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

# Maximum Transaction Amount: Review and Charge Held Payments

> Set card and ACH review thresholds, find payments held above the limit, approve or decline a gift, and notify your team with Payment Pending messages.

**Maximum Transaction Amount** lets your organization review large card and bank (ACH) payments before they are charged. Payments held by this setting are saved as **Pending** and **Held for review**. An authorized administrator can approve and charge that individual gift from its payment detail page without changing the limit for everyone else or requesting a developer to process it.

## Set your maximum transaction amounts

1. Go to **Settings > Payments** in Dashboard v2.

2. Find **Maximum Transaction Amount**.

3. Enter the limits in dollars:

   | Setting | Default | Applies to |
   | - | - | - |
   | **Maximum Card Transaction Amount (\$)** | \$50,000 | Each card payment |
   | **Maximum Bank (ACH) Transaction Amount (\$)** | \$100,000 | Each bank/ACH payment |

4. Click **Save** in that section. Your role must have permission to edit payment settings.

Your organization's saved values may differ from the defaults. Each setting applies to a single payment, rather than a daily or monthly total. Leaving a field blank removes that review threshold; entering `0` also disables it for that payment type.

The check uses the **total transaction amount**, including fees added when the supporter covers processing costs. Only an amount **greater than** the limit triggers this hold. For example, a $100,000 gift with $0.30 added for fees totals $100,000.30 and exceeds a $100,000 ACH limit. A total of exactly \$100,000 does not exceed that limit.

These are WeGive review thresholds. Your payment processor can have separate limits and underwriting requirements. Changing this setting or approving a held gift does not change those processor requirements.

## What happens when a payment is held

The over-limit payment is recorded in WeGive with a **Pending** payment status and **Held for review** review status. The charge has not been sent to the payment processor, so it will not yet have a processor charge or payout to find. This hold does not produce a payment-declined error for the supporter.

WeGive sends an internal notification to its team so they can reach out to your organization about the large payment. You can also set up your own staff notification using **Payment Pending**, as described below, and review the gift directly in the dashboard.

**Pending** and **Processing** describe different stages. An ACH payment marked **Processing** has entered payment processing and may still be settling. A gift marked **Held for review** needs an approval decision before the charge is attempted. Waiting for normal ACH settlement will not release that hold.

## Find held payments in the table

1. Open **Payments**.
2. Add the **Review Status** filter and select **Held for review**.
3. Open a payment from the results. Its detail page shows **Review: Held — over max amount**.
4. Review the supporter, payment method, and total amount before deciding whether to approve it.

You can also filter **Review Status** by **Approved** or **Declined** to find previous decisions. **Approved** records the review decision; check the payment's separate status to see whether the charge succeeded, is processing, or failed.

For an older large payment that appears only under **Status > Pending**, contact support if it has no review status or approval action. Older held payments may need their review status updated before the dashboard can show these actions.

## Approve and charge an individual gift

1. Open the held payment and confirm the gift is legitimate and should be charged.
2. Click **Approve gift**.
3. In the confirmation window, click **Approve and charge**. This submits the payment for charging now.
4. Check the resulting payment status. An ACH payment may move to **Processing** while it settles; a processor decline can result in **Failed**.

Approval releases this particular payment from the WeGive amount hold. Your organization's card and ACH limits stay unchanged for other payments. There is no need to temporarily raise the organization's limit to release one held gift.

The action is available to users with permission to approve held transactions. If you cannot see it, ask your organization's administrator or WeGive support to check your access and the payment's review status. Changing a limit in Settings does not itself charge an existing held payment; use the approval action to review and charge it.

## Decline a held gift

Click **Decline gift**, then confirm **Decline**. This cancels the held payment without charging the supporter. The payment becomes **Cancelled** and its review status becomes **Declined**. The decision cannot be undone through the approval action; the supporter would need to give again.

## Notify your own team with Payment Pending

You can send an internal email automatically when a payment becomes pending, in addition to WeGive's built-in notification to its own team.

1. Open **Triggers**, select **Payment Pending**, and click **Create Message**.
2. Choose **Email** and configure it as a transactional message.
3. In **To & From**, set **Send to what email address** to **Custom**. Enter your team's inbox in **Custom email address**, such as `giving@example.org`. This routes the message to your team. Use **CC** or **BCC** for additional staff recipients.
4. Select a verified sending address and write the alert. For example, use the subject **Large payment awaiting review** and ask the recipient to open Payments and filter **Review Status > Held for review**. Use the editor's available payment/supporter variables to identify the gift.
5. Optionally add a trigger condition on the payment amount to focus on large gifts. Use the amount of the payment that triggered the event, rather than the supporter's lifetime giving. An unfiltered **Payment Pending** message can also alert you about payments pending for other reasons. If you set a fixed amount condition, review it whenever your card or ACH thresholds change.
6. Preview the email, use **Send Test** to check the content and delivery, then save the message as **Live**. A preview or test send does not verify that the trigger conditions will match; check the trigger history when a qualifying payment occurs.

**If you already have a Payment Pending message:** review the existing message before adding another. Ordinary triggered messages use an ordered matching system, so a broad existing message can take precedence over a new, narrower staff alert. If staff should receive the same message as the supporter, add them as **BCC** on that message. For a separate staff alert with different conditions or content, use a **Journey** triggered by **Payment Pending** with an email step addressed to **Custom**. See [Journey Triggers and Conditions](/external/support/communications/journey-triggers-and-conditions).

The trigger runs when a payment enters Pending. Turning a message Live does not send alerts for every payment already pending, and it is not a repeated reminder for the same held gift. Review the held-payments table for your existing backlog.

## When to contact support

An over-limit hold can normally be handled by an authorized administrator using the steps above. Contact WeGive support if the approval action is missing, the payment has no review status despite appearing to exceed the limit, or approving it produces an error. Include the payment ID, total amount, payment status, and review status so support can distinguish a hold or access issue from a processor failure.

Related: [Create Your Default Triggered Messages](/external/support/communications/create-your-default-triggered-messages) · [Connecting a Payment Processor](/external/support/settings/connecting-a-payment-processor)


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