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Card class: Non-Hero • Category: Payment Gateway

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At a glance

Days since the oldest pending Authorize.Net capture that has not yet been acquirer-funded. The “stuck money” signal: anything older than typical acquirer settlement window (5 days) is a problem.
What it countsMAX(today - capture_date) where the capture has not been acquirer-deposited.
Healthy<2 days. Mid-warning: 2 to 5 days. Critical: >5 days (acquirer-side issue).
Reserve effectReserve-held funds excluded; the card represents in-flight not in-reserve.
eCheck.Net (ACH)Tracked separately; ACH lag is structurally longer (3 to 5 business days).
Holiday adjustmentFederal Reserve holidays push the threshold by 1 day.
Alert trigger>5 days.
Sentiment keygauge_inverse: good<=2, warn>5
Rolesowner, finance

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Calculation

Calculated automatically from your Authorize.net data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

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Worked example

“Heartland Hardware Co.”, check at end of day 02 May 26.
Capture dateMethodAmountDays sinceStatus
30 Apr 26VisaUSD 1,8402Funded 02 May 26
01 May 26VisaUSD 4121Pending T+1
02 May 26VisaUSD 88,2000Pending T+1
28 Apr 26eCheckUSD 4,8004Pending NACHA
24 Apr 26VisaUSD 1,2008STUCK, alert
The 24 Apr 26 capture at 8 days is the alert. Investigate: chargeback hold, FDS reserve, acquirer reconciliation issue. Contact Elavon merchant services with the transaction ID.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

CardWhy pair it
aut_avg_settlement_daysAverage settlement; this card flags outliers.
aut_payouts_pendingTotal pending dollar balance.
aut_dispute_rateStuck funds often indicate dispute holds.

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look: Authorize.Net Dashboard → Reports → Settled Transactions sorted by capture date ascending; the top row is the oldest unfunded. Cross-check against the acquirer’s funding statement. Why our number may differ:
ReasonDirectionWhy
Reserve withholdingTheirs counted, ours excludedWe exclude reserve-held funds from “pending”; Dashboard may show them.
Time zoneBoundary days offPacific batch cut-off vs UTC.

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

My oldest payout shows 8 days, what to do? Investigate immediately. Common causes: (1) chargeback hold (the funds are held during dispute), (2) FDS reserve trigger (an automated risk-rule held the batch), (3) acquirer reconciliation issue (rare). Call the acquirer with the specific transaction ID. Reserve-held funds, do they show here? No. Reserve is acquirer-policy-driven (typically 5 to 10% rolling reserve held 90 days for newer or higher-risk merchants); excluded from this card. Same-day funding, does it remove this card’s relevance? No. Even with same-day funding, occasional captures can stick (chargeback holds, FDS triggers). The card flags exceptions to the normal flow. eCheck.Net always 3 to 5 days, normal? Yes. NACHA standard ACH. The card’s threshold for ACH is the structural 5 days; alert only fires above 7. Acquirer reconciliation issue, frequency? Rare on major acquirers (Elavon, Vantiv, Fiserv). Usually corrects itself within 1 to 2 business days. Persistent issues (>5 business days) require manual reconciliation with the acquirer.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Oldest Pending Payout (days) is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Authorize.net and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.