Topping up your Payment Account Balance

Sometimes you’ll need to refund more than you have available on your current balance. For example, you’ve collected payment for a trip and all the money has been already paid out to your bank account. A few weeks later, you need to cancel the trip and return the money paid.

Because Stripe maintains a 7-day rolling balance, you'll usually have enough funds available to issue refunds immediately. However, if your balance is insufficient, you'll need to top up before issuing refunds. Parent Hub makes this process quick and easy: top-ups usually take just one work day to reach your available balance. Just follow the steps below.

1  Work out how much you need to top up

2  Check bank details and transfer funds to Parent Hub

3  Wait till you receive confirmation of receipt

4  Issue the refund(s)

Let’s go through these 4 steps in more detail.

1  Work out how much you need to top up

Add up the total refunds you need to make, then subtract your current balance. For example, if you need to make 4 x £20 refunds and you already have a £10 current balance, you’ll only need to top up £70. Please note: we don’t charge transaction fees on refunds, so you’ll only need to refund the amount paid by the parent.

Can I transfer extra funds?

Yes, but any unused funds will be returned to you through the next scheduled payout, so please avoid transferring more than you need, as we cannot hold refund reserves on your account.

2  Check bank details and transfer funds to Parent Hub

Click Actions > Top-up account balance from the Accounts Overview page, or the Top-up Balance buttons on the Account Details or Banking Activity pages. Please make sure you carefully check Parent Hub’s bank account details before transferring any funds. You’ll see a reference number, highlighted below. Please remember to include this reference when you make the transfer so we can quickly identify which account to apply the top-up to. Then just arrange the transfer from your bank to ours, and click ‘Submit’.

3  Wait till you receive confirmation of receipt

We’ll let you know by phone or email as soon as we have topped up your Payment Account Balance, and you’ll also see the funds appear in Parent Hub.

4  Issue the refund(s)

You can now continue to issue your refund as usual. Any unused funds (for example, if you topped up with more than you refunded) will be returned via the usual weekly payout, but it’s best to top up only as much as you plan to refund.

Can I top up by any other means?

We are currently only able to accept top-ups via bank transfers.