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Overview
Once you have completed onboarding Neon Pay (click this link for instructions: Neon Pay Signup and Merchant Application), you are ready to process charges! Depending on your Neon application and billing country, you may be able to process credit card, ACH, mobile wallet, and ACSS payment types. This guide will provide an overview of payment methods available in Neon Pay and how to monitor your charges in Neon Pay. For fee information, please reference the Fees section of the Neon Pay Glossary of Terms. For refund information, please reference the Refunds and Voids article.
We recommend periodically reviewing the status of charges in your system to familiarize yourself with common charge declines and timelines, and to better identify any potential issues and take action as needed.
Credit Card Charges
Neon Pay accepts all major credit cards for all merchants. The three main steps in the credit card payment process are Authorization, Capture, and Settlement. You can track an individual charge through these steps within Neon Pay on the charge detail page.
First, go to the Charges tab in the navigation bar. Then locate the charge you would like to investigate by searching for the constituent's name or using the filters to narrow down the table. Click on the Amount to reach the charge's charge detail page.
The charge detail page shows charge details, such as the merchant account the charge was made for, fees, and a timeline of the charge through any status changes.
Authorization
When a constituent uses their credit card in an application integrated with Neon Pay, an authorization request is generated by Neon Pay and sent to the constituent’s card network or card issuing bank. This request determines whether the referenced funds are available. If the card network or card issuing bank rejects the request, the charge will fail and you will see Declined in the Charge Alerts section of the charge detail page. Common decline reasons are Do Not Honor, Insufficient Funds, and Generic Decline, each of which mean that the cardholder's bank declined the charge.
Do Not Honor and Generic Decline often serve as a catchall for declines; you can typically find more information about why the charge was declined in the Detail column. Beyond the information supplied in the Detail column, additional information would need to be obtained by the constituent's bank.
In addition to the authorization request, Neon Pay verifies certain information about the charge such as address and CVV. This is done to minimize fraud attempts. When investigating why a charge may have failed, we recommend reviewing the results of these checks in the Charge Alerts section of the charge detail page.
The result of these checks determines whether a transaction is declined or approved. There are many reasons a charge may be declined; see this list for possible decline reasons. If you would like to investigate all Failed charges, you can do so via the Charge Report. Simply set the status filter to Failed and include the Decline Reason and Decline Detail in the output columns.
Capture
If the constituent's card company or bank verifies that the funds are available, and the charge passes Neon Pay's verification tests, the card company/bank places a hold on the funds. This hold, or capture, informs Neon Pay that the transaction is approved.
Most charges are processed in Neon Pay on a batch system. If the charge passes the Authorization check and proceeds to Capture, it will remain in Pending status until it is picked up by the batch. The batch runs once per day, typically in the afternoon.
If you find that all of your charges on a given day are Failed or Pending, it is most likely that the batch has not yet run. The Failed charges should have a decline reason as explained in the Authorization section above. The Pending charges should show "A charge was authorized" in the Timeline section, which indicates the charge will be captured once the batch is processed. We recommend checking the charges the next day, at which time they should have updated to Succeeded.
Settlement
The process of transferring funds from the constituent's credit or bank account to your merchant balance in Neon Pay is called settlement. This is done after the charge has been captured and moved to Succeeded status. Once a transaction settles, the funds are available in your Neon Pay account and reflected in your balance. Credit card charges typically settle within a few business days. The charge must be settled in order to be included in a Payout; if a Succeeded charge was not included in a particular payout, then that means it did not settle before that payout was batched.
Mobile Wallets
Neon Pay offers Apple Pay and Google Pay for both US and non-US based merchants. The donor-covered fees feature is still available for both of these payment methods, and constituents can still create recurring charges with these methods.
Apple Pay is only available on the Safari web browser and on iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. View a full list of compatible Apple devices here.
Google Pay is only available on the Chrome web browser and on Android devices. Google Pay is not available on Safari or iOS devices. More information on Google Pay’s device compatibility can be found here.
To review Apple and Google Pay charges, use the Source filter on the Charges table or the Charge Report.
ACH Charges
Automated Clearing House (ACH) charges are a payment method between US banks and credit unions. Only US-based Neon Pay merchants can process ACH charges. The ACH network only operates on business days, and ACH settlement typically takes longer than credit card settlement.
NACHA Regulations
All ACH charges processed by Neon Pay satisfy the National Automated Clearing House Association's (NACHA) regulatory rules. NACHA regulations require that bank accounts are verified before ACH charges are processed. Depending on your backend processor, this verification may occur during or after the constituent completes the checkout form.
If the verification occurs after the form is complete and the information is not satisfactory, then the constituent will receive an email explaining that the charge could not be processed. To review ACH charges that fail due to NACHA regulations, check the charge detail page in Neon Pay under the Charge Alerts section for a decline detail of "invalid account or routing number (GIACT BLOCK)".
If the verification occurs during the checkout process before the form is submitted and the information is not satisfactory, then the ACH charge will not appear in Neon Pay.
Settlement
ACH charges will typically take 1-5 business days to process and an additional 2-7 business days to settle. ACH fees will not appear under the fees section until the charge settles. ACH charges, like credit card charges, will not be included in a payout until they have settled.
ACSS Charges
Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS) charges are a payment method between Canadian institutions. ACSS charges are only available to Canada-based merchants. All ACSS charges processed by Neon Pay are pre-authorized debits (PADs), which means they are authorized during the checkout process before the constituent submits the form. Before the ACSS charge is created, the constituent must agree to a mandate defining the payment schedule or terms.
ACSS charges are a delayed notification payment method, which means it can take up to 5 business days after the charge is initiated for it to move to Succeeded or Failed status. Settlement will take an additional 1-5 days. Most ACSS charges will be ready for payout in 5-7 business days.
Currencies
All US-based merchants will process all payment methods in USD. This includes all associated fees.
All Canada-based merchants will process all payment methods in CAD. This includes all associated fees.
Charges FAQ
Is there a maximum transaction amount?
The maximum transaction amount is $107,000.
How do I look up a charge?
Navigate to Charges and Search by Customer. For line items like fees, adjustments, payouts, and more, navigate to the Balance tab.
How will my charges appear on my constituents’ statements?
On the Merchant Application, you can set the statement descriptor, which Neon Pay sends to the constituent’s issuing bank. Ultimately, the bank decides what appears on the constituent’s statement, but in most cases it will show either “PY*[your entered statement descriptor]”. Your descriptor should reflect your organization in order to minimize the chance of disputes.
After your Merchant Application is approved, the statement descriptor can be changed for US clients by reaching out to Support. Clients with Canadian merchant accounts can change their descriptor directly in Neon Pay.
A constituent sees two charges on their statement instead of one. Is there a reason for this?
Before a constituent’s funds are captured by Neon Pay, an authorization request is generated and sent to the card network or issuing bank. An authorization request appears as a pending charge on their statement. When viewed next to the actual charge on a statement, authorization requests look like duplicate charges, however, they will drop off of the statement within 1-3 business days.