Receiving payments

When an Ardent CrowdFund issuer pays a debt coupon, repays principal, or declares an equity dividend, the funds move through a regulated settlement rail before reaching you. Payments can land in your linked Ghanaian bank account, your mobile-money wallet, or your Ardent wallet balance, whichever you have set as your default payout method. This page explains the mechanics, the timing, what you'll see in your inbox, and what to do if a payment is late.

How a payment moves from issuer to you

Every distribution follows the same four-hop chain. Funds never touch Ardent's own operating accounts; they move from the issuer, through a segregated investor trust account at our custodian bank, and out to each investor's nominated payout method.

What each hop does:

1. Issuer transfers the full distribution amount into the campaign's repayment account at our custodian bank, ahead of the scheduled payment date.
2. Ardent Platform calculates each investor's share of the distribution, applies any withholding tax (see the callout below), and instructs the custodian.
3. Custodian Bank holds the money in a segregated investor trust account, legally separate from both Ardent's and the issuer's own balance sheets, and executes the payout file.
4. Investor Account receives the net payment on the rail you selected.

Debt coupon payments

Debt coupons are the most frequent cash flow in most portfolios. They run on a fixed schedule set in the offer document (monthly, quarterly, or annually) and they are automatic: you do not need to do anything to receive them.

Timing

Ardent publishes the schedule for every active debt position in your portfolio detail drawer. For a given coupon date:

• T-3 business days: issuer funds the campaign repayment account.
• T-1 business day: Ardent reconciles and prepares the payout instruction file.
• T (coupon date): custodian executes the payout before 16:00 GMT; you should see the net amount by end-of-day.

Mobile money typically credits within minutes; bank credits follow the GhIPSS instant-payment window during banking hours and may otherwise show up next business day.

Payment notification

For every coupon that lands, you'll receive two notifications:

• An email receipt with the gross amount, withholding deducted, net amount, the campaign it relates to, and a unique settlement reference. A PDF copy is also archived under Portfolio → Documents.
• A push notification in the Ardent mobile app summarising the net amount and destination (e.g. "GHS 412 credited to MTN MoMo ending 4421"). Push notifications can be muted per-event in Settings → Notifications if you prefer email-only.

What to do if a payment is late

Coupon and principal repayments are contractual obligations of the issuer. A payment is considered late if it has not settled to the custodian by end-of-day on the scheduled date.

The grace period

Every debt instrument on Ardent carries a 5 business-day grace period after the due date. During grace:

• Your position status flips to Payment pending.
• You receive a notification on day 1 of the delay confirming Ardent has chased the issuer.
• No default interest accrues yet; the issuer is still within their contractual window.

After the grace period

If the payment is still missing at the end of the 5-day grace window, the position moves into the formal escalation path:

1. 1

   Day 6, default declared

   Ardent formally notifies the issuer in writing that they are in default. Default interest begins to accrue on your behalf at the rate specified in the offer document.

2. 2

   Day 7–14, collections team engagement

   Ardent's collections team works directly with the issuer to agree a remediation plan, a short deferral, a revised schedule, or (rarely) an out-of-cycle payment. Every investor in the campaign is updated in writing.

3. 3

   Day 15–30, security enforcement

   If no plan is agreed, Ardent exercises any security or guarantees that were pledged in the offer document. This is the route by which secured debt issuers' collateral is liquidated.

4. 4

   Day 30+, legal escalation

   For unsecured debt, or where security proceeds do not cover the outstanding amount, Ardent pursues the issuer through civil enforcement under Ghanaian law on behalf of all affected investors.

Equity dividends

Unlike debt coupons, equity dividends are discretionary: they only happen when the issuer's board declares one. The process:

1. The issuer's board passes a dividend resolution and files it with Ardent and the Registrar-General.
2. Ardent publishes a dividend notice to every affected investor with the per-share amount, the record date, and the expected payment date.
3. On the record date, Ardent snapshots the cap table. Anyone holding shares at that moment is entitled to the dividend.
4. On the payment date, the funds follow the same four-hop chain shown at the top of this page and land in your payout method net of withholding.

Dividends appear in the activity timeline on your portfolio dashboard alongside debt coupons. The monthly statement breaks the two out separately so you can distinguish interest income from dividend income for your own records.

The reinvestment option

Rather than sweeping every distribution out to your bank or MoMo, you can elect to keep distributions on Ardent and redeploy them into new campaigns. Two flavours:

How to switch to reinvestment

1. 1

   Open Settings → Payouts

   Lists every active payout method linked to your account.

2. 2

   Set default destination to Ardent wallet

   This stops the sweep-out to bank/MoMo for every new distribution. Existing scheduled payouts on the old rail will still run, new ones from this point onward route to your wallet.

3. 3

   (Optional) Configure auto-reinvest rules

   Optional

   Under Settings → Auto-reinvest, define your preferred sector, minimum yield, maximum ticket per campaign, and instrument type. Ardent will only roll your wallet balance into campaigns that match every rule.

Switching or updating your payout method

You can change your default payout method any time. The change applies to the next distribution after you save, any payout already instructed to the custodian will still run on the old rail to avoid double-payment.

To add or edit a payout method: Settings → Payouts → Add method. Bank accounts require a 1-penny (GHS 0.01) micro-deposit verification; mobile money numbers are verified via a one-time OTP to the handset.

Related reading

• Your portfolio, how payments appear in your dashboard and activity feed.
• Escrow explained, how investor money is segregated from Ardent and from issuers before and after a raise.
• Supported payments, the full list of banks, cards, and mobile-money operators supported for funding and payouts.
• Fees, the platform-fee schedule applied to distributions.