Adding a Bank Account
All Merchants or Referrers processing on the Platform must have at least one U.S. or Canada-based bank account on file. Therefore, new Merchants or Referrers are prompted to enter their bank account during the onboarding process. This document guides you through the process of adding additional bank accounts for Merchants or Referrers who are already boarded or are integrating new bank accounts in the future.
Note: This process and its review period apply to Merchant and Referrer-level users.
Bank Account Types and Requirements
All Merchants or Referrers boarded to the Platform must have an active U.S.-based bank account on file. A bank account serves two purposes for an entity:
Account for Deposits: A required bank account to receive deposits from Available Balance funds
Account for Debits: A required bank account to be debited to cover negative balances owed
Merchants or Referrers can use one bank account on file for both payouts and debits, individual bank accounts for deposits and debits, or multiple bank accounts with unique, individual purposes.
Bank Account Validation
As a Payment Facilitator, the Platform validates any bank account submitted by an entity. This validation includes active status, type of account, and ownership and prevents funds from being sent to an incorrect bank account due to a typo or invalid information.
To perform the validation, the Platform uses Plaid to allow Merchants or Referrers to link their bank accounts for instant validation using a Portal lightbox to securely log in to their bank for integration.
For instances where an entity attempts to manually add new bank information or change existing bank information, follow the Manual Account Validation process below:
Manual Bank Account Validation
If an entity manually submits its bank account, they are required to submit documentation to Platform Risk for account validation.
When entering information in the Portal for a new bank account manually, like account and routing numbers, a file upload window at the bottom of the form requires a document file to be uploaded before the form can be submitted. This can also be achieved using the API using the steps provided below.
Qualifying Bank Account Supporting Documentation:
A voided check
A bank letter
A bank statement
For existing bank accounts, supporting documents are only required if the routing or account number fields are being updated. Changes to account types do not require supporting documentation.
When entering information in the Portal for a new bank account manually, like account and routing numbers, a file upload window at the bottom of the form requires a document file to be uploaded before the form can be submitted.
Warning: For existing bank accounts having account or routing numbers updated, a manual review of the supporting documents is required for approval and can take up to 5 business days.
Critical Warning: During the 5-day manual review and approval period, all payments processed will still be funded to your Portal account’s available balance and will be ready for immediate withdrawal to your bank account, once validated.
Link a Bank Account with Plaid
With Plaid enabled, Merchants or Referrers will be prompted to go through the bank account linking process as they sign up.
This process will require the Merchant to submit their confidential online banking login and should only be completed by one of the Merchant’s users directly and not by anyone else on the Merchant’s behalf.
Linking a New Bank Account with Plaid
This process will require the Merchant to submit their confidential online banking login and should only be completed by one of the Merchant’s users directly and not by anyone else on the Merchant’s behalf.
Navigate to the Merchants page or Referrers page within the Management category.
Click on the desired Merchant to bring up their Merchant Profile or Referrer Profile.
Click the Banking tab on the left.
Click ADD NEW ACCOUNT in the upper-right corner.
Click LINK ACCOUNT in the lightbox and select the type of usage: Billing, Deposits, or All.
Click LINK NEW ACCOUNT in the lightbox to reveal the Plaid integration lightbox.
Complete each Plaid prompt:
Click Continue to accept the Plaid End User Privacy Policy.
Click Continue to Login after selecting the information you’d like to share from the checkboxes available to redirect to your banking institution’s online account login.
Select each checkbox next to the banking accounts you’d like to add to your Merchant account and click Continue at the bottom of the lightbox.
Select the Terms and Conditions checkbox to acknowledge and accept the terms and information being shared. Then, click Connect account information.
Click the final Continue button to complete the process.
Notice of Tokenized Account Numbers (TANs)
Some banking institutions, such as Chase Bank, use a tokenized account number or TAN for each third-party integration of a user's bank account.
This security practice protects your original bank account and routing numbers by never allowing them to be seen by any third-party integration.
If your TAN is ever compromised, a new one can be generated after contacting Chase Bank instead of the more time-consuming process of closing and re-opening a new account.
