ACH payments take a few business days to fully settle. While that's happening, a payment shows as Pending on the Stripe Payments Report, then the status automatically updates once settlement completes. A failed ACH payment is one that never went through in the first place, the attempt simply didn't succeed.
A returned ACH payment is different: it's a payment that had already shown as Succeeded, which the customer's bank then reverses afterward.
Common Reasons for a Failed or Returned Payment
Insufficient funds: the customer's account didn't have enough available funds.
Invalid or incorrect account information: the account or routing number doesn't match a real account.
Closed bank account: the account no longer exists.
Revoked or missing authorization: the customer didn't authorize the debit, or withdrew authorization after the fact.
Should You Retry It?
Not every reason can be fixed by simply trying again with the same information, whether the payment failed outright or was returned after already succeeding.
Retry:
Insufficient funds may resolve on its own once the customer has funds available.
Do not retry with the same information. These reasons need updated bank details or a new authorization from the customer before another attempt can succeed:
Invalid account information
Closed account
Revoked or missing authorization
What Happens When an ACH Return Occurs
When a bank returns a payment that had already succeeded, the funds are reversed and removed from your balance. The related invoice may need to be reviewed, and a replacement payment collected from the customer using corrected information if needed.
What to Do About a Failed or Returned ACH Payment
Whether a payment failed outright or was returned after already succeeding, the funds aren't in your balance, and the correction process is the same either way. The related invoice may need to be reviewed, the Pool Brain payment will need to be updated, and a replacement payment will need to be collected.
To update the Pool Brain payment to reflect the failed or returned ACH Payment:
If the account syncs with QuickBooks Online, update the payment amount to $0 in QuickBooks Online. It syncs back and updates the payment in Pool Brain automatically.
If the account doesn't sync with QuickBooks Online, contact Pool Brain support through the chat feature on the website, or by emailing team@poolbrain.com, and request that the payment be deleted or zeroed out.