After You Receive Payment: Hold It, Pay It, or Move It

Quick answer: When you receive payment through Zil Money, the money doesn’t go straight to your bank account. It lands in your Zil Money Wallet first, and you’ll get a notification when it does. Once the underlying ACH or card payment clears (typically 1-2 business days for ACH, 1-3 for cards), the funds in your Wallet are yours to hold, use to pay a vendor directly, or move to your bank account whenever you want.

What Is the Zil Money Wallet?

The Wallet is the holding place every incoming payment lands in before it becomes cash in your bank account. When a customer pays you, the money doesn’t route straight into your business checking account. It settles into your Wallet first. You get a notification, then decide what happens next: leave it, pay a vendor with it, or send it to your bank. See the full breakdown on the receive payment page, or the other ways to speed up how you get paid.

How Do Customers Pay You?

Zil Money supports several ways to get paid, and all of them feed the same Wallet. See a full comparison of when to use each payment option.

• ACH: A direct bank-to-bank transfer, suited to B2B payments, larger invoices, and recurring billing.
• Payment links: Send a link, the customer clicks it and pays. Works for quick payment requests, email or text invoicing, and one-time charges.
• Credit and debit cards: Accept all major cards; card processing fees apply.
• Professional invoices: A branded invoice with a “Pay Now” button, built for B2B billing, project work, and service invoicing.
• Recurring billing: Automatic charges on a schedule, for subscriptions, memberships, retainers, and monthly services.

What Happens to the Money Once It’s in Your Wallet?

The money isn’t just sitting there waiting to be swept to your bank. Once a payment clears, you have three real options:

1. Leave it in the Wallet. It stays available for whatever you do next.
2. Pay a vendor directly from it. You can use Wallet funds to pay someone else without first moving the money to your bank account and back out again. If that vendor sends a bill as a PDF, you can also create checks directly from bills and invoices in PDF format instead of entering the details by hand.
3. Transfer it to your bank account. Move it whenever you want, on your own schedule.

How Long Does It Take to Get Paid?

Timing depends on how the customer paid. ACH payments typically clear in 1-2 business days, in line with standard ACH transfer timing. Card payments typically clear in 1-3 business days. The Wallet notification tells you a payment is on its way as soon as it’s submitted, so you’re not left guessing whether a customer actually paid while you wait for it to clear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here’s the practical upside of keeping money in the Wallet instead of automatically sweeping it to your bank once it clears: it’s float. If you owe a vendor Thursday and a customer’s payment clears Tuesday, you don’t need to touch your bank account at all, just pay the vendor straight from the Wallet.