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 will guide you through the process of adding additional bank accounts for Merchants or Referrers who are already boarded or 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, & 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 account(s) 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 is:

A Void Check,
A Bank Letter, or;
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.

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.

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.

Step 1: Navigate to the Merchants page or Referrers page within the Management category.

Step 2: Click on the desired Merchant to bring up their Merchant Profile or Referrer Profile.

Step 3: Click the Banking tab on the left.

Step 4: Click the ADD NEW ACCOUNT button in the upper right-hand corner.

Step 5: Click the LINK ACCOUNT button in the lightbox and select the type of usage: Billing, Deposits, or All.

Step 6: Click the LINK NEW ACCOUNT button in the lightbox to reveal the Plaid integration lightbox.

Step 7: Complete each Plaid prompt:

Click the Continue button to accept the Plaid End User Privacy Policy
Click the Continue to Login button after selecting the information you’d like to share from the checkboxes available to redirect to your banking institution’s online account login.
Click each checkbox next to the banking account(s) you’d like to add to your Merchant account and click the Continue button at the bottom of the lightbox.
Click on the Terms and Conditions checkbox to acknowledge and accept the terms and information being shared. Then, click the Connect account information button.
Click the final Continue button to complete the process.

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 /accounts endpoint and submit documentation separately.

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:

Step 1: Navigate to the Merchants page within the Management category.

Step 2: Click on the desired Merchant to bring up their Merchant Profile.

Step 3: Click the Banking tab on the left.

Step 4: Click the ADD NEW ACCOUNT button in the upper right-hand corner.

Step 5: Click the ADD ACCOUNT MANUALLY button in the lightbox and view the prompt below:

Step 6: Click Continue on the prompt, then click the ENTER ACCOUNT MANUALLY button.

Step 7: Enter the Type of bank account, Routing & Account Number, and Usage Options

Click ADVANCED OPTIONS to add an optional bank account name and description.

Step 8: Upload one of the qualifying support documents into the Upload and Attach Files field.

Step 9: Click the ADD button to complete the process.

“Adding a New Bank Account” Form Fields & Descriptions

Field	Required	Description

Field	Required	Description
Type	Required	From the dropdown menu, select what time of bank account is being added. Valid Values: Checking Savings Corporate Checking Corporate Savings
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 utilized 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	Use this field to give the bank account a custom description if desired.

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.

Manually Add a New Bank Account - Example Code Snippet

Visit our API Documentation for parameter descriptions and valid values.

Request URL & Header

POST /accounts HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json
Host: api-test.payrix.com
APIKEY:{{private_api_key}}

Example Request Body

{
    "entity": "t1_ent_xxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "primary": "0",
    "currency": "USD",
    "name":"Bank Account Non-Primary",
    "account": {
        "method": "10",
        "number": "{{New_Account_Number}}",
        "routing": "{{New_Routing_Number}}"
        }
}

Example Response

{
    "account": {
        "id": "t1_pmt_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "method": "10",
        "number": "1234567890123456",
        "routing": "123456789",
        "bin": "123456789",
        "payment": null,
        "lastChecked": null,
        "last4": "1111"
    },
    "id": "t1_act_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "created": "2023-08-18 15:37:56.9284",
    "modified": "2024-08-18 15:37:56.9284",
    "creator": "t1_log_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "modifier": "t1_log_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "entity": "t1_ent_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "token": "ab1234cd5ef67g89012h34567a8b9c01",
    "name": "Bank Account Non-Primary",
    "description": "",
    "primary": "0",
    "status": 0,
    "currency": "USD",
    "inactive": 0,
    "frozen": 0,
    "expiration": null,
    "type": "all",
    "reserved": 0,
    "checkStage": null
}

Create a Note Resource to Associate with an Entity and Documents - Example Code Snippet