How to View and Understand Settlements in Finix

Overview

This article provides information on finding settlements and understanding the details available on the settlments page in the Finix dashboard.

Preconditions

The following conditions must be met before starting on the instructional steps below:

• Your facility must be using foreUP Payments as your integrated credit card processor
• You must have access to the Finix dashboard (if you do not have access, please contact the foreUP Payments Support Team at [e-mail])

Important Information

• All settlement ID's start with "ST" (e.g.: ST4Fda9PgdQAvbX5ya4DqKLH)
• Settlements are the third step in the life cycle of a credit card transaction with foreUP Payments (see the following article to understand the full life cycle of credit card transactions: Understanding the Lifecycle of a Credit Card Sale with foreUP Payments)
• foreUP Payments processes all credit card transactions on one of two processing rails: VANTIV and LITLE. See the Details section below for more information

How to Find Settlements in Finix

Follow the below steps to find settlements in Finix: 

1. Log into the Finix Dashboard
2. Once logged in, click on the Merchants dropdown on the left column and select Merchant Payouts
3. 
4. You can adjust the date range and filters to fit your needs
5. Once you click on a settlement from the list, a side panel on the right will pop up, providing more details regarding the settlement. To view the settlement details in a separate tab, click View All Details in the top right of the side panel.

If you already have the settlement ID, you can paste that ID in the ID Search field at the top left of the Finix Dashboard and hit Enter to pull up that settlement.

Understanding the Settlement Details

The settlement details page in the Finix dashboard has a lot of great information. The below section will cover the following parts of this page: 

• Top Line Information
• Details
• Overview
• Funding Transfers

Top Line Information

The information located at the top of the settlements details page provides the following information: 

• Amount: This will tell you the gross amount of the credit card transactions that were included in the settlement
• Fees Amount: This will tell you the total amount of credit card fees that were withheld from the settlement
• Net Amount: This will tell you the net amount of the settlement and should correlate to the amount that will be deposited into your bank account
• Settlement State: This will tell you the state of the settlement, which will be one of the following:
  • Accruing: This means the settlement is still accruing payments or refunds
  • Awaiting Approval: This means the settlement is no longer accruing and is ready for approval
  • Approved: The settlement has been approved, which also means the merchant payout has been initiated
• Created On: This will tell you when the settlement was initially created in the system
• Payout Settlement Schedule: This should always say Daily
• Payout Type: This will either be Net or Gross

Details

The most important part of this section is the Processor. This will tell you what type of credit card transactions the settlement comprises, either VANTIV (card present) or LITLE (card not present).

foreUP Payments processes all credit card transactions on one of two processing rails: VANTIV and LITLE. The VANTIV rail is used to process all card-present transactions, and the LITLE rail is used to process all card-not-present transactions. This means you will receive two separate deposits to your bank account for one day's credit card activity, one for VANTIV and one for LITLE (this assumes you have both card-present and card-not-present transactions on a single day of business).

For example, You processed $1,000 in credit card sales on Monday, 1/15; $500 is from card-present transactions, and $500 is from card-not-present transactions. Once the credit card fees are deducted from the settlements and the settlements are approved, you would anticipate receiving two net deposits into your bank account three business days after the day the credit card transactions were originally processed (see the following article for more information regarding the foreUP Payments funding schedule: Understanding the foreUP Payments Funding Schedule)

Overview

This section will provide additional details about how your settlement was calculated. Your settlement is comprised of Transactions, Disputes, Merchant Adjustments, and Net Amount

Transactions

The transaction subsection of the overview section will contain the following data: 

• Debits: The data here is from the credit card transactions that were added to the settlement. This section will tell you two things:
  • The little number right next to "Debits" will tell you the number of transactions that make up the debit amount. Looking at the screenshot example below, the 16 number tells you there were 16 credit card transactions added to this settlement
  • 
  • The number below the Debits cell in the Amount row will tell you the gross amount of the credit card transactions that make up this settlement. Using the screenshot example above, the number is $570.18. This tells you that the 16 credit card transactions on this settlement add up to $570.18
• Credits: The data here will correlate to any unlinked refunds that were added to the settlement (An unlinked refund means a refund was issued through foreUP without reference to the original sale)
• Fees: The data here will tell you the number and amount of credit card fees that were withheld from this settlement (REMINDER: the foreUP Payments platform is set up with net payouts, not gross, meaning the payout amounts that get deposited into you bank account already has the credit card fees withdrawn). For more information on how the fees are calculated, please read the following article: Understanding the Interchange Cost-Plus Model for Credit Card Processing
• Refunds: The data here will correlate to any linked refunds that were added to the settlement (a linked refund means the refund was issued through foreUP from the original sale). 
  • PLEASE NOTE: Sales and refunds are batched into settlements on a different schedule. Sales are batched into settlements two days from the original sale date. Refunds are batched into settlements one day from the original refund date. See the FAQ below for more information regarding the batching schedule for sales and refunds.
• Settled Externally: You should not see any data flow through here

Disputes

The Disputes subsection of the overview section will contain the following data: 

• Debits: As soon as a cardholder files a dispute against your facility, the disputed amount will get withdrawn from the next available settlement and show up here
• Credits:  If a disputed amount is awarded back to your facility, those funds will get returned to you via the next available settlement and show up here

Merchant Adjustments

You will rarely see data flow through here on your settlements. The extremely rare instance you might see data flow through here is if a system error prevented you from getting all the funds from your credit card transactions, and foreUP had to make a manual adjustment to get you those funds. 

Net Amount

The data found here is the sum of the data from Transactions, Disputes, and Merchant Adjustments. This amount will correlate to the merchant payout, or, in other words, what gets deposited into your bank account.

Funding Transfers

Once a settlement has been approved, the merchant payout is initiated. You will want to look for the payout with Settlement Merchant listed in the Level column. The date and time stamp on the payout will let you know when foreUP has officially sent the payout to your bank account. You can expect to see those payout funds deposited into your bank account on the next business day (e.g: If the date shows Tuesday, February 11, you would expect to see those funds in your bank account on Wednesday, February 12).

The only time you may have to wait an additional business day once the payout has been initiated is due to a banking holiday. 

FAQ

Q: Can I view a list of the individual credit card (debit) transactions that make up a settlement? 

A: Yes! Once you have pulled up the settlement in Finix:

1. You will click on the Entries tab located just below the settlement amount at the top
2. 
3. Once on the Entries tab, click All Filters
4. Click the Type checkbox box and select Debits from the Type dropdown that appears
5. 
6. Click Apply
7. You will now be able to see the individual credit card transactions that make up the settlement. Please note that the transactions listed are payments, not authorizations (see the following article for more information on the full life cycle of a credit card transaction: Understanding the Lifecycle of a Credit Card Sale with foreUP Payments)

Q: If I look at the overview data in my settlement, do the sale (debit) and refund data correlate to the same day's worth of transactions in foreUP?

A: No, the settlement's sale (debit) data will correlate to foreUP sale transactions from two days ago. The refund data will correlate to foreUP refund transactions from one day ago. For example, if the Debits listed under Transactions in the Overview section of a settlement from Wednesday, February 11, show $500, and the Refunds show $100, the $500 would reference the sale transactions from Monday, February 9. The $100 would reference the refund transactions from Tuesday, February 10.