# Money limits and holds

URL: /systems/finance/limits · Id: `page:systems/finance/limits`

> Everything that can stop, hold or slow money in a Startup, from Stripe onboarding to fraud screening, Disputes, payouts and agent spend.

Money in a [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) can stop in five places. Each stop is a rule with a record that says how to clear it.

## Before the account can charge
A Startup's Stripe account opens with its first paid [Offer](/business/nouns/offer) or first [Card](/business/nouns/card). The owner of record finishes Stripe's onboarding once. After that, each new Stripe requirement arrives as a [Task](/business/nouns/task) with Stripe's deadline, escalated a week before it.

Miss the deadline and Stripe disables charges. [`Order.pay`](/business/nouns/order/pay) refuses with [`charges-disabled`](/code/api/errors/charges-disabled), and paid Offers take [Waitlist](/business/nouns/waitlist) sign-ups until Stripe re-enables the account. Cards and the operating account also need the card program granted; until then those calls refuse with [`card-program-pending`](/code/api/errors/card-program-pending).

## Before a charge runs
[`Order.screen`](/business/nouns/order/screen) scores every payment on Stripe before it is charged. The risk [Policy](/business/nouns/policy) turns the score into one outcome, and [Payment risk](/systems/finance/payment-risk) sets the thresholds.

| Outcome | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| `allow` | The charge runs. |
| `authenticate` | The buyer confirms with their card issuer, then the charge runs. |
| `review` | The [Order](/business/nouns/order) waits for the [Risk Analyst](/agents/operations/risk-analyst)'s [Approval](/business/nouns/approval) and is not charged until then. |
| `block` | The Order is canceled and never charged. |

## After it lands and on its way out
A charge lands pending and becomes available once it settles. Available cash pays out to the bank daily by default. On a [Marketplace](/products/templates/marketplace), the [Supplier](/business/nouns/supplier)'s payout waits until the buyer confirms the work and the clearance window passes.

A chargeback holds the disputed amount and Stripe's dispute fee until the [Dispute](/business/nouns/dispute) is decided. Refunds on that charge are refused while it is open, and an early fraud warning stops fulfillment at once. If refunds and lost Disputes push the balance below zero, the platform covers it at Stripe and the loss stays on the Startup's books.

A refund or an [Invoice](/business/nouns/invoice) is one-way: it asks a person first, then waits a short delay window. [`Human.remit`](/business/nouns/human/remit) pays a Supplier only for work the [Customer](/business/nouns/customer) confirmed, and a payout above its [Limit](/business/nouns/limit) opens an Approval. [Dispute response](/systems/finance/dispute-response) has the deadlines.

## When an agent spends
Every Card carries a Limit per charge and per period, and each charge is checked live against its [Mandate](/business/nouns/mandate). A charge over the Limit declines and opens an Approval for the [Treasurer](/agents/finance/treasurer). Granting a Mandate or raising a Limit waits its delay window; a charge inside a granted Mandate never waits.

The latest [Forecast](/business/nouns/forecast) sets the Startup's spend state, and every money Limit reads it before a call.

| Spend state | When | Effect |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `free` | Default alive | Limits stand as set. |
| `tight` | Default dead | Discretionary Limits and the [Demand Budget](/business/nouns/demand-budget) halve. |
| `hold` | Under 13 weeks of runway | One-way spend stops, new Card spend declines, and a [Decision](/business/nouns/decision) opens for the founder. |

## Change a limit
Say it to your agent: "raise the ads card to $1,000 a month", "hold every order over $500 for review", or "pay suppliers weekly". Each change is a [Verb](/business/nouns/verb) call your agent shows you first. The one-way ones wait their window.