Settlement Timing
- Standard credit card settlement is T+2, meaning sale day plus 2 business days. Debit is T+1 to T+2. ACH network settlement, debit confirmation and merchant funding are separate; check your provider's timing.
- Batch cutoff times vary by processor, typically 8 PM to midnight ET. Sales after the cutoff push your deposit a business day later.
- Instant funding exists and it costs real money. Square charges 1.95% per transfer, Stripe 1.5% in the US and 1% in Canada and the EU, PayPal 1.50% on Instant Transfer. All verified against the vendor's own page on 2026-08-02. Two days of float is worth about 0.04% at an 8% cost of capital, so the fee is 25 to 50 times what you're buying.
- Reserve funds sit outside the normal settlement timeline. They're released 90-180 days after collection, per your processor agreement.
Knowing when the money actually lands is what keeps cash flow from surprising you.
Standard Timelines by Payment Type
| Payment Type | Clearing | Settlement | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa/Mastercard Credit | Overnight | T+1 to T+2 | T+2 to T+3 |
| Debit (PIN and signature) | Overnight | T+1 | T+1 to T+2 |
| American Express | Overnight | T+2 to T+3 | T+3 or later |
| Discover | Overnight | T+1 to T+2 | T+2 to T+3 |
| ACH | Batch, including same-day windows | Same-day or standard network schedule | Provider-dependent; debit confirmation is separate |
| Wire Transfer | Same day | Same day | Same day |
T = Transaction date. All times are business days.
Batch Cutoffs
Your processor has a daily cutoff. Transactions after it miss that day's batch. It's the most misunderstood part of settlement timing.
Processing Day Cutoffs
| Processor Type | Typical Cutoff | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional (TSYS, Fiserv) | 9-11pm Eastern | Fixed, rarely flexible |
| Modern PSP (Stripe, Square) | Varies by region | Often configurable |
| Bank-based | 5-7pm local time | Aligned with banking day |
Always check your own processor's documentation. Missing the cutoff by a minute pushes funding back a full business day.
How Cutoff Affects Your Funding
| Scenario | Your Sale | Cutoff | Your Batch | Settlement | Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before cutoff | Mon 4pm | 5pm | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday |
| After cutoff | Mon 6pm | 5pm | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
| Friday late | Fri 8pm | 5pm (Mon) | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday |
| Weekend | Sat 2pm | 5pm (Mon) | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday |
Friday afternoon sales after cutoff don't settle until Tuesday, on Monday's batch. They fund Wednesday. That's 5 days from sale to deposit.
Setting Optimal Batch Time
| Business Type | Recommended Batch Time |
|---|---|
| Retail (closes 9pm) | 10pm (right after close) |
| Restaurant (closes 11pm) | Midnight or 1am |
| E-commerce (24/7) | Align with processor cutoff |
| B2B (business hours) | End of business day |
Auto-batch vs manual batch:
- Auto-batch: set it and forget it. Consistent timing.
- Manual batch: flexible, and open to human error.
Recommendation: use auto-batch. Go manual only if you have a real operational reason.
Weekend and Holiday Impact
Interbank settlement and funding don't move on weekends or bank holidays. So things pile up:
- Friday transactions batch Friday night, settle Monday, fund Tuesday or Wednesday.
- Saturday and Sunday transactions batch Monday night, settle Tuesday, fund Wednesday.
- Holiday weekend with 3 days off: transactions might not fund until Thursday.
Do $10,000/day in card sales and a holiday weekend delays $30,000+ of funding.
Bank Holiday Impact
| Holiday | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Federal Reserve holiday | No interbank settlement |
| Banking holiday | Deposits delayed |
| Network holiday | Clearing delayed |
Fed holidays (US): New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas.
Each holiday adds a day to your funding timeline.
Under $1K/day, settlement timing is academic. T+1 versus T+2 is one day's float on a small number. Don't pay extra for speed unless you have a real cash flow emergency. Published instant payout fees run 1% to 1.95%, and the table below has them.
When timing actually matters: when your daily volume sits close to your daily expenses. Deposit $2K/day against $1.5K/day of payroll and rent, and a one-day delay creates real pressure. See cash flow forecasting for planning around this.
