Deposits and card holds

Record a cash or bank deposit, or take a refundable card hold on your own Stripe, then release or claim it.

You take the deposit your own way. KeyProof records it against the booking so your proof and your deposit sit together. If you want, you can also take a refundable card hold through your own Stripe account.

KeyProof never touches your deposit or hire money

No deposit or hire money moves through KeyProof, and KeyProof takes no cut. When you take a card hold, it runs on your own Stripe account, so the money is between you, the hirer, and your bank. KeyProof only records what happened.

Logging a cash or bank deposit

If you take the deposit in cash or by bank transfer, record the amount on the booking and pick "I'll handle it" for the deposit. When the hire ends you set the outcome on the booking: returned in full, partially withheld (for example a scratch or excess mileage), or withheld in full. Keeping any of it needs the amount, a reason (Damage, Fuel, Cleaning, Late return, Fine or Other) and a short note of what happened, because the reason and note go on the record. That outcome sits on the booking alongside the rest of the record. It is your own record of what you took: KeyProof does not move the money.

Taking a refundable card hold

A card hold places a temporary hold on the hirer's card. No money is taken; the amount is reserved so it is there if you need it. To use card holds, go to Settings, open Payments and deposits, find Deposits via your Stripe, and connect your Stripe. Once connected, set the deposit on a booking to "KeyProof collects" and the hold is placed during the hirer's check-in. You can disconnect Stripe again at any time.

Releasing or claiming a hold

• Hand back deposit: releases the hold. Nothing is charged and the reserved amount is freed on the hirer's card. You are asked to confirm first, because it cannot be undone: KeyProof cannot place the hold again.
• Claim deposit: opens a short form. The amount starts at the whole hold; lower it to claim part. Pick a reason (Damage, Fuel, Cleaning, Late return, Fine or Other), say what happened, and if the reason is a fine say which fine it pays. Claim it then takes that amount from the hirer's card into your own Stripe account and lets the rest of the hold go. The reason and note go on the timeline, the record and the evidence pack.

A hold does not sit there forever. A card authorisation lapses at about seven days, so a hold you have neither released nor claimed by then is no use to you. KeyProof does not let that happen quietly: from 4.5 days it warns you in the morning brief, from 5.5 days its daily check cancels the hold on your Stripe rather than letting the card expire it mid-decision, and it always does so within 6.5 days. The state is always visible on the booking: held, released, claimed, partly claimed, or expired. If the hirer tried and their card was refused, the booking says so and no hold is on the card.

The Deposits view

Deposits is a view of Money. It opens with four figures: On hold, the amount of live card holds; Active deposits, how many holds that is; Releasing soon, how many are close to their automatic release; and Forfeited in the month you have picked, which is what you kept. Under them is the list of deposits, with the hirer, the booking and car, when the hold was placed, the amount and the status. A month picker and an Export sit at the top, and you can search by hirer, booking or vehicle, filter by vehicle or by "Releasing soon", and narrow the list to All, On hold, Released or Forfeited.

Each row carries one status word: On hold, Released, Forfeited, Part forfeited, Expired, or Recorded for a deposit you took your own way and have not yet settled. Beside an on-hold deposit is the one fact worth knowing, such as the day it will be released automatically, the hours left once it is close (the Releasing soon figure counts these), or why it will not be: a dispute, an open claim, fine or case, or an outcome you have already recorded. Open booking takes you to the hire, which is where you hand a deposit back or claim it.

Handing a clean return back on its own

On a clean return KeyProof offers to hand the hold back on the spot. For the ones you tap past, Settings, under Payments and deposits, has a Deposit auto-release setting: choose how long after a clean return the hold is handed back, from 2 hours to 72 hours, or leave it off and release each one yourself. Once you have set it, a clean return gives the hirer their money back without you having to remember.

Auto-release never runs on a hire with a dispute, an open insurance claim, an unresolved fine, a case that is not closed, or money already withheld. Those always wait for you.

The hirer verification fee

Separate from your deposit, the hirer pays a one-off £4.99 verification fee for the checks on their own booking, shown to them during check-in. It is paid by the hirer, not by you, so the checks cost you nothing per hire.