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As you approach onboarding to your Sandbox and Product environments, it’s important to be prepared for and understand the testing process.

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Daily File Expectation

  • On any given day T, our system expects a file containing activity for day T-1.
  • The filename will reflect date T, but the data inside corresponds to activity from the previous day (T-1).
  • Activity is expected to cover the full calendar day: 12:00 a.m. CT to 11:59 p.m. CT on T-1.

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Setting Day 0

Your file submission schedule begins on Day 0, which defines the first day of activity our system expects.
To help accelerate testing, Lead can set Day 0 to a date in the past.

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Examples

The below examples are for illustrative purposes only. You will receive explicit dates from Lead’s implementation team when you’re ready for testing.
Your program will be configured with a “Day 0” of January 27. This means that when you begin uploading files, the system will expect your first set of files to:
  • Be dated January 27 in the file naming (e.g., 2026-01-27_customer_v1)
  • Contain data with effective_at dates of January 26 (one calendar day prior to “Day 0”)
Once those files successfully pass validation (you’ll see confirmation in the Slack alerts channel), you can proceed with submitting files dated January 28.
Prepare files in advance to accelerate testing.
For programs transferring a live deposit program from another bank (i.e., where customer balances do not start at zero), note the following expectations:
  • The Balance File for “Day 0” (January 27) should contain the end-of-day (EOD) balances as of January 26.
  • The Transaction File for “Day 0” (January 27) should include the transaction(s) that moved balances from zero to their EOD values on January 26 (e.g., a wire transaction transferring funds from the original bank to Lead).
Your program will be configured with a “Day 0” of January 27. This means that when you begin uploading files, the system will expect your first set of files to:
  • Be dated January 27 in the file naming (e.g., 2026-01-27_customer_001)
  • Contain only headers and otherwise be empty
Once those files successfully pass validation (you’ll see confirmation in the Slack alerts channel), you can proceed with submitting files dated January 28, which should contain all activity that occurred on January 27.
Prepare files in advance to accelerate testing.
Additional Notes and Expectations
  • Once the Balance and Transaction files pass validation, a Sales Request will be generated. You’ll receive a message in your Slack alerts channel when the Sales Request file is posted to your SFTP.
  • During the first few days of activity — before any loans have completed seasoning and no receivables are available for purchase — Lead will generate empty Sales Request files. You should respond by submitting empty Sales Response files to complete the file workflow.
  • After you successfully post a Sales Response file to the SFTP, a confirmation message will appear in your Slack alerts channel indicating that the Transactions, Balances, and Sales Response files all passed validation.
  • A common issue when Credit programs go live in Production is insufficient funding in the Operating and/or Settlement Accounts to support program activity. We recommend maintaining 2–3 days’ worth of expected Receivable Sales amounts in these accounts to ensure seamless settlements and prevent any production delays.
Reconciliation Logic OverviewFor most files, our reconciliation process follows a consistent pattern:
  • Files dated day T (e.g., January 27) are expected to include all activity from day T-1 (e.g., January 26).
  • Reconciliation is then run based on that activity.
However, card transaction reconciliation follows a different pattern. In this case, reconciliation occurs on day T+1 (e.g., January 28).Card Program ReconciliationFor programs that include a card product sponsored by Lead, we expect to receive Transaction and Network Settlement files daily. On T+1, we reconcile these two files using the settlement dates provided.Because the card networks’ 24-hour processing window (e.g., 8:00 a.m.–8:00 a.m. CT) may differ from your program’s 24-hour window (e.g., 12:00 a.m.–12 a.m. CT), our reconciliation process looks across two consecutive days of submitted files.ExampleTo reconcile a transaction in the Network Settlement file with a settlement date of January 26, we review transactions from both the January 26 and January 27 Transaction files.Troubleshooting Reconciliation FailuresIf you see an alert indicating that network settlement reconciliation failed for a specific date:
  • Compare the card transaction totals for that settlement date with the entries in the Network Settlement file.
  • Check for differences such as mismatched total transaction sums or refund amounts.
These discrepancies are often the root cause of reconciliation failures.

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Testing

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Sandbox

To initiate testing (e.g., Day 1), submit a file containing activity for Day 0.
Simulate Internal TransfersTo simulate internal transfers in Sandbox, Lead can configure test financial accounts that allow you to move funds between accounts and observe the outcomes. Please coordinate with your implementation team if you’d like this setup enabled.
Validation Process Once you’ve submitted all required files for Day T, Lead will:
  • Process the files.
  • Send a success or failure alert to your shared Slack alerts channel.
  • If any issues are identified, you can correct and re-upload files immediately — no wait required.
Sequential Submission Rule
You may only submit Day T+1’s file after Day T’s file has been successfully validated. This rule applies even if the file for a given day contains headers only with no activity.
Catch Up to Present Day If your submissions are behind the current date, you can:
  • Catch up by submitting files sequentially — one day’s file at a time — after each is successfully validated.
    There is no waiting period between submissions once the prior day’s file has been validated.

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Production

To graduate from sandbox and move on to production testing, you must complete seven consecutive days of successful file submissions.These submissions will align with the test scenarios you agree on with Lead’s implementation team during onboarding.
The file submission and validation workflows for Production are similar to the notes above on sandbox testing. However, unlike sandbox testing:
  • Production submissions must represent actual program activity.
  • You cannot accelerate this phase by backdating Day 0.
Production testing also requires seven consecutive days of successful file submissions.

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Go-Live Readiness

After completing successful production testing, you’re eligible to move to the next phase, which may include:
  • Employee testing
  • External partner testing
  • Full Public Go-Live