Instant Pay: Getting Paid Out Faster with Stripe

Rotor processes payments through Stripe. Once a customer pays you, that money lands in your Stripe balance and is then paid out to your bank account. Instant Pay is Stripe's option to get those funds in minutes instead of waiting for your regular payout schedule. This article covers what it costs to process a payment, how Instant Pay works, why it might not be available to you, and what to do about it.

Written By Sean

Last updated 24 days ago

How Payouts Normally Work

By default, Stripe pays you on a standard payout schedule — usually daily or every few business days, depending on your account. Funds move from your Stripe balance to the bank account you've connected, and there's no fee.

Instant Pay is optional. It sits on top of the standard schedule: anything you don't pull out instantly still pays out normally.

What Instant Pay Requires

Instant Pay works differently depending on which country your business is registered in. This is the single most common reason it isn't available.

Your country

What you can send Instant Pay to

Canada

Debit card only. Bank accounts are not eligible.

United States

Debit card, or a bank account at a supported institution

United Kingdom, Eurozone, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, Australia

Debit card, or a bank account at a supported institution

Norway, New Zealand, Malaysia, UAE

Debit card only

Hong Kong

Supported bank accounts only

If you're in Canada and you only have bank accounts connected, Instant Pay will not let you select them. This is a Stripe restriction, not something Rotor can override. Canadian bank accounts are simply not a valid destination for an instant payout.

Canadian Debit Card Requirements

If you add a debit card as your Instant Pay destination, Stripe requires:

  • A non-prepaid Visa or Mastercard debit card issued by a Canadian bank

  • A maximum of 9,999 CAD per payout

  • Note that this card can only receive instant payouts — your regular scheduled payouts still need to go to a bank account

— Rotor does not currently support debit cards as payout destinations. We need to decide what we tell Canadian customers here: whether we're enabling it, or whether the honest answer is "Instant Pay isn't available for Canadian accounts on Rotor today."

Other Reasons Instant Pay Might Not Appear

Even with an eligible destination, Stripe can withhold Instant Pay. Common causes:'

Your account is too new. Stripe doesn't offer Instant Pay to brand-new accounts. It becomes available after you've processed for a while with a clean track record. Stripe weighs account age, processing volume, and chargeback rate.

The money hasn't settled yet. Funds from card payments are available for Instant Pay as soon as the charge completes. Funds from bank debits (pre-authorized debit in Canada, ACH in the US) are only available once they've fully settled, because they can still be reversed before that point.

Currency mismatch. Instant Pay can't convert currencies. A Canadian business must take an instant payout in CAD — a USD bank account or card won't work as a destination, even if it's otherwise eligible.

You've hit a daily limit. Stripe caps both the total amount and the number of instant payouts that can be made per day. Limits reset at midnight Central Time for US and Canadian accounts.

Your balance is below the minimum. Instant Pay requires at least 0.60 CAD (0.50 USD) and caps each payout at 9,999 in your currency.

Instant Pay Fees

This is separate from the processing fees above. Processing fees come off the payment when your customer pays; the Instant Pay fee comes off again when you pull the money out early.

There is a fee on every instant payout, deducted from the amount you receive. The fee is 1% of the payout amount. Rotor does not add anything on top of that.

Per-payout minimums and maximums (set by Stripe, not adjustable):

Country

Minimum

Maximum

Canada

0.60 CAD

9,999 CAD

United States

0.50 USD

9,999 USD

United Kingdom

0.40 GBP

9,999 GBP

Eurozone

0.40 EUR

9,999 EUR

Australia

0.50 AUD

9,999 AUD

Troubleshooting

"I can see my banks listed, but I can't select either one and Save is greyed out." You're most likely on a Canadian account. Canadian bank accounts can't receive instant payouts — only debit cards can. See the country table above.

"My USD account isn't selectable." Instant payouts can't convert currency. A Canadian business can only take an instant payout in CAD.

"Instant Pay used to work and now it doesn't." Check whether you've already hit today's limit (10 payouts, or your daily amount cap). Limits reset at midnight Central Time. If it's not that, a change in your account's risk profile — a spike in disputes, for example — can remove eligibility.

"I don't see an Instant Pay option at all." Your account may not be eligible yet. Stripe enables Instant Pay based on account history rather than on request.

Institution support for Instant Payouts

Identify whether your account's institution supports Instant Payouts.

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Regional considerations

United States

Canada

United Kingdom

Singapore

Australia

EU

Norway

New Zealand

Malaysia

Hong Kong

United Arab Emirates

Stripe supports Instant Payouts for eligible users in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Singapore, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and United Arab Emirates. Instant Payouts in each country must use the local currency. For example, an Instant Payout to a Canadian business must be in CAD.

To see which institutions support Instant Payouts, select your country from the dropdown. Only the listed institutions support Instant Payouts.

INSTANT PAYOUT SUPPORT IN:

United States (US)Canada (CA)Singapore (SG)United Kingdom (GB)Australia (AU)Austria (AT)Belgium (BE)Cyprus (CY)Czech Republic (CZ)Germany (DE)Denmark (DK)Estonia (EE)Spain (ES)Finland (FI)France (FR)Greece (GR)Croatia (HR)Hungary (HU)Ireland (IE)Italy (IT)Lithuania (LT)Luxembourg (LU)Latvia (LV)Monaco (MC)Malta (MT)Malaysia (MY)Netherlands (NL)Norway (NO)New Zealand (NZ)Poland (PL)Portugal (PT)Romania (RO)Sweden (SE)Slovenia (SI)Slovakia (SK)United Arab Emirates (AE)Hong Kong (HK)Other countries

Accounts

Accounts at the following US institutions can receive Instant Payouts. Values in the Instant Payouts support column indicate whether the institution supports all accounts or only some accounts.

Debit cards

To see which US institutions issue debit cards that can receive Instant Payouts, check the table below. Values in the Instant Payouts support column indicate whether the institution supports all debit cards or only some debit cards.

Debit cards

To see which US institutions issue debit cards that can receive Instant Payouts, check the table below. Values in the Instant Payouts support column indicate whether the institution supports all debit cards or only some debit cards.

Resources

Stripe's own documentation on payouts and Instant Payouts: