Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

wendyjophillips · ‎December 10, 2018

The letter says 2-7 days, yet I have not had a payment in less than 8 days! I just don't get that with all the online banking that can be done in 2!

AmyBivin · ‎March 11, 2020

Hi everyone,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback here. This community thread dates back to early 2018 and many things have changed since then. In the interest of ensuring that we are setting the proper expectations and addressing everyone’s concerns, we felt it was important to provide an updated response that reflects the current state of our payments processing options.

New QuickBooks Payments Customers?

Please note, if you are new to QuickBooks Payments, your initial batch (all the payments you process in a day get batched together) will be delayed up to 5 business days. Please refer to our article Find out when QuickBooks Payments deposits your money for more information on the payments process.

Current payments funding plans

If you are a current Intuit Payments customer, your funding times will fall under one of the following combinations, based on the product you are using:

*Credit Card Funding (in Business Days)**	&	ACH Funding (in Business Days)
1 (aka Next Business Day)	&	1 (aka Next Business Day)
1 (aka Next Business Day)	&	2 (in Two Business Days)
1 (aka Next Business Day)	&	5 (in Five Business Days)
2 (in Two Business Days)	&	2 (in Two Business Days)
2 (in Two Business Days)	&	5 (in Five Business Days)

*Business Days do not include Weekends or Federal Banking Holidays. For a list of U.S. Federal Banking holidays, visit the U.S. Federal Reserve site.

Note that QuickBooks Online with payments is currently the only product offering Faster Funding. QuickBooks Desktop with payments typically have 2 day funding for ACH and credit cards.

Banking impact on payments

There have been a lot of comments on banks and how they play into the funding times. All banks vary and we cannot guarantee that funding will be exactly the same for each. We are by no means blaming banks for the delays.

I’d like to share a personal experience to illustrate. I’ve worked for two companies over the past 15 years. When I started working for the first company, I had set up direct deposit for my paychecks with a major American bank. My husband and I had several bad experiences with them and decided to switch to a local credit union. Following that transition, my paycheck deposited a day and a half faster than it had before. At the second company, I had moved to a new state, but still chose to set up my direct deposited paycheck with the same credit union and part of my check was deposited into a pre-paid Visa account. My paycheck deposits to the credit union only a day faster now and a day and a half faster to the pre-paid Visa account. My point here is that the speed of payment varies as your combination of transmitting bank to receiving bank changes. There really is no way to control who your customers are banking with, so this is going to vary.

Current payments processing pricing

There have also been many questions regarding pricing. Below is a table that explains our current pricing structure. Please note, these are subject to change and the QuickBooks Payments pricing (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payments/pricing/) page is the best place to check for the most current rates.

	QuickBooks Online	QuickBooks Desktop Pay as you go plan	QuickBooks Desktop Pay monthly plan
ACH bank transfers	1% (max $10)	$3.00	$3.00
Card - Swiped	2.4% + 25¢	2.4% + 30¢	1.6% + 30¢
Card - Invoiced	2.9% + 25¢	3.5% + 30¢	3.3% + 30¢
Card - Keyed	3.4% + 25¢	3.5% + 30¢	3.3% + 30¢

How our rates compare

There have been several comments regarding price comparisons. Below is a table that highlights how our QuickBooks Online Payments pricing compares with two of our competitors.

	QuickBooks Online	Square*	PayPal*
ACH bank transfers	1% (max $10)	Not offered	2.9% + 30¢
Card - Swiped	2.4% + 25¢	2.6% + 10¢	2.7%
Card - Invoiced	2.9% + 25¢	2.9% + 30¢	2.9% + 30¢
Card - Keyed	3.4% + 25¢	3.5% + 15¢	3.5% + 15¢

*Rates are accurate as of September 24, 2019. Fee comparison excludes PayPal ACH for sending money to family and friends.

Next Business Day Funding eligibility

It is important to note that we have been on a very long journey, rolling out Next Business Day funding to our eligible customers in phases. Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for this. I know this may be frustrating, but please know that we take this very seriously. We consider many factors before making this determination. Please also note that Next Business Day funding is currently offered only to QuickBooks Online with payments.

Where are the ACH funds which are paid, but not yet deposited

It is important to remember that payments processing creates a certain level of risk. Those are risks that impact both you, the merchant, and QuickBooks. Unfortunately, a combination of consumers who submit incorrect bank information and individuals who are trying to commit fraud make it critical to build in processes that will mitigate that risk. Holding funds in a Reserve Account was one of those processes. Therefore, in the past, you may have noticed that while our ACH processing took longer than most other organizations, it was free and other organizations charged a fee. Both of these options are designed to mitigate or cover the risk.

