Understanding Plaid’s Current Balance vs Available Balance

When a merchant sends an invoice or charges a customer, Paynote runs a Plaid balance check before processing the debit. This step ensures the customer has enough funds to cover the payment and helps reduce failed or returned transactions.

Plaid provides two types of balances: Current Balance and Available Balance. Paynote specifically relies on the Available Balance to decide whether a debit can proceed.

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Current Balance

• The current balance is the total amount of money in the customer’s account at the moment of the check.
• It includes all posted (settled) transactions.
• It may not reflect pending payments or holds that are in process but not finalized.
• In short, it’s a snapshot of what the account ledger shows, not necessarily what’s truly spendable.

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Available Balance

• The available balance is the amount of money a customer can actually use or withdraw right now.

• It starts with the current balance and then adjusts for:

• Pending outflows (e.g., card purchases, bill payments)

• Pending inflows (e.g., deposits that haven’t cleared yet)

This is the number used to decide if a transaction will go through.

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Why Paynote Uses the Available Balance

Paynote always checks the available balance before a debit.

That means when a merchant invoices or bills a customer, Paynote is looking at the real, spendable funds in that customer’s account—not just the posted ledger. This prevents debits from being sent against money that’s already reserved for another payment and helps ensure more reliable, successful transactions.

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