the total has arrived.

A run can also be short if the exchange rate moved before the money arrived. You top it up the same way.

Partially funded runs don't expire.

If you send too much, the run is funded and the extra shows as an overpayment on your statement. To have it returned to your bank account, contact support.

Brands and agencies

The money moves the same way whatever kind of organisation you are. The organisation that pays funds the run, from its own bank account to its own account with our payment provider.

When a brand pays an agency for its talent's work, the agency is the payee: the brand's run pays the agency, and the agency pays its talent.

Fees

Fees are added to the amount to fund. They're never taken from creators' payments, so each creator is paid the full amount due.

The amount to fund is:

• The payments in the run.
• The transaction fee: StrideHQ's fee, a percentage of the run. You can see your percentage when you create a payment run from Due for payment ("including the 2.50% fee"), and on your monthly statement in Settings > Billing. Through the API, it's fee_rate on your organisation. The transaction fee is separate from your monthly platform fee.
• The international payment fee: a fixed charge for each payment that goes by SWIFT, passed on at cost. Payments on local routes don't have one.

The run shows every fee before you approve it.

When a payment fails

• It fails when it's sent, for example because the bank details are wrong. The payment shows as failed, with the reason, and its money stays in your organisation's account.
• It's returned after it was sent. A creator's bank can return a payment days later, even after it showed as paid. The payment changes to failed, the money goes back into your organisation's account, and the run's status updates.

Failed payments stay in their run. Once the details are fixed, use Retry failed payments on the run. It needs a code sent to your email, and pays the creator's current bank details. If the exchange rate has moved, you may be asked to top up first, with the same reference.

If a failed payment is never retried, its money stays in your organisation's account. Nothing happens to it automatically. To have it returned to your bank account, contact support.

How long it takes

• Funds arriving: a run shows as funded once your transfer reaches your organisation's account.
• Payouts: UK payments usually arrive within hours. International payments can take longer.
• Exchange rates: once a run is funded, its exchange rates are held for 24 hours.