We recognize, as a small business owner, that cash flow is crucial to your success. It is one of our top priorities to get you paid faster, and something that we are continuously working on. However, there is still the challenge of managing risk while delivering payments faster. This is part of how we arrived at the current Faster Funding model and fees.

Other delay factors

There are other things that could create delays in funding ACH payments. These include, but are not limited to: 1. The customer submitting incorrect ACH information, 2. The customer disputes/stops an ACH payment 3. The merchant makes changes to their bank account without notifying QuickBooks. 4. Credit card payments with issues that are part of the same batch as ACH payments.

When you are concerned about a payment delay, we recommend checking your payment status in the Merchant Service Center . Here you will find the current status of your payments according to the information which has been provided to QuickBooks.

Is Intuit making money/interest off of my held funds?

No. Intuit is not earning money off of these funds. As clearly stated in Section 13 of the merchant agreement, "unless expressly agreed in writing, the Reserve Account will not bear interest." Intuit did not and does not gain money by holding funds. Rather, this timing helped to mitigate risk. It’s important to note that we are held to the same banking standards as other financial institutions. We have a vested interest in following the law. Further, that is not who we are as a company.

Is QuickBooks Payments the best option for your business?

Given all the factors mentioned above, it really depends. I can offer a little guidance with regard to fees for QuickBooks Online with payments. (Desktop with payments ACH fees are a flat $3, regardless of transaction amount. See table above.)

If you are going to be processing ACH payments over $1000, here is a table that shows what that looks like with 3 payments processors:

ACH bank transfers over $1000
*Payment Amount*	*QBO Fee*	*Square Fee*	*PayPal Fee*
$1,000.00	$ 10.00	Not Offered	$ 29.30
$1,100.00	$ 10.00	Not Offered	$ 32.20
$1,200.00	$ 10.00	Not Offered	$ 35.10
$1,300.00	$ 10.00	Not Offered	$ 38.00
$1,400.00	$ 10.00	Not Offered	$ 40.90
$1,500.00	$ 10.00	Not Offered	$ 43.80

If you are going to be processing ACH payments for under $100, here is a table that shows what that looks like with 3 payments processors:

ACH bank transfers under $100
*Payment Amount*	*QBO Fee*	*Square Fee*	*PayPal Fee*
$ 10.00	$ 0.10	Not Offered	$ 0.59
$ 20.00	$ 0.20	Not Offered	$ 0.88
$ 30.00	$ 0.30	Not Offered	$ 1.17
$ 40.00	$ 0.40	Not Offered	$ 1.46
$ 50.00	$ 0.50	Not Offered	$ 1.75
$ 60.00	$ 0.60	Not Offered	$ 2.04
$ 70.00	$ 0.70	Not Offered	$ 2.33
$ 80.00	$ 0.80	Not Offered	$ 2.62
$ 90.00	$ 0.90	Not Offered	$ 2.91
$ 100.00	$ 1.00	Not Offered	$ 3.20

Thank you for your contributions and your time on this thread. We hope that you are able to find the best payments solution for your business and we value your feedback.

View solution in original post

Anonymous · ‎December 10, 2018

Hi there, @wendyjophillips,

I can share some information on how long customer payments are deposited into your bank account.

Intuit batches and submits your credit card payments daily at 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time or 6:00 PM Eastern Time. Usually, funds reach the deposit bank account within 2-3 business days. The waiting period, however, varies depending on the following scenarios:

The time when you enter these transactions.
The financial institution to deposit the funds.
Bank policies for verifying and processing electronic deposits.

The approximate wait time for credit card payments to be transferred to your bank would take 5-7 banking days, while ACH deposits may take 7-10 business days. If you haven't received the funds on the alloted time, I'd recommend getting in touch with our QuickBooks Payments Support so they can help check the status of your deposits.

Please let me know how this goes, @wendyjophillips. I want to ensure everything's figured out on your end.

wendyjophillips · ‎December 11, 2018

Thank you so much for your response! I understand how that works.

I move money frequently for my customers and just found QB's to be a little behind the ball needing the full 7-10 day window - I see it move faster for others.

But again - thank you for such a prompt and complete response!!

vpcontroller · ‎December 11, 2018

The bottom line is as QuickBooks Team said QuickBooks Payments usually takes:

- 5-7 business days for credit cards
- 7-10 business days for ACH deposits

This is when you should expect to see it on your Banking > For Review tab.

You will need to decide whether the QuickBooks Payments Merchant Service is the right choice for your business.

srawan · ‎January 11, 2019

@Anonymous

I work in banking and we are using QB for our invoicing. Having built ACH systems for both domestic and international transfers, your response is misleading at best or wrong at worst.

