Why is my settlement late?

2 min read

Quick answer #

Most “late” settlements turn out to be one of four things: the transaction happened after the 14:00 SAST cut-off (settles next business day), the transaction landed on a weekend or public holiday, your bank account verification is still pending, or your business is on a new-merchant 24-hour hold. The settlement status in your dashboard tells you which case applies. Genuine Pay@ Gateway-side delays are rare and we post about them on our status page when they happen.

Step 1 — Check the status of the transaction #

In your merchant dashboard, find the transaction in question. The status tells you most of what you need to know:

“Settled” — the funds are with your bank. If they’re not in your account, the issue is on your bank’s side. See Step 5.
“Settling” — the funds are in the clearing process. They’ll arrive by end of day.
“Pending settlement” — the transaction is captured but hasn’t entered the settlement batch yet. Check the timing — see Step 2.
“Held” — the transaction has been flagged for review. See Step 4.
“Failed settlement” — rare. The settlement attempt failed and we’ll retry automatically. Contact support if this status persists more than 24 hours.

Step 2 — Check the timing #

Pay@ Gateway settles same-day on transactions captured before 14:00 SAST on a business day. Anything after 14:00 settles the next business day.

Common timing scenarios:

Transaction at 13:55 Monday → settled Monday evening
Transaction at 14:05 Monday → settled Tuesday evening
Transaction at 16:00 Friday → settled Monday evening (Sat/Sun don’t settle)
Transaction Tuesday on a public holiday → settled next business day

If your transaction was after the cut-off or on a non-business day, it’s not late — it’s on schedule.

Step 3 — Check the day’s settlement batch #

Settlements are sent as a single batch per merchant per day, not one deposit per transaction. The daily settlement email lists every transaction included in that day’s batch. If you can see the transaction in the email, the funds were sent.

If the email arrived but your bank shows no deposit, the issue is at your bank — see Step 5.

Step 4 — Check for new-merchant holds #

In your first 7 days of trading with Pay@ Gateway, transactions are held for 24 hours before settlement. This is a fraud-prevention measure that all new merchants go through. The settlements still happen — they just shift by one day.

After day 7, the hold automatically lifts and settlements return to same-day.

A small number of merchants get held for longer than 7 days for risk-related reasons. If your dashboard shows “Held — extended review”, contact our risk team — they’ll explain the specific reason and what’s needed to clear the hold.

Step 5 — Common reasons your bank hasn’t received the funds #

If Pay@ Gateway shows “Settled” but the money isn’t in your account, check:

[PH-023]

Most of these resolve themselves within 24 hours of the Pay@ Gateway-side settlement.

Step 6 — When to contact support #

Most settlement timing questions resolve at Step 2 or Step 5 without needing support. Reach out to us if:

A transaction has been “Pending settlement” for more than 36 hours
Your dashboard shows “Settled” but no deposit has arrived within 48 hours
You’re seeing a pattern of late settlements (more than once a week)
Your business is on an “Extended review” hold and you don’t know why

When you contact us, include the transaction reference numbers and the date range you’re querying. We can trace each transaction through the settlement system and tell you exactly where it is.

The status page #

If there’s a Pay@ Gateway-side settlement issue affecting multiple merchants — for example, a clearing-bank delay or a system maintenance window — we post about it on our status page at [PH-035]. Subscribe to status updates by email to be notified the moment anything changes.