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My Statement / Pending and settled
Five hundred lines, three states
Pending and settled: the state a balance cannot show
A category says what a line is; a state says whether it is finished. The state is the reason a balance and a statement can differ in the same minute without either being wrong, and it is invisible in the amount and the running balance alike.
Desk spec
- lines read
- 500
- settled
- 436
- pending
- 43
- reversed
- 21
the lineOne transaction, with a date, a type, an amount and a running balance. The sample month holds 240 of them, and every one belongs to a category.
the running balanceThe balance after each line, in the statement's own order. It is not the balance you can withdraw, because a bonus credit sits inside it: 312.00 shown against 292.00 settled.
the pending lineA line that has been recorded but not settled. Of 500 lines in the sample, 43 were pending and 21 were reversed, against 436 settled.
Direct answerA statement line has a state as well as a category. Of 500 sample lines, 436 were settled, 43 were pending and 21 were reversed. Of 120 pending lines, 71 settled within a day, 33 within three days and 16 took longer - which is why a balance can move before a line has finished.
Three states, and why the balance ignores them
A settled line is finished and counted in the balance. A pending line is recorded and counted in the balance before it has finished, which is what makes the balance move ahead of the money. A reversed line was counted and then undone, and it is the state a reader most often mistakes for a missing line.
Sample D - the state of five hundred lines
| State | Lines | Share | What it means |
|---|
| settled | 436 | 87.2% | finished; counted in the balance for good |
| pending | 43 | 8.6% | recorded; counted in the balance, not finished |
| reversed | 21 | 4.2% | counted, then undone by a second line |
| 500 lines | 500 | 100.0% | 64 lines were not settled |
sample D - the states, counted
lines read = 500
settled = 436 -> 436 / 500 = 87.2%
pending = 43 -> 43 / 500 = 8.6%
reversed = 21 -> 21 / 500 = 4.2%
not settled = 64 -> 64 / 500 = 12.8%
and pending plus reversed = 43 + 21 = 64, which is the share of the
statement that a reader is most likely to read wrongly,
because the balance already includes 43 of them.
How long a pending line stays pending
The window is what decides whether a pending line matters. Most settle quickly and a few do not, and the long tail is the part that produces a support query.
sample E - the pending window
pending lines = 120
settled within a day = 71 -> 71 / 120 = 59.2%
settled within three days = 33 -> 33 / 120 = 27.5%
beyond three days = 16 -> 16 / 120 = 13.3%
so about six pending lines in ten are done inside a day,
and one in eight is still pending on the fourth day:
16 / 120 = 13.3%, which against the whole statement
(43 pending in 500 lines) is 16 lines in 500, or 3.2% of all lines.
Read the state before you read the amount
- Look for a pending flag beside the line, since the balance will not carry one.
- Check the date, because a recent line is more likely pending than an old one.
- Do not treat a pending line as money you can withdraw until it settles.
- Check whether a line that vanished was reversed by a second line rather than deleted.
- Give a pending line at least a day before treating the balance as wrong.
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