eCheck Settlement

Because eCheck payments are made from a customer's bank account, the settlement process is different from the credit card transaction settlement process. For eCheck transactions, settlement occurs when the payment gateway initiates an ACH transaction to collect funds from the customer's bank account. Funding occurs when funds collected are deposited to the merchant's bank account. The timing of eCheck deposits might vary by merchant. Settlement for eCheck transactions occurs each business day, excluding bank holidays. eCheck transactions submitted to

Cybersource

before your daily transaction cut-off time are sent to the bank the following business day. The settlement time for each batch of transactions marks the beginning of the

Cybersource

funds holding period. Transfer of eCheck proceeds to your bank account occurs on the business day after the transactions are considered collected by the system.

The timeframe for settlement, returns, and funding can vary. These factors can influence timing: the day of the week the transaction is submitted, the number of holding days established for your eCheck account, whether the transaction is returned for any reason, or whether processing occurs over a weekend. eCheck transactions begin their funding when a transaction is captured and settled.

This sequence describes a typical eCheck processing cycle with a 5-day holding period:

The merchant receives an eCheck transaction. At the transaction cut-off time, the transaction is picked up by the payment gateway.
The payment gateway submits the previous day's batch to the ACH network. This is the first day of the funds holding period. The number of holding days varies per merchant. For example, 5 days.
The ACH network collects funds for the transaction from the customer's bank and sends them to
Cybersource
. This is the second day of the funds holding period. The purpose of the holding period is to allow for returns for transactions included in the batch. Returns can come back on this day.
Third, fourth, and fifth day of the funds holding period. Returns can come back on this day.
The payment gateway sends available eCheck proceeds to the merchant's bank account. Returns can come back on this day.
The eCheck proceeds are available in the merchant's bank account. Returns can come back on this day.

Processing only occurs on banking days, so the timeframe can be extended depending on what day of the week processing and holding days occur. For example, if day 1 in the example above is a Friday, day 2 does not occur until Monday, 2 days later, prolonging the timeframe by 2 days.