Settling Up
How money moves at the end of a round.
1. How settlement works
When every hole is scored, tap Review & Settle from the Score Entry screen. The Review screen shows the full scorecard. Tap Settle and FOREPAID calculates the pairwise debts.
Pairwise means every bet runs between every pair of players. In a foursome, your Nassau with Bryan is a separate bet from your Nassau with Ravi. Six pairings in a foursome total.
At settle time those pairwise debts net out and you see one number per pair.
You won the Front 9 vs Bryan ($5). Bryan won the Back 9 vs you ($3). The Overall tied. Bryan won a $2 skin.
Net: Bryan owes you $5 − $3 − $2 = $0. You're square.
2. FOREPAID doesn't hold the money
We don't have a wallet. We don't sit between you and your friends. The actual money moves from your friend's Venmo (or Cash App or Zelle) directly to yours. FOREPAID tracks who owes whom — that's it.
This is intentional. Holding money would mean we'd be a regulated money-transmitter — which would mean fees, KYC checks, and a slow payout. Instead we route you straight to the apps you already use to pay your friends, and the transfer takes seconds.
3. Paying through Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle
On the Settle screen, each debt has a pay button. Tap it and the matching app opens with the amount and recipient already filled in. You tap once in Venmo (or Cash App or Zelle) to send.
How buttons appear
- Venmo appears if your friend has added a Venmo handle on their Profile.
- Cash App appears if they've added a $Cashtag.
- Zelle appears if they've added the phone number or email tied to their Zelle.
If a button is greyed out, your friend hasn't added that handle yet. They can add it on Profile in 30 seconds and the button activates the next time the screen loads.
4. Marking debts paid
After the money moves in Venmo (or wherever), come back to FOREPAID and tap Mark Paid.
Mark Paid is bookkeeping only. It doesn't move money. It records that the obligation is settled so both players see it cleared on the Settle screen.
If you tapped Mark Paid by mistake, a small Undo bar slides up at the bottom of the screen for about 5 seconds. Tap Undo and the debt flips back to unpaid. After the 5 seconds the bar disappears and the action sticks — once that happens, email support@forepaid.app with the round details and we can reopen it for you.
5. The three post-round phases
After hole 18, every round moves through three phases. Each phase has its own write rules. The host (round creator) drives all phase transitions, and the whole foursome's screens follow.
- A — Reviewing. All 18 holes are scored but no money has been paid yet. Anyone can still edit any score. The Settle screen recomputes live every time a score changes.
- B — Locked. The first Mark Paid tap freezes the ledger. Scores become read-only. Money is the receipt; we don't let the math change after dollars have moved. The host has a "void settlement" path that returns the round to Phase A and notifies every phone via a banner.
- C — Closed. Every pair has paid. The round is permanent and shows in History as completed. Nothing editable.
6. When a bet voids — no money moves
Some round outcomes mean the bet doesn't settle at all. The Settle screen makes these clear so you don't wonder where the money went.
- Tied segments. Nassau, Match Play, Stroke Play, and Wolf — if the top is tied, that bet shows as "Tied — no settlement" and nobody pays.
- Skins carry that never resolves. When the win condition is "low par-or-better" and nobody on the carried holes ever made par or better, the pot refunds. You'll see a "Skins bet voided" note on the Settle screen.
6. If someone leaves mid-round (DNF)
Sometimes a player has to bail before 18 — work emergency, kid sick, lightning closed the course. FOREPAID handles it with a DNF (did not finish) mark.
The forfeit rule
When a player is marked DNF on a hole, that hole counts as a forfeit loss for them in every game. The skin on that hole goes to whoever's still in. The Nassau segment's running total ticks against them. The Wolf hole pays out as if they lost. The engine treats it as the worst possible outcome on that hole.
Marking DNF
Anyone in the round can mark a player DNF. On the Score Entry screen, tap the player's row → DNF. The hole locks with a "DNF" label in gold instead of a stroke count.
If a player has to leave for the rest of the round, mark each remaining hole DNF so the round can settle. The settle button doesn't unlock until every player has either a score or a DNF for every hole.
What about the rest of the round?
The other players keep playing. Their wagers settle normally based on the scores of whoever's still in. The DNF player owes the forfeit amounts but doesn't score anything more after they're out.
7. If a score or settlement looks wrong
Before tapping Settle, the score-owner can edit any score from the Scorecard. Any change updates everyone's standings in real time.
Once a round is settled, scores lock to preserve an audit trail. If you spot an error after settlement, email support@forepaid.app with:
- The course and date
- The names of the players
- Which score is wrong and what it should be
We can void the round on the back end so the group can re-enter it. We don't ever change individual scores ourselves — that has to come from the players in the round.
8. What FOREPAID doesn't do
- We don't take a cut. The stake your group agrees to is the stake that moves. FOREPAID's revenue comes from the subscription (Monthly or Annual), not from your wagers.
- We don't lend money. If someone owes more than they can pay, that's a conversation between you and them.
- We don't issue tax forms. The amounts are personal friend-to-friend transfers. Handle taxes per your own situation.
- We don't extend credit. Every settlement is between two people who already played the round together.
Still stuck on a settlement? Email support@forepaid.app with the round link from your share screen and we'll walk through it with you.