Understanding Payments: Statuses, Notes and Payment Methods

When an invoice is paid through Vantaca Vendor, Vantaca shows the step the action item is on, and Vantaca Vendor posts notes to the XN as the money moves. This article explains how a payment travels from Vantaca to the vendor, what each step, status and note means, how the payment method is chosen, and where to find proof that a vendor was paid.

The single most important point: "Paid Invoice (API)" does not mean the vendor has been paid yet.

To stop, cancel, reissue or recover a payment, see Stopping, Reissuing and Returned Payments. For where things are on screen in the MC Dashboard, see Vantaca Vendor MC Dashboard Guide.

In this article

• How does a payment move, and how long does it take?
• What does "Paid Invoice (API)" mean?
• "Approved to send payment" vs. "has been paid"
• The payment is sitting in "Send Payment"
• What do the payment statuses in Transaction Monitor mean?
• What do the notes on the XN mean?
• Why does CMP say "Check" when the vendor was paid by ACH?
• How is the payment method decided, and when is it locked?
• Why was my vendor paid by check (or card) instead of ACH?
• The "Accelerate Future Payments" email and the 2-day window
• Invoices paid online with a virtual card (auto-pay)
• Can a virtual card be changed to check or ACH?
• Which banks work with Vantaca Vendor?
• How do I prove a vendor was paid?
• FAQ
• Related articles
• Need more help?

How does a payment move, and how long does it take?

The normal path for a payment after Vantaca hands the invoice to Vantaca Vendor:

1. Handoff. Vantaca sends the payment to Vantaca Vendor. Within about a minute, Vantaca Vendor creates the debit that will pull the funds from the association's bank account.
2. Bank approval. The debit is reviewed and approved before it is released to the banking network.
3. Debit settles. The funds are pulled from the association's account.
4. Clearing period. Standard ACH and check payments wait for the association's funds to clear before the payout is released or the check is printed.
5. Payout. The ACH is sent to the vendor's bank, or the check is sent to the printer and mailed.

Timing to quote:

Standard ACH, check and virtual card carry no Vantaca Vendor fee.

There is no grace period or "void window." The debit is created within about a minute of handoff, so if a payment shouldn't go out, act immediately. What can still be stopped depends on the method and how far along the payment is; see Stopping, Reissuing and Returned Payments.

What does "Paid Invoice (API)" mean?

The action item moves to Paid Invoice (API) when the association debit is submitted to the banking network. At that moment:

• funds are being pulled from the association's account, but
• the vendor has not been paid yet. The debit still has to settle and clear before the payout goes out.

Think of Paid Invoice (API) as "payment in progress," not "vendor paid."

The step is not moved back automatically if the payment is later stopped, fails or is returned. The notes on the XN always tell you where the payment actually is.

For checks: "Paid" (or "Completed", where shown) means the check has been queued for printing, not that it has been mailed, delivered or cashed.

"Approved to send payment" vs. "has been paid"

These look similar in Vantaca but mean opposite things:

• Has been paid / Paid Invoice (API): Vantaca Vendor picked the payment up and it is in the pipeline. Notes will follow.
• Approved to send payment: the item was stepped manually in Vantaca and never handed to Vantaca Vendor. Nothing will happen to it. The payment needs to be run through Vantaca's payment process again.

The payment is sitting in "Send Payment"

An invoice normally sits on Send Payment only briefly before the first note appears. If it stays there:

• Briefly, with no note yet: the debit may be waiting on approval. Give it a little time.
• Stuck with no note for a long time: fix it yourself. Step the action item back to Ready for Payment, then process it again through the Pay Invoices tab (Accounting → Pay Invoices). It must go through Pay Invoices; stepping it straight to Send Payment by hand does nothing.
• Still stuck after that, or stuck after the debit note has already posted: contact support.vendor@vantaca.com with the XN.

What do the payment statuses in Transaction Monitor mean?

Transaction Monitor in the MC Dashboard shows a status for each payment. For how to find and filter payments there, see Vantaca Vendor MC Dashboard Guide.

Not Deposited and Stale are check filters, not statuses; see "The check shows delivered, but the vendor doesn't have it" in Stopping, Reissuing and Returned Payments. What to do about a Failed or Returned payment is covered in the same article.