A) the domestic ACH transfers in US is within 24 hours if a transaction is initiated prior to the processing window which happens to be Eastern Standard Time

B) given that there is a multi party transaction where funds are first withdrawn from the "funding account" then wired to Intuit, subsequently these should be prioritized for a wire to the target "beneficiary" account. If you are generous, these should be completed within 72 hours max.

If Intuit is using the funds for "overnight rates" income, that is fine but it should be disclosed. With the current delays at least my company may chose to move to an alternative solution. Thanks.

MaryGraceS · ‎January 11, 2019

Hi there, @srawan.

Thank you for posting in the Community. I'd be happy to help get this taken care of today.

We want to hear your suggestions on how we can improve Merchant Services. This is, however, a great idea and I'll send this suggestion to our Product Developers to see if they can add this for future updates.

Also, I'm inviting you to introduce this idea to our Product Development team. Sending your feedback will help us not only improve the product, but also will help us know what works best for you. Please click the Gear icon and select Feedback to let them know.

If you need to reach out for more help, our Merchant Support will be able to help you get to a resolution quickly.

That should do it. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any other questions about QuickBooks Payments. I'd be happy to help you out. Have a great day!

lauriedtriano · ‎January 11, 2019

I am seeing about 10 days on ACH, no other banking organization out there takes this long, averages 2-3 days and even PayPal payments are faster than this. Quickbooks really needs to improve upon this, feels like you are using US as the bank.

vpcontroller · ‎January 12, 2019

Since this probably involves Intuit QuickBooks management's POLICY decision, sending any suggestion to wonderful Intuit Product Developers will not help. Intuit will need to revise this ACH deposit policy. For now, we know it takes 7-10 business days for ACH deposit to show up in QBO bank feed.

StuckWithQ Books · ‎February 05, 2019

There is no reason an ACH should ever take 7 or 10 business days.

Given the quick speed of an ACH "in the real world" it can be assumed with a fair bit of confidence that Intuit, Stripe, or some combination of the two, is investing the cash for "overnight rates" as another poster has stated.

They'd rather collect the 3% on CC payments so there is little incentive to move the ACH money with speed (other than just being a good, ethical business that treats customers fairly).

Just one more way that Intuit wears their disdain for their customers on their sleeve, so to speak.

AldrinS · ‎February 05, 2019

Greetings, StuckWithQ Books.

First and foremost, I want you to know that your voice matters. I can see how having a more flexible policy for receiving ACH payments would be beneficial for you and others.

This isn't the impression that I'd like for you to be left with. The updates and changes that we implement are largely the results of the feedback provided by users, just like yourself. That said, I'm making it my top priority that your feedback reaches our Product Development Team. After all, enhancements and improvements to QuickBooks Policies are largely the results of feedback provided by users.

Please touch base with me here in the Community if there's any way I can help with your success. I'll be here to help you out!

vpcontroller · ‎February 06, 2019

Old QuickBooks ACH payment merchant service often clear in 1-3 days, never more than 5 days. They charge 50 cents fee per transaction. I still have that merchant service for years.
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/blog/whats-new/process-ach-bank-transfers-right-in-quickbooks/

They later came out with this new QuickBooks Payments. It's Free per transaction but it takes 7-10 business days to show up in your bank feed.

I agree with others it should not ever take that long. It's a bad policy, indeed.

Good to hear Intuit's Product Development Team can put this on their top priority and change the merchant rules!

mikey178 · ‎February 10, 2019

Thanks for bringing that up. It is about 8 days to get an ACH invoice payment into my bank account. I'll just go back to accepting checks only. Ridiculous that its 2019 and they're hanging onto the money for multiple overnight rates.

Dreamten · ‎February 20, 2019

Wow I guess this is not just happening to me. 8 days later and money still hasn't been deposited. Intuit is definitely earning interest on our deposits. Pretty shady, but what I've come to expect from the company.

Malcolm Ziman · ‎February 20, 2019

I got an email last week saying if you sign up for a 1% fee plan, it's next day

vpcontroller · ‎February 20, 2019

I also received this email a few days ago. I've no other info, sorry. Call them directly for more information if interested.

Talks about Next Day Deposits for Bank Transfer (ACH) Payments. There is a minimal fee of 1% (max $10) per transaction.

emile166 · ‎February 23, 2019

I too have experienced ridiculously long wait times for electronic check deposits. Every other method I've used for transferring money, even Venmo, is far faster than Quickbooks, usually only taking 1-2 days to deposit funds. Right now I'm waiting on a deposit that from an invoice that was paid on Feb. 13th (now it's the 23rd). There's no reason for it to take that long, come on QB! No one else is this slow. The program is great but what could be argued as one of the primary functions, i.e. MONEY TRANSACTIONS, is horrible and enough to make me look for alternatives.

