A simple guide to understanding digital payments and infrastructure.
Balance: The total money currently in your PayChangu account.
Simple: How much money you have right now.
Transaction: Any payment action (e.g someone pays you, you refund, etc.).
Simple: A record of money moving.
Fees: Small charges PayChangu takes for processing your payments.
Simple: The cost of using the service.
Collection Balance: The "holding area" where customer payments arrive before they are cleared for use.
Simple: Money that has been paid to you but is still being processed.
Settlement: The process of moving funds from your Collection Balance to your Main Balance (or bank account) so they become spendable.
Example: A customer pays today; the money moves to your spendable balance tomorrow.
Withdraw: Moving money from your PayChangu account into your personal bank or mobile wallet.
Simple: "Move my money from PayChangu to my own account."
Payout: Sending money from your PayChangu account to a third party.
Example: Paying a vendor, driver, or employee.
Charge: Requesting or collecting a payment from a customer.
Simple: Asking for or taking money from someone.
Refund: Giving money back to a customer after a transaction has been completed.
Simple: Returning the customer’s money.
Payment Link: A unique, shareable link that customers click to pay you directly.
Simple: Send a link → Customer clicks → They pay.
Gateway: The software system that allows your website or app to accept payments.
Simple: The bridge between your customer and their payment method.
API Key: A secret code that allows your website's code to communicate securely with PayChangu.
Simple: Your app’s "password" to talk to PayChangu. Never share this publicly.
Compliance: Following financial regulations and identity verification laws (Know Your Customer/KYC).
Simple: Making sure everything is legal and safe.