What do the notes on the XN mean?

Vantaca Vendor posts notes to the action item as things happen. The wording below is what you'll see.

ACH payments

Check payments

Virtual card payments

About check numbers: the number in the note is the bank's check number. It won't match a Vantaca check register unless your company has opted to use Vantaca numbering. A reissued check gets a new number under the same XN, so two check numbers on one XN do not mean two payments.

Why does CMP say "Check" when the vendor was paid by ACH?

Vantaca's CMP screen shows "Check" for every Vantaca Vendor payment, whatever the actual method. ACH transfers and virtual cards display as "Check" too. This is how Vantaca displays the Vendor Pay payment type; it is not the method used.

To see the real method, use either:

• The XN notes: "Credit transfer submitted…" is ACH, "Check sent to printer…" is a check, and "Virtual card ready…" is a card (see the tables above).
• Transaction Monitor in the MC Dashboard, which shows the payment method for each payment.

A check number is recorded only for real checks. If CMP says "Check" but there's no check number, it wasn't a check.

How is the payment method decided, and when is it locked?

Vantaca Vendor decides the payment method at the moment it picks the payment up from Vantaca, based on what is on file for the vendor at that moment:

• Vendor has onboarded to Vantaca Vendor: the vendor's own chosen payment method, and only the banking they entered and our team reviewed. ACH details typed into your Vantaca vendor record are ignored.
• Vendor has not onboarded: the details on your Vantaca vendor record. If you entered ACH details there, the vendor is paid by ACH to that account exactly as entered, without verification, so make sure they are genuinely the vendor's own. If there are no usable bank details, the payment falls back to a check mailed to the address on your record. For entering and managing these details, see Managing Vendors: Enrollment, Invitations and Vendor Details.

Any change made after pickup (bank details added in Vantaca, the vendor switching to ACH in their portal) applies to future payments. It does not change a payment already in progress. Where a vendor's change is approved before the payout is released, it may reach payments that haven't gone out yet, but don't count on it.

Changes a vendor makes to their payment details (bank account, check address, card email, payment method) are reviewed manually by the Vantaca Vendor team, usually within up to 2 business days. Until a change is approved, payments continue to the previously verified details. A switch between Standard and Same-Day ACH on the same account applies immediately.

Why was my vendor paid by check (or card) instead of ACH?

Work through these in order before requesting a reissue:

1. Was it really a check? Very often the payment was an ACH and only CMP says "Check" (see above). If the XN notes show an ACH trace number, the vendor was paid electronically; ask them to look for a deposit from the association's name marked "Vantaca Vendor Pay."
2. Vendor not onboarded: the bank fields on your Vantaca vendor record were empty or incomplete when the payment was picked up, so it fell back to a check.
3. Vendor onboarded: their own profile had no approved bank account at pickup time. For example, they onboarded but skipped the banking step, or a banking change was still under review. The vendor must add or confirm banking in their Vantaca Vendor portal; you can't do it for them.
4. Details changed after pickup: the method was already locked (see above).
5. Wrong vendor profile: if the same vendor exists twice in Vantaca (for example, once with banking and once without), the payment follows whichever record the invoice was coded to. Check the vendor on the invoice. To have duplicate profiles merged, contact support with both vendor names and the XN.

Why a virtual card? A payment goes out as a virtual card only when:

• the vendor chose Virtual Card as their payment method in their portal, or
• the vendor requested a method change (for example, in response to the intake email below) and it was approved, or
• Vantaca Vendor paid the vendor's online invoice link with a virtual card (see below).

Management companies can't select a virtual card on a vendor's behalf. If a vendor says they didn't ask for a card, have them check their payment preference in their portal; previous ACH payments don't prevent a later switch.

Want it reissued as ACH? If the payment genuinely went out as a check that hasn't been deposited, support can sometimes stop it and re-send it electronically, provided ACH is possible: for a vendor not onboarded, correct bank details on your Vantaca record; for an onboarded vendor, approved banking in their portal. Contact support with the XN. Otherwise the change applies to the next payment. If the check has already been deposited, there is nothing to reissue; the vendor has been paid. For the full stop-and-reissue process, see Stopping, Reissuing and Returned Payments.