As a result, the account and routing number shown in the Portal will not match your original account and routing number Chase Bank.
This is expected. Contact Chase Bank or visit Chase Bank’s Developer article regarding TANs if you have further questions or concerns.
How to Manually Add a New Bank Account
If an entity’s bank is not eligible for use with Plaid, or to skip the Plaid process, they can manually add a new bank account.
There are two methods available to add a new bank account manually:
Use the Portal to enter bank account information and upload documentation in the Merchant Profile.
Use the API to enter the information using the
/accountsendpoint and submit documentation separately.
Note: Manually adding a bank account requires a manual review of supporting documents to approve the addition.
See the Manual Validation Process above for more information on qualifying support documents and the manual review approval period timeline.
Manually Add a New Bank Account in the Portal
The Portal uses the Banking tab within the Merchant Profile to update or add new bank account information to a specific Merchant. In instances where an entity’s banking institution does not currently integrate with Plaid, or the Merchant would like to manually add the account, this option is useful.
To manually add a new bank account in the portal, follow the steps below:
Navigate to the Merchants page within the Management category.
Click on the desired Merchant to bring up their Merchant Profile.
Click the Banking tab on the left.
Click ADD NEW ACCOUNT in the upper-right corner.
Click ADD ACCOUNT MANUALLY in the lightbox and view the prompt below:
“Adding a new bank account will take up to 5 business to verify, you can continue to use your current bank account until your new account is confirmed
You will be required to upload a void check, bank statement, or bank letter to verify your account, Thank you for helping to keep your account safe.”
Click Continue on the prompt, then click ENTER ACCOUNT MANUALLY.
Enter the Type of bank account, Routing & Account Number, and Usage Options.
Click ADVANCED OPTIONS to add an optional bank account name and description.
Upload one of the qualifying support documents into the Upload and Attach Files field.
Click ADD to complete the process.
Warning: You cannot use a manually added account for up to 5 business days from update or creation until approved by Underwriting.
“Adding a New Bank Account” Form Fields & Descriptions
Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
Type | Required | From the dropdown menu, select what time of bank account is being added. Valid Values:
It is important to specify if a bank account is a corporate or personal account. |
Routing Number | Required | Enter the 9-digit routing number associated with this bank account. |
Account Number | Required | Enter the account number associated with this bank account. |
Usage | Required | From the dropdown menu, select whether this bank account will be used for deposits, debits, or both (All). |
Bank Account Name (Advanced Options) | Optional | You can give the new bank account a custom name to differentiate it from other bank accounts on file. |
Account Description (Advanced Options) | Optional | You can use this field to give the bank account a custom description. |
Manually Add a New Bank Account using the API
Bank accounts can also be manually submitted using the API by sending a POST request to the /accounts endpoint. In the body of the request, you will include the Entity ID of the Merchant, as well as the data for the below fields.
You can find the full description of this resource in our API Reference.
Create a Document Resource to Associate with the Note - Example Code Snippet
Visit the Payrix Pro API Documentation for parameter descriptions and valid values.
Request URL & Header
POST /noteDocuments HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json
Host: api-test.payrix.com
APIKEY:{{private_api_key}}Example Request Body
{
"note": "t1_not_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"type": "png",
"documentType": "voidCheck",
"description": "Updating Existing Bank Account.",
"name": "Voided Bank Check for ABC Company",
"status": "created",
inactive: "0",
frozen: "0"
}voidCheck is used in the example above, but any of the following documents can be used in this process:
voidCheck: A voided check for bank account verificationbankStatement: A bank statementbankLetter: A bank letter for verification
Warning: Submitting the wrong documentType (for example, submitting a bank letter when voidCheck is selected) can cause significant delays in underwriting approval.
Example Response
{
"id": "t1_ntd_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"created": "2024-08-18 13:22:51.2252",
"modified": "2024-08-18 13:22:51.2252",
"creator": "t1_log_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"modifier": "t1_log_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"note": "t1_not_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"type": "png",
"documentType": "voidCheck",
"name": "Voided Bank Check for ABC Company",
"description": "Updating Existing Bank Account",
"status": "created",
"inactive": "0",
"frozen": "0"
}