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Handling and Retrying Failed Accounts Payable Payments

  • Updated

When an Accounts Payable (AP) payment (i.e. a Bill Pay payment, Reimbursement, or Send Money payment) fails, the funds will be returned to the account that funded it, and Administrators will receive a notification outlining why. You can retry the failed payment directly, without creating a new bill, report, or recipient payment.

You may also see a payment status of "Cancelled." This indicates the payment was cancelled by Float.

 

Guide Overview

What does a Failed Payment look like in Float?

What does a Cancelled Payment look like in Float?

When will the Funds for Failed Payments be Returned?

What happens when international currency payments fail?

Will Failed or Cancelled Payments Sync to QuickBooks Online (QBO), Xero or NetSuite?

Can I delete a Failed or Cancelled Payment?

How to Retry a Failed or Cancelled Payment

Common Payment Failure and Cancellation Reasons

 

What does a Failed Payment look like in Float?

A failed payment will show as "Failed" in the Complete tab of the Payments page. Depending on the payment type, it will also show in:

  • Bill Pay: The Bill Status column, from both the Scheduled and All Bills tabs of the Bill Pay page.
  • Reimbursement: The report's status in the Reimbursements page.
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Hover over the question mark icon beside the failed status to see the reason for the failure.

For a full breakdown of every AP payment status, see: Accounts Payable (AP) Payment Statuses and What They Mean.

 

What does a Cancelled Payment look like in Float?

A cancelled payment will show as "Cancelled" in the Complete tab of the Payments page. Depending on the payment type, it will also show in: 

  • Bill Pay: The Bill Status column

  • Reimbursements: The Status column

Hover over the question mark icon beside the failed status to see the reason for the failure.

 

When will the Funds for Failed Payments be Returned?

If your payment has failed, whether it's a Bill Pay payment, Reimbursement, or Send Money payment, the funds will be returned to your payment's funding source (i.e. your Float Cash balance, or a connected bank account for Bill Pay payments) in 1-3 business days.

 

How Do I Verify That the Funds Have Been Returned?

It's only possible to verify that the funds have been returned if your Float Cash balance was the funding source for the payment. 

If your connected bank account was the funding source, you'll need to verify this with your external bank account.

To verify that funds have returned to your Float Cash balance:

  1. Log in to your account at app.floatfinancial.com
  2. Go to Accounts > Statements
  3. Click on CSV Statements > Use the date picker to select a date range > Locate the account and currency you want (Cash CAD or Cash USD)

  4. Click Download CSV

  5. In the downloaded CSV, scroll to find the line item for the reversed payment and the funds being returned to your Float Cash balance

     

What happens when international currency payments fail?

For a failed international currency Bill Pay or Send Money payment, funds are returned within that same 1-3 business day window. Since the payment converts back from the international currency to your funding source's currency (CAD or USD Cash balance), the amount credited back may not exactly match the amount originally debited, due to the currency conversion.

 

Will Failed or Cancelled Payments Sync to QuickBooks Online (QBO), Xero or NetSuite?

No, failed and cancelled payments do not sync to QuickBooks Online (QBO), Xero or NetSuite. The payment will remain marked as "Unpaid." However, if you retry the failed payment and the new payment is successful, the payment will be updated to paid in your accounting system.

If you do not retry the payment, make sure to manually reconcile failed payments in your accounting system. You may need to remove or void partial payment records created before the failure occurred.

 

Can I delete a Failed or Cancelled Payment?

No. Failed or cancelled payments cannot be deleted from Float. Unsuccessful payments remain visible in the Complete and All Payments tab of the Payments page for record-keeping and audit purposes.

For steps on retrying failed payments, see How to Retry a Failed or Cancelled Payment below.

 

How to Retry a Failed or Cancelled Payment

You can retry a failed or cancelled payment directly. No need to recreate the bill, report, or recipient payment (except cancelled reimbursement reports, per above). 

