In this guide 6 sections
A payment service provider should review onboarding queues, settlement differences, refunds and holds, chargeback deadlines and merchant support volume every month. GullySystem builds this back office as a custom system around your existing gateway or processing partner. It does not move money or replace the processing engine.
Merchant onboarding queue
Count the merchant files in each stage: applied, documents awaited, under review, approved and rejected. The number that matters is how many sit in documents awaited.
Those files are waiting on the merchant, but they are also revenue you have not started. A weekly chase list, with the missing paper named, keeps the queue moving.
- Files by stage
- Papers still missing, by merchant
- Reviewer for each file
- Reasons given for rejection
Settlement against partner statements
Match what you settled to merchants with what the partner bank or processor paid you. Differences should be few, and each one should have a reason and an owner.
A difference that stays unexplained for a month tends to grow. Keep one list of open items by age, and review the oldest first.
Refunds, holds and rate exceptions
List refunds raised, refunds still pending and funds on hold, by merchant. A hold that nobody has reviewed is a merchant complaint waiting to be made.
Check settlements calculated at a rate other than the standard card, and confirm each exception was approved by a named person with an effective date.
- Refunds raised and pending
- Holds with a reason and an owner
- Merchants on a negotiated rate
- Rate changes with effective dates
Chargebacks and disputes
Every dispute comes with a response date set by the party that raised it. Sort the list by what is due soonest and keep the evidence on the same record.
At month end, look at disputes won, lost and expired without a response. The last group is process failure, and it is worth reading one by one.
Support volume and what it says
Group merchant questions by topic: settlement timing, refunds, statements and fees. A topic that keeps recurring points to something finance or product should fix.
If support cannot see held funds or the next settlement date, every query goes to finance. A shared merchant view removes that hop.
Monthly back-office review sheet
A single sheet holding five blocks: onboarding files by stage, open settlement differences by age, refunds and holds, disputes by due date, and top support topics. Fill it at the start of each month and give each block an owner.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Does this software process the payments?
No. Your gateway or processing partner does that. The back office holds merchants, rates, settlements, refunds, disputes and statements around it.
Can a spreadsheet do this review?
For a small merchant base, yes. As merchants and partner files grow, rate exceptions and open differences become hard to follow in a sheet.
Does it make us compliant with payment rules?
Not on its own. It keeps the papers, approvals and logs you may be asked for. What applies to your licence is for your compliance adviser to say.
Can it read our partner’s settlement file?
It can read files in the format your partner provides, once that format is checked. A direct feed from a bank depends on what the bank offers.