Configuring Hold Period & Clawback Reserve
Configuring Hold Period & Clawback Reserve
The Direct Debit settings page at /dashboard/settings/direct-debit lets you configure the two key financial controls that govern how the service manages collected funds: the hold period and the clawback reserve.
Accessing the Settings Page
Navigate to:
/dashboard/settings/direct-debit
The page is divided into three areas:
- Hold Period configuration
- Clawback Reserve configuration
- Provider references (read-only)
Hold Period
The hold period controls how long swept funds sit in the Griffin DD holding account before being forwarded to the agent's client account.
| Field | Type | Min | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold Period | Integer (hours) | 1 | 24 |
How it works
- After funds are swept from the Modulr collection account into the Griffin holding account, a timer starts.
- Once the hold period elapses and the clawback reserve requirement is satisfied, funds are forwarded to the agent's client account.
- A longer hold period provides more protection against clawbacks; a shorter period increases the speed of settlement.
Important: Non-retroactive changes
Changes to the hold period apply to newly swept funds only. Funds already held in the Griffin holding account at the time of the change will complete their original hold period unaffected. This prevents in-flight transactions from being disrupted.
Clawback Reserve
The clawback reserve is a buffer of funds retained in the Griffin holding account to cover any tenant bank reversals (clawbacks) before they can be resolved.
Configuration fields
| Field | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Reserve Risk Factor | Percentage of total held funds retained as reserve | % (e.g. 5 for 5%) |
| Reserve Minimum | Fixed GBP floor — the reserve must never fall below this value | GBP (e.g. 500.00) |
The effective reserve requirement at any point is:
required_reserve = MAX(
total_held_funds × (risk_factor / 100),
reserve_minimum
)
Funds are only forwarded to the agent's client account once the remaining balance in the holding account satisfies this requirement.
Validation
Before any reserve configuration change is saved, the service validates that the configuration is financially sound. Configurations that would result in an unresolvable reserve state (for example, a minimum higher than can realistically be met by the current holding balance) will be rejected with an appropriate error message.
Live Reserve Status
The settings page displays the current reserve status in real time — showing the current holding account balance against the calculated reserve requirement. Use this to assess the impact of a configuration change before saving.
Provider References (Read-Only)
The following fields are visible on the settings page for reference but cannot be edited once initial setup is complete:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Modulr SUN | Your Service User Number — assigned by Modulr during onboarding. Used to identify your organisation on the BACS/AUDDIS scheme. |
| Griffin Holding Account Reference | The reference for your Griffin DD holding account. Used to reconcile sweeps and forwards. |
If either of these values needs to be changed, contact your platform administrator.
Summary of Behaviour
| Scenario | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Hold period increased | Only applies to funds swept after the change |
| Hold period decreased | Only applies to funds swept after the change |
| Reserve minimum increased | Immediately affects forwarding eligibility for all held funds |
| Reserve risk factor increased | Immediately affects forwarding eligibility for all held funds |
| Invalid reserve config submitted | Rejected — no changes saved |