The "Accelerate Future Payments" email and the 2-day window

When a payment is picked up for a vendor who has onboarded and is paid by check or standard ACH, the vendor receives a "💰 Payment Received - Accelerate Future Payments" email. It gives them 2 days to change their payment preference before the payment is processed. If the vendor doesn't act, the payment goes out by the method already on file.

This window is for the vendor's payment preference only. It is not a window for your company to cancel the payment.

Invoices paid online with a virtual card (auto-pay)

When a vendor's invoice includes an online payment link (for example, a QuickBooks "Pay invoice" link), Vantaca Vendor can pay that link with a single-use virtual card on the vendor's behalf, up to $100,000 per invoice. The vendor receives the payment through their own invoicing system and doesn't have to run a card.

When this happens:

• the XN notes show "Vendor Pay has paid this invoice online with a virtual card."
• if a check was pending for that payment, it is cancelled and the funds are used for the card payment. No refund goes back to the association, and nothing needs to be posted in Vantaca for it.

This is a management-company feature. It isn't described to vendors, so please don't point vendors to it.

Can a virtual card be changed to check or ACH?

Yes, but only while the card is unused. Support can cancel an unused card and either reissue the payment by check or ACH, or return the funds to the association. Once the card has been charged, the payment is complete. For how to request this, and why you must never resubmit the original XN, see Stopping, Reissuing and Returned Payments.

About the card itself: it is single use, for the exact invoice amount, and a charge that adds a surcharge will decline. The "View Card" link in the card-ready email opens the card without the vendor logging in.

Which banks work with Vantaca Vendor?

Any U.S. bank. Vantaca Vendor pulls funds from the association's operating account at whatever bank it is held, and pays vendors by ACH to any U.S. bank, or by check or virtual card. No integrated or partner bank is required, on the association's side or the vendor's.

How do I prove a vendor was paid?

• ACH trace number: posted in the XN notes ("Credit transfer submitted…").
• Check images: the front image is posted to the XN when the check is mailed, and front and back images when it is deposited.
• "Payment Deposited" email: sent to the vendor when an ACH settles, showing the trace number, net amount, any fee and the last four digits of the account it went to. It goes to the vendor's remittance email if they set one, otherwise their login email; the address used is shown in the settlement note.

Completed ACH, but the vendor says they weren't paid. A Completed ACH has already settled in the account on file. The money is not "in transit"; it went to an account the vendor isn't looking at, or to a wrong account.

• Ask the vendor to look for a deposit from the association's name (shortened to 16 characters on bank statements), described as "Vantaca Vendor Pay," rather than one from your management company or from Vantaca.
• Ask them to check the account ending in the last four digits shown in their "Payment Deposited" email.
• If the last four digits don't match any account the vendor holds, contact support with the XN straight away.

FAQ

The step says Paid Invoice (API) but the vendor says they weren't paid.
Check the notes. If the last note is "Debit transfer submitted…", the payout hasn't been released yet; allow 3–5 business days from handoff for standard ACH. If the last note is "The payment has settled with the vendor's bank", see "How do I prove a vendor was paid?" above.

CMP says "Check" but there's no check number.
Then it wasn't a check. Confirm the method in the XN notes.

I added ACH in Vantaca yesterday. Will today's payment use it?
If the vendor hasn't onboarded and the payment is picked up after you saved the details, yes. If the vendor has onboarded, no; only their own approved banking is used.

The vendor updated their banking. Why did the payment still go to the old account?
Changes are reviewed by our team, usually within up to 2 business days, and payments continue to the previously approved account until the change is approved.

Can I see the method before the payment goes out?
Yes. Transaction Monitor shows it as soon as the payment appears there. If it's wrong and the payment hasn't been released, contact support with the XN as quickly as possible.

Does the association or vendor need a specific bank?
No. Any U.S. bank works; see "Which banks work with Vantaca Vendor?" above.

Who gets emailed when a payment settles?
The vendor's remittance email if they set one, otherwise their login email.

Related articles

• Stopping, Reissuing and Returned Payments
• Vantaca Vendor MC Dashboard Guide
• Managing Vendors: Enrollment, Invitations and Vendor Details

Need more help?

Contact Vantaca Vendor support at support.vendor@vantaca.com with the XN and the vendor's name.