Once you've resolved the issue that caused the payment to fail, and the funds have fully returned to your Float account, follow the steps below to reschedule it:

  1. Log in to Float app.floatfinancial.com
  2. Go to the Payments page > Complete tab
  3. Filter for "Status" > "Payment Failed" to locate the failed payment
  4. Select the ellipses to the right of the payment > Select "Reschedule"
  5. Select a new payment date > Select "Reschedule Payment"
  6. Once rescheduled, the payment will move to the Needs Authorization tab of the Payments page to be authorized before the new payment date

For details on authorizing funds release for payments, see the following: 

 

Common Payment Failure and Cancellation Reasons: 

Invalid Account Name/Number or Invalid bank/branch code
Account Inactive or Dormant or Account Closed
Insufficient Funds (NSF)
Beneficiary name mismatch or Invalid beneficiary details
Account currency mismatch
Beneficiary bank returned
Beneficiary requested
Validation Failed

 

Invalid Account Name/Number or Invalid bank/branch code

Bill payments:

  1. Log in to Float and go to Bill Pay > Manage Vendors > locate and click the applicable vendor
  2. Ensure the name matches the name the bank has on file (not case sensitive)
  3. Ensure the routing, transit, and account numbers are correct
  4. Save your changes

Reimbursements: the employee receiving the payment updates their own banking details from Settings > Profile. See: Configuring Bank Details for Reimbursement Payments.

Send Money: update the recipient's details from Manage Recipients.

 

Account Inactive, Dormant or Account Closed

  1. If payment was issued, the receiving bank will return the funds. See: Beneficiary bank returned below
  2. Contact the recipient and request alternative payment details
  3. Log in to Float and update the details under Manage Vendors (Bill Pay) or Manage Recipients (Send Money)
  4. Save your changes

 

Insufficient Funds (NSF)

When paying from your Float Cash Balance:  

When paying from your connected bank account (Bill Pay):

  1. See which account is connected to Float from Accounts > Bank Connections > Funding Source
  2. Log in to the online banking portal where you manage that account and add funds to the account

Once resolved, reschedule the payment for a future date - see: How to Retry a Failed or Cancelled Payment

 

Beneficiary name mismatch or Invalid beneficiary details

Verify that the receiving account details you have are correct and contact the vendor/recipient if necessary to receive accurate details

Bill payments:

  1. Log in to Float and go to Bill Pay > Manage Vendors > locate and click the applicable vendor
  2. Update the name and/or other details to accurately match the receiving account information 
  3. Save

Send Money:

  1. Log in to Float and go to Payments > Send Money > Manage Recipients > locate and click the applicable vendor
  2. Update the name and/or other details to accurately match the receiving account information 
  3. Save

Reimbursements: see Invalid Account Name/Number above — the employee self-serves their own bank details.

 

Account currency mismatch

This applies to Bill Pay payments only:

  1. Contact the vendor and obtain account details for the account where they will receive payment in the correct currency
  2. Log in to Float and go to Bill Pay > Manage Vendors > locate and click the applicable vendor
  3. Update the Payment Credentials to match the new account
  4. Save

 

Beneficiary bank returned

  1. The receiving bank is returning the funds received, usually due to a closed or frozen account
  2. The funds will be returned to your business's Float balance following normal transfer timelines
  3. See Account Inactive or Dormant / Account Closed above for steps to resolve

 

Beneficiary requested

  1. The recipient or the recipient's financial institution returned the funds, and the payment was not completed
  2. The funds will be returned to your business's Float balance following normal transfer timelines
  3. Contact the vendor to verify the reason they or their financial institution returned the payment
  4. See Account Inactive or Dormant / Account Closed above for steps to resolve

 

Validation Failed

This reversal reason can occur if your Float business has a P.O. Box listed as the office address instead of a street address.

To resolve, you'd have to update the business's address in Float. To do so, see: How to Change your Business's Physical and Billing Address.

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