Same-Day and Instant Funding
Most processors sell accelerated funding now:
| Funding Type | Timing | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | T+2 to T+3 | Included in normal fees |
| Next-day | T+1 | Often included, or small fee |
| Same-day | Same business day | Varies, not published by most processors |
| Instant | Minutes | 1% to 1.95%, see below |
Published Instant Payout Fees
Verified against each vendor's own page on 2026-08-02.
| Provider | Instant payout fee | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square | 1.95% per transfer | Funds move "24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a 1.95% fee per transfer". No minimum stated | squareup.com help centre |
| Stripe | 1.5% for US, AU, NZ, AE. 1% for CA, EU, UK, SG, NO, HK, MY | Minimum $0.50, maximum $9,999 per payout | docs.stripe.com |
| PayPal | Instant Transfer to bank 1.50%, $0.50 minimum. Standard Payout 2% capped at $1.00 | These are two different products, so check which one applies to you. The cap matters: Standard Payout never exceeds $1.00, while Instant Transfer keeps scaling | paypal.com |
| Braintree, Helcim, Stax, Shopify Payments, Adyen, Moneris, Clover, Toast, Lightspeed, Checkout.com | Not published | Ask before you rely on it | See processor comparison |
Two corrections. Square's fee is 1.95%, not 1.5%. That's the highest published instant payout rate on this list. And Stripe's US rate is 1.5%, not 1%. The 1% figure is Stripe's Canadian rate, and it had been mislabelled as US across this site.
Watch the caps. PayPal's Standard Payout is 2% but stops at $1.00. Instant Transfer is 1.50% with no published cap. On a $1,000 movement, one costs $1.00 and the other costs $15.00. Stripe caps the fee indirectly, by capping the payout itself at $9,999. Square publishes no cap at all, so a $20,000 instant transfer costs $390.
Same-Day Requirements
- Batch before an early cutoff (often 10am-11am)
- Be in good standing with the processor
- Have a verified bank account with recent deposit history
- Meet minimum transaction amounts
When Instant Funding Makes Sense
Good candidates:
- High-velocity businesses with tight cash flow
- Businesses with net-30 or net-60 supplier terms
- Event-based businesses (concerts, festivals)
- Businesses in cash-flow crunch
When it doesn't make sense:
- On a $100,000 day, Stripe's US fee of 1.5% is $1,500 and Square's 1.95% is $1,950. Is two days early worth that? Two days of float on $100,000 at an 8% cost of capital is about $44. You'd pay 35 to 45 times the value of the money you're accelerating.
- Instant funding is emergency cash at emergency prices. Using it every week? The problem is working capital, not settlement timing.
Push ACH Reconciliation
Paying out by push (ACH credit, same-day ACH, real-time payments)? Reconciliation gets harder than card settlement.
Why Push ACH is Different
| Card Settlement | Push ACH |
|---|---|
| Processor handles funds flow | You initiate outbound payments |
| Fees deducted automatically | Fees may be separate |
| One deposit = one batch | Each payout is separate |
| Chargebacks handled by processor | Returns come back to you |
Return Window Reality
ACH credit payouts and ACH debit collections have different return mechanics. Don't use consumer debit return windows for an outbound vendor credit. Ask your bank which return or recovery route applies.
For debit collections, use the consumer and business bank deadlines. Late returns and separate warranty claims can follow; there isn't one 60-day rule for every late return.
Push ACH Best Practices
- Track every payout uniquely. Assign an internal ID that maps to the ACH trace number.
- Build return matching logic. When returns arrive, match them to the original payout by trace number.
- Hold reserve against returns. On high-risk payouts, hold funds 3-5 business days before marking "complete."
- Reconcile daily. Payouts initiated versus debited, returns received versus original payouts.
- Flag stale unreconciled items. Any payout over 5 days old without confirmation needs a look.
ACH reconciliation is harder than card reconciliation. Moving from card-only to ACH payouts? Budget 2-3x the operational effort.
Look up
- Time Frames - Response deadlines