Payment Holds for Rental Businesses

What is a payment hold?

A payment hold is a payment authorization that "parks" funds on the customer's card without charging them immediately. It's like a security deposit. The money is reserved but not taken. If the vehicle or equipment is returned in good condition, the hold is released and the customer is never charged. If you need to charge the hold (e.g., for damage), you can capture it manually.

Payment holds are commonly used by rental businesses to secure deposits for vehicles, equipment, or machinery. They protect you from damage, late returns, or unpaid charges while giving customers confidence that they won't be charged unless there's a problem.

Common hold problems in rentals

• Holds expire mid-hire: Payment authorizations can expire after a certain period (often 7 days). If a customer's rental extends beyond the expiration, you lose protection.
• Manual capture is messy: Manually capturing holds in Stripe requires logging in, finding the payment intent, and capturing it. This process is time-consuming and error-prone.
• Admin burden: Staff waste time managing authorizations, checking expiration dates, and refreshing holds manually.
• No clear audit trail: Tracking which hold belongs to which booking can be difficult, especially when managing multiple rentals.
• Booking systems don't handle holds: Most booking systems focus on reservations and availability, not payment authorization workflows.

How Parked Funds helps

Parked Funds manages payment holds in Stripe, giving you a clear workflow for creating, managing, and releasing holds. Here's how it works:

1. Create a payment hold: When you create a payment link for a customer, you can include a bond hold. The customer authorizes the hold amount, which reserves funds on their card.
2. Link to booking: Each payment hold is linked to a booking reference, making it easy to see which hold belongs to which rental.
3. Manage holds: View all active holds in your dashboard. See expiration dates, amounts, and booking details in one place.
4. Capture when needed: If you need to charge the hold (e.g., for damage), you can capture it manually from your dashboard. The hold is converted to a charge.
5. Automatic release: When the rental is complete and the vehicle is returned in good condition, the hold is automatically released. The customer is never charged.

All payment holds are processed through your Stripe account. Parked Funds acts as a workflow layer on top of Stripe, handling the mechanics specific to rental businesses while you stay in control of your funds.

Works with Stripe

Parked Funds uses Stripe's payment authorization features to create and manage holds. You connect your existing Stripe account, and all payments and holds go through Stripe. Parked Funds doesn't store card details or process payments directly. Stripe handles all payment processing, and you stay in control of your funds.

If you already use Stripe, you can start using Parked Funds immediately. If you don't have a Stripe account, you can create one during setup. Stripe is a trusted payment processor used by millions of businesses worldwide.