Payment statuses (what they mean + timelines)
When a patient payment is made in Hint, you may see different statuses depending on the payment method and where the payment is in the process. Below are the most common statuses and what to do next.
Clearing (ACH)
What it means: The payment was submitted successfully, but the patient’s bank is still processing it. ACH payments can take time to finalize.
Typical timeline: 3–5 business days to fully clear.
Important note: During the clearing window, an ACH payment can still fail later (for example, due to insufficient funds or other bank return reasons).
No payment method on file
What it means: There is no saved payment method available to charge for this invoice.
What to do:
Ask the patient to add a payment method, or
Record an external payment (cash/check) if the patient paid offline.
Bank account not verified
What it means: The patient’s bank account must be verified before it can be used for ACH payments.
What to do: Have the patient complete bank verification, then retry the payment.
Retrying
What it means: The invoice is in the dunning process and Hint is retrying payment attempts based on the practice’s retry settings.
What to do: No action is required unless you want to update the payment method or collect payment another way.
Restricted (ACH)
What it means: The bank account had a recoverable ACH failure (such as insufficient funds). To stay compliant with ACH/NACHA rules, Hint limits how automated retries can occur after certain failures.
What to do:
Ask the patient to confirm funds and/or update their bank account, and then
Retry payment according to the allowed rules (patient-initiated payments may still be allowed even when automated retries are restricted).
Failed
What it means: The payment did not complete (declined/returned by the bank or card network).
Important note for ACH: Some ACH payments may appear to process initially and then later return as failed once the bank completes verification. (This is why “Clearing” is an important intermediate state for ACH.)
How long does it take an ACH payment to clear?
ACH payments typically take 3–5 business days to complete the clearing phase. Once the payment finishes clearing successfully, it will reflect as paid on the invoice and in reporting.