Cards may go into negative balances because of force-capture transactions. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Merchants might initiate a capture despite receiving a decline or even without authorization. In either case, Stripe creates transaction objects, and we deduct the captured amount from your Issuing balance and send it to the merchant.

At times, these transactions correspond to legitimate purchases. In other cases, these transactions are unauthorized purchases or a result of fraudulent behavior. It’s up to you (or your cardholder) to recognize when this is the case and dispute illegitimate transactions. Because some of these transactions are legitimate, you can’t block them. An example of a legitimate transaction without authorization is a payment on an airplane. The terminals used on airplanes are usually not connected to the internet. Purchases on flights are not able to create authorizations and instead create transactions that are sent after the plane lands.

If your card is in a negative balance, your options are to:
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