Transactions typically go through the following lifecycle: 

• They start off as authorizations. Merchants have 3-5 business days to collect funds and settle these transactions. It can be longer depending on what you buy, like car rentals or hotel reservations.
• If merchants do not collect these funds in time, or if they initiate a refund before collecting funds, the authorization expires and the funds will return to your account.

Why was my transaction posted on a later date?

Some merchants will settle transactions after shipping a product, or after collecting a tip. If there is a delay in shipping, the original authorization will expire.

If a merchant confirms your order or transaction is still in process, we recommend that you keep this amount in your Cash account, as the merchant will process a force-posted transaction (meaning they will come back to collect the funds).

Force-posted transactions do not happen often, however it is dependent on the merchant. Wealthsimple does not have control over how transactions get completed. We are not able to manually expire transactions to expedite this process either.