> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vestrapay.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Settlements > How collected money is grouped into payouts, when it is due, where it goes, and how to read your settlements in the merchant dashboard. Collecting a payment and receiving the money are separate events. A customer pays and you see a successful payment straight away. The money is then gathered with other payments, divided according to your splits, and paid out on your settlement schedule. This page explains that second stage from a merchant's point of view, and shows you where to follow it in the dashboard. ## From payment to payout **1. The payment succeeds** The customer pays and the payment reaches `success`. Vestrapay now records where each part of the amount belongs. **2. The amount is allocated** Each service named in the payment's [distribution](https://docs.vestrapay.com/services/distribution.md) is divided among its sub-accounts by its [split shares](https://docs.vestrapay.com/services/splits.md). Everything you did not allocate belongs to your [primary settlement account](https://docs.vestrapay.com/settlements/settlement-account.md). A payment with no distribution belongs entirely to the primary account. **3. A settlement date is set** Each allocation is given a due date, based on your settlement cycle. It is due at 00:00 West Africa Time on the settlement day, so everything collected on one day is settled together. **4. A settlement is formed** Collections that have reached their due date are grouped into a settlement, with a reference that starts with SETT. It lists every destination account it will pay. **5. The money is paid out** Vestrapay pays each destination account. Legs that need manual settlement are paid and confirmed by Vestrapay's operations team instead. ## Settlement cycle Your settlement cycle sets how long after collection the money is due. The usual cycles are **T+1**, **T+2** and **T+3**, meaning one, two or three days after the day of collection. The cycle that applies to your account is shown on each settlement. The cycle applies to the whole account. You cannot set a different one per payment. To change it, contact [tech@vestrapay.com](mailto:tech@vestrapay.com). ## Who receives what | Money | Destination | | - | - | | The part of a payment you allocated to a service | The sub-accounts on that service's splits, in proportion to their shares | | The part you did not allocate, and any share not claimed | Your primary settlement account | | A share whose sub-account could not be credited when the payment succeeded | Your primary settlement account | | Fees borne by you | Deducted before settlement | The sums for a single payment are visible on [verify](https://docs.vestrapay.com/payments/verify.md), and the combined result across payments is visible on the settlement. ### Who bears the fee The fee bearer, set in your payment settings or per payment, changes what is settled. | Fee bearer | The customer pays | What settles | | - | - | - | | Customer | The amount plus the fee | The full amount. The fee is collected on top and booked separately. | | Merchant | Exactly the amount | The amount less the fee. | When you bear the fee and allocate almost all of a payment to services, the service legs are scaled down proportionally so that the fee can still be deducted. See [Distribution](https://docs.vestrapay.com/services/distribution.md#fees-and-who-bears-them). ## Automatic and manual settlement Most destinations are paid automatically to their bank account. A split can instead be set to **Requires manual settlement (TSA)**, with a 10-digit destination account, as described in [Splits](https://docs.vestrapay.com/services/splits.md#manual-settlement-and-treasury-single-accounts). Use it where the payout goes through a process outside the normal bank rails, such as a Treasury Single Account. For these splits: * The destination bank is shown as CBN, and the account number as **TSA** in every merchant-facing view and export. The real number is not shown. * Vestrapay confirms receipt after the payout. The settlement is shown as completed once it has been paid, whether automatically or manually. ## Settlement statuses A settlement as a whole moves through these stages. | Status | Meaning | | - | - | | Pending | The settlement has been formed and is awaiting payout. | | Processing | Payout has started and is in flight. | | Completed | The money has left. This is the default view. | | Failed | Payout failed. Vestrapay retries failed legs, and the settlement stays visible so that you can follow up. | A single settlement can pay several accounts, so one leg may fail while others succeed. A failed leg is retried automatically up to three times, at intervals that lengthen each time. If it still fails, contact [tech@vestrapay.com](mailto:tech@vestrapay.com) with the settlement reference. ## Read your settlements in the dashboard Open **Payments → Settlements** to see them. The page has two tabs: * **Completed**, for settlements that have been paid out. This is the tab you reconcile against your bank statement. * **Pending**, for settlements that have not yet been paid out. The page also shows your **Primary Settlement Account** card. Where your role permits, you can open **Update** from that card to change the account. See [Settlement account](https://docs.vestrapay.com/settlements/settlement-account.md). Your team role needs read access to **Settlements** to see the page. ### Find a settlement Use the filters on the page to narrow the list, for example by date range, and use search to find a settlement by its reference. The reference starts with SETT, and it is the one to quote when you contact support. ### Open a settlement Select a settlement to open its detail. It shows the status and totals, the accounts it pays, and a **Transaction Log** of the collections that funded it. Use the log to trace a payout back to individual payments by their reference. | What you see | Meaning | | - | - | | Reference | The human-readable settlement reference, starting with SETT. | | Payout date | When the payout was pushed. For a settlement that has not been paid yet, the date it was formed. | | Gross amount | What was collected, before any fee you bear. | | Net amount | What is paid out. | | Destination accounts | Every account it pays. | | Transaction Log | The collections included in this settlement. | ### Export Choose **Export** to download a CSV for reconciliation. Narrow the filters first, because an export is capped at 10,000 rows. The file shows the account number of any manual or TSA destination as TSA. ## What partners see If you have granted [partner access](https://docs.vestrapay.com/partners/overview.md), partners see settlements through their own dashboard. They see only the settlements that paid one of the splits you granted them, one row for each of their own bank accounts, with amounts determined by the view you chose for them. Money paid to other accounts is never added in and is never shown. They have no access to your settlements list, your balance or your primary account. ## Reconciling * **Match on the reference.** Your payment's reference ties a verify response, a webhook and a ledger line together. The settlement reference ties a payout to your bank statement. * **Compare totals, not just counts.** A settlement's gross amount, less fees you bear, should equal the net amount. * **Watch for fallbacks.** Any [FALLBACK entry on verify](https://docs.vestrapay.com/payments/verify.md#splits-on-verify) means a share went to your primary account instead of the sub-account you intended. * **Allow for the cycle.** A payment collected today is not expected in a settlement until its due date. ## Next [Review or change your primary settlement account](https://docs.vestrapay.com/settlements/settlement-account.md). This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.