Malcolm Ziman · ‎February 23, 2019

@emile166 wrote:

Every other method I've used for transferring money, even Venmo, is far faster than Quickbooks, usually only taking 1-2 days to deposit funds.

How much is Venmo?

jcfd557 · ‎February 27, 2019

QB is sitting on these payments and earning money off of it. Taking advantage of small businesses is flat out greed on Quickbooks part. And when you press them for an answer, all the will say is "that's our policy".

JanyRoseB · ‎February 27, 2019

Thanks for joining this thread, @jcfd557.

Finding new ways to adapt to our customers’ needs is how QuickBooks gets even better. I can see how the updates and changes that we implement in QuickBooks payments can affect your business. I'm preparing a feedback submission directly to our Product Development Team right now. They place a lot of value in the ideas provided by users, like yourself, when deciding on how best to improve QuickBooks.

Please know that you're always welcome to post if you have any other concerns. The Community team will always here to help.

scowlingfrog · ‎March 13, 2019

So it appears that QB is completely capable of offering next day ACH, they just want to charge you for it. 1% doesn't seem like much, but it's probably a lot more than they make just sitting on it and collecting interest for a few days. I predict the "free" ACH transfers start taking longer and longer to push us towards paying to get our money. I don't pay a subscription fee just to have QB take a cut of my income as well. When you take advantage of your customers, they leave... See ya QB!

JNG204 · ‎March 21, 2019

I just signed up with Quickbooks Online Plus and received our first payment of $10,000+ on March 15th. I finally received an email with the subject line “Your money is on the way”. This took 6 days. Now the email also states the funds should be available in 1 to 2 business days. Are you kidding me!!! The funds have been on the way since they made the payment....6 days ago!!!

If I knew QuickBooks Online Plus with a $60 monthly fee is this slow I would have gone with another company. SlowBooks is more like it. Thank goodness I didn’t sign up for their other offerings like paying employees. I’m sticking with ADP after this horrific experience.

Now I’m reading they can process ACH payments next day but they charge a 1% fee. This should be standard. I’m already paying you a monthly fee with an ACH payment service you state as free but you don’t state you hold on to the funds for over 1 week. The reasons you list are not valid. Just process the transaction with next day deposit speed and maybe you’ll beat out your competition and those customers will switch to you vs the other way around.

Plese fix this ACH process soon or l’ll be forced to use another service. I as well as others need our deposits within a day or 2 so we can run our business efficiently

JamesDuanT · ‎March 21, 2019

I appreciate you for joining in on the thread, JNG204.

The credit card payments take 1-2 business days to deposit to your bank, while bank transfer payments (ACH) take 2-7 business days. The deposit date would depend on when your bank approves the transactions. Additional details are also added in this article: QuickBooks Payments Deposits FAQ.

Meanwhile, you can track your transactions through the Merchant Service Center:

Log in to your Merchant Service account.
Click Activity & Reports and select Deposits.
Use the Date fields to filter the data.

You might also want to reach out to our Payments Support Team if you need more assistance with this.

I'd let our engineers know about your feedback on the processing time, JNG204. This would help us know what to improve with the product.

You can always reach out to us if you need anything else.

JamesDuanT · ‎March 21, 2019

I appreciate you for joining in on the thread, JNG204.

The credit card payments take 1-2 business days to deposit to your bank, while bank transfer payments (ACH) take 2-7 business days. The deposit date would depend on when your bank approves the transactions. Additional details are also added in this article: QuickBooks Payments Deposits FAQ.

Meanwhile, you can track your transactions through the Merchant Service Center:

Log in to your Merchant Service account.
Click Activity & Reports and select Deposits.
Use the Date fields to filter the data.

You might also want to reach out to our Payments Support Team if you need more assistance with this.

I'd let our engineers know about your feedback on the processing time, JNG204. This would help us know what to improve with the product.

You can always reach out to us if you need anything else.

Steven L · ‎March 25, 2019

How could this "be the right solution" for ANY business? In this day and age where electronic banking transactions can happen same-day, there is absolutely no excuse other than Quickbooks sitting on the funds for profit. Any other answer is total B.S. Seriously, I can receive a check cross-country via the mail, deposit it and still have my funds available faster. Totally unacceptable!!!!!

Anonymous · ‎March 25, 2019

i purposely used this option thinking it would be faster than sending a check through my clients' banks' billpay option. it had been so in the past.

not so this time.

i can't help thinking this slower pace has everything to do with their new 1% / transaction offering.

really gross.

really really disappointing.

Topics

Training

Community

Resources

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?