> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lead.bank/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Network Settlement: How Card Programs Settle

> How money moves when your cardholders spend: the daily settlement cycle, who does what across the network, issuer processor, your program, and Lead, and where BIN sponsorship fits.

When your cardholders spend, the card networks — not Lead's payment rails — move the money. **Network settlement** is the daily process by which each network requests the funds owed for activity on your program's BINs, and Lead, as your BIN sponsor, pays the network and books the flows. Your side of the process is data: making sure the daily network settlement reports reach Lead so Lead knows how much to move, and reporting the underlying card transactions so Lead can reconcile and perform oversight.

## Who Does What

| **Party**                          | **Role in settlement**                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| :--------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Cardholder                         | Spends on your card at merchants.                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| Card network (Visa, Mastercard, …) | Clears the activity and requests settlement funds daily via drawdown.                                                                                                                                                         |
| Issuer processor (your vendor)     | Processes transactions in real time and produces the network settlement reports; typically delivers them to Lead via SFTP each morning.                                                                                       |
| **Your program**                   | Ensures the daily settlement reports reach Lead in a supported format, and reports posted card transactions with their settlement dates in your daily [Transactions reporting](/products/balances-and-transactions/overview). |
| **Lead**                           | Pays each network the day's net activity, books every component (interchange, refunds, disputes, fees) to the right account, and reconciles the network's numbers against yours.                                              |

## How a Day Settles

1. **Cardholders transact** at your issuer processor on the networks.
2. **The network's daily settlement report** — covering transactions, refunds, interchange, fees, and disputes — reaches Lead, typically delivered by your issuer processor via SFTP each morning. If the processor provides it in a network-generated format (e.g., T461 or T140 for Mastercard), it can be submitted as-is; otherwise you reformat it into a supported format. Required formats and per-network specifics: [Network Settlement Reports](/file-reference/reports/network-settlement-reports).
3. **Lead funds the network.** For **debit/prepaid** BINs, net transaction activity is funded from the source of funds, typically your FBO — it's your customers' money moving. For **credit** BINs, activity is funded from **Lead-owned funds** — these are loans, which is why settled credit spend creates **receivables** on Lead's books that flow into your daily sale ([Receivables & the Daily Sale](/file-reference/sales/request-schema)). Full flows per BIN type, the report data points that drive them, timing, and weekend behavior: [Network Settlement Funding Obligations](/products/network-settlement/funding).
4. **You report, and Lead reconciles.** You submit posted card transactions with their network settlement dates through the daily Transactions reporting, and Lead reconciles them against the network reports: [Network Settlement Reconciliation](/products/network-settlement/reconciliation).

<Note>
  Network settlement funding runs independently of every other workflow — Lead processes settlement files and pays the networks on time regardless of what other data has arrived, and there is no T-1 dependency: if a day's files arrive late, Lead still processes the entries when they appear.
</Note>

## BIN Sponsorship at Lead

If Lead is the BIN sponsor for your program, Lead performs network settlement for every network your BINs are active on.

| **Network role** | **Description**                                                                                                                                                                      |
| :--------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Primary          | Every BIN needs a primary network. Lead is a principal member of Visa, Mastercard, and Amex.                                                                                         |
| Secondary        | Under the Durbin Amendment routing rule, debit/prepaid BINs require a secondary network (credit BINs need only a primary). Lead supports Maestro, Interlink, Pulse, Star, and Accel. |
| Issuer processor | The third-party vendor you choose to process real-time transactions on the networks. These vendors typically connect directly to the networks and send the network reports to Lead.  |

Once networks are chosen, you'll work with Lead, your issuer processor, and the network(s) to launch the BIN, which can take three or more months.

<Note>
  **Push to Card.** If Lead is processing OCT or AFT transactions on Lead's acquiring BINs, [Funding Obligations](/products/network-settlement/funding) and [Reconciliation](/products/network-settlement/reconciliation) still apply. Lead can support specific acquiring processors.
</Note>

## In This Section

[Network Settlement Funding Obligations](/products/network-settlement/funding) — how Lead funds each network per BIN type, the report data points, timing, and weekend behavior · [Network Settlement Reconciliation](/products/network-settlement/reconciliation) — how the transactions you report are matched against the network's numbers · [Network Settlement Reports](/file-reference/reports/network-settlement-reports) — the required file formats per network.