[Glossary](https://blnkfinance.com/glossary) Batch processing # What is batch processing in payments? Batch processing Batch processing means the rail or the bank collects many payments and clears them on a schedule, not one by one as they arrive. ACH, Bacs, and many card captures work this way. Instant rails do not. Your ledger can still post each item when you accept it. Settlement of the batch is a later event. ## How does batch processing work? You originate all day. At cutoff the bank files one batch. The operator sorts it. The receiving banks post on the next window. One settlement amount on the statement may cover hundreds of your transactions. Reconciliation has to explode that amount back into lines, or you already stored the lines. ## Batch vs instant Instant rails give you a per-payment result now. Batches give you a file later. Do not show “completed” on a batched send because your API returned 201. Show sent, then settled, then returned if it comes back. ## What does the ledger do? One transaction per payment, held until that item settles. A second post if you must move the batch total to a nostro. Do not replace per-item posts with one journal for the whole file. You will not be able to void a single return. ## How it works with Blnk Create one inflight transaction per item when you originate. When the batch report lands, commit the ones that settled and void the ones that failed. Match the file in reconciliation. Related terms - [ACH](https://blnkfinance.com/glossary/ach) - [Nacha file](https://blnkfinance.com/glossary/nacha-file) - [Settlement](https://blnkfinance.com/glossary/settlement) - [Payment rail](https://blnkfinance.com/glossary/payment-rail) - [Same-day ACH](https://blnkfinance.com/glossary/same-day-ach)