Overview
When your tenants make online payments, you don't instantly receive this money in your bank account. There's an ePay Funding Cycle that all online payments go through. Depending on how your tenant pays, the cycle varies in length. We explain the different cycles below.
Note: The information below is for United States-based payments and bank accounts using ACH or Credit Cards. See The ePay Funding Cycle for Online Tenant Payments (Canada) for Canadian payments.
Tenant ACH / Credit Card Payments
When your tenants pay via ACH (eCheck) and Credit Cards, their payments can be deposited as quickly as 3 business days to your account, after the day the payment was received.
For example:
If a payment was made on a Monday before 2pm (EST), it will be deposited in your bank as early as Thursday.
If the payment was made Monday after 2pm (EST), you'll see it deposited in your account on Friday.
If the payment is made on a Friday after 2pm (EST), or on the weekend, it won't process until the next business day, which would be Monday.
If there's a federal holiday at any time during the week, it adds an extra day to the time estimate.
Why do ePays take 3 business days (T+3) to deposit into your bank account?
DoorLoop partners with Stripe to provide you with the most reliable and fastest payment processing available.
DoorLoop protects you by making sure customers verify their bank account information, preventing fraud at no additional cost to you.
DoorLoop funds payments at T+3: this means that you will receive funds in your account for payments made before 2pm on a business day, 3 business days later. (Monday payment, Thursday bank deposit)
DoorLoop uses a 2-day hold pattern to give banks sufficient time to notify of insufficient funds which will result in a returned payment.
Our customers can be confident that once funds are deposited in their account, it means the payment has cleared the tenant’s bank account and will not be returned due to insufficient funds, invalid account numbers, etc.
Payments can only be returned if they are disputed by the tenant’s credit card company or bank.
This is the fastest way to fund an ACH payment while making sure a payment will not need to be “clawed back” or pulled back from the landlord/property manager’s account unless a customer disputes the payment.
Tenant Reversed Payments
There are many reasons why ACH payments might fail, but the most common is insufficient funds. When your tenant has a reversed ACH payment, DoorLoop handles all the necessary accounting. DoorLoop also automatically adds the appropriate returned payment fees as charges to your tenant's lease for them to pay with their next successful payment.
If you want to review reversed payments and how they affect your deposits from our payment processor, go to Reports and click the Deposit Transactions report in the Accounting section. Click the line item for the deposit, and it shows exactly what made up that deposit, including reversed payments.
If you want to see why your tenant's payment was reversed, click the Reversed Payment report in the Who Owes You section. (You can filter by ePay only to see just online reversed payments and exclude reversed payments you recorded manually.) In the Notes column of this report, you'll see the reason for the return as reported by our payment processor.
Note: ACH Payment Return Codes are generated by the tenant's bank. If a tenant has any issues or concerns about a returned payment, they should first contact their bank and ask why the payment was returned. DoorLoop isn't responsible for any return payment fees a tenant may incur from these returns.
Factors Affecting Payment Processing
1. Security Checks for First-Time Payments
First-time payments often take longer due to additional security checks. These checks may include verifying your identity, address, or the source of funds. Such measures are designed to prevent fraud and ensure the legitimacy of the transaction. This process can add a few extra days to the timeline.
2. Bank Processing Times
ACH payments follow a T+3 funding cycle, meaning deposits typically occur within three business days after the payment is initiated. For example:
Payments made before 2:00 PM EST on a business day may deposit as early as the third business day.
Payments made after the cutoff time or on weekends/holidays will start processing on the next business day.
3. Recipient Actions
If the recipient needs to take action, such as accepting the payment or entering account details, this can delay the process. For recurring payments, this step is often skipped, speeding up the timeline.
4. Risk Holds and Verification
To minimize the risk of returns or chargebacks, banks may place a temporary hold on funds. This allows time to verify that the payer has sufficient funds and that there are no issues with the account.
5. Weekends and Holidays
Banking systems do not process payments on weekends or federal holidays. For example, a payment made on a Friday evening will not begin processing until Monday. Similarly, a holiday during the week can add an extra business day to the timeline.
FAQ
How do I see that status and details of an ePay deposit?
You can check the ePay Deposits Report to review your online payments. Use these instructions to learn more!