Transaction Lifecycle

How a card transaction moves from authorization to settlement, and how every product’s money movement lands on one ledger as a transaction.

Every Rain product records its money movement as a transaction. A card purchase, a collateral deposit, a balance payment, and a cross-border payout all land on the same ledger and surface through the same transactions API and webhooks, so you track them all the same way.

Card spend: authorization, then settlement

A card transaction moves through two phases. First it is authorized, which places a hold on funds, and then it settles, which moves the funds. Both phases behave differently for Rain-Managed and Partner-Managed programs.

How a transaction moves from authorization to settlement at Rain.

See Authorization and Settlement for each phase in full, including how your management model changes who makes the decision.

One ledger, several transaction types

Card spend is one of several transaction types the platform records. Get all transactions returns every type, distinguished by its type field:

Type	What it records
spend	A card transaction, from authorization through settlement.
collateral	A deposit into a collateral contract.
payment	A payment that pays down an outstanding balance.
fee	A fee charged to a user, a company, or your program.
transfer	Money movement through a payment route or a quoted transfer.
verification	A $0 account-verification check on a card. It never settles.
adjustment	A manual correction, such as a dispute credit.

Because every type lands on the same double-entry ledger, a customer’s card spend and their deposits reconcile against one source. See Ledgering System for how the ledger is structured.

Track transactions with webhooks

Rain notifies you as a transaction moves through its lifecycle, so you don’t poll. Card spend emits transaction.* events from request through completion, and money movement emits transactionTransfer.* events. See Transaction Webhooks for every event and payload.

What’s next

Authorization

How Rain decides a card authorization in each management model.

Settlement

How settled funds move, seven days a week.

How Money Movement Works

Payment routes and quoted transfers, the sources of transfer transactions.

Ledgering System

Accounts, books, and double-entry ledgering at Rain.