Pay via ACH lets you send funds from a Passport Account to a bank account outside the Passport system through the ACH (Automated Clearing House) network.

This payout method supports multiple destination types, depending on who you are paying. Use a pre-linked External Account when sending money to your own bank account outside the system, use a Contact when sending money to another person or business outside the system, or use a one-time destination when you do not want to save the recipient in advance.

ACH is commonly used for vendor payments, payroll disbursements, and transfers from a Passport Account to an external bank account.

Use Pay via ACH when you need to send funds to a bank account in a cost-effective manner.

Common Use Cases:

• Transfer funds from a Passport Account to your own external bank account
• Pay vendors, suppliers, or service providers
• Disburse payroll to employees
• Pay saved Contacts

Prepare payout recipients

Before initiating an ACH payout, decide how you want to provide the destination bank account.

• Use External Accounts when sending funds to your own bank account outside the system and you want to save it for reuse.
• Use Add Payees as Contacts when sending funds to another person’s or business’s bank account outside the system and you want to reuse their saved payee details later.
• Use a one-time destination when you need to send funds to a bank account outside the system without saving it in advance.

This helps you choose the right destination type based on whether you are paying your own external account, a third-party recipient, or a one-time bank destination.

Create an ACH payout

Processing an ACH payout involves sending bank account details to the API and tracking the transaction lifecycle.

1. Make a POST request to /v1/customer/id/{id}/transaction (or externalId) API endpoint with the required parameters:

   Parameter	Required	Description
   method	✓	Set to ACH
   externalId	Optional	Your own reference ID for the transaction. Maximum 45 characters.
   type	Optional	Type of transaction. Possible values: REGULAR. Use REFUND only when refunding a previously completed ACH payout. See Optional: Refund a completed ACH payout.
   source.account.id (or externalId)	✓	The Passport Account to be debited
   destination	✓	Defines the bank account to be credited. Refer to the Destination Types accordion below for supported options.
   amount	✓	Amount to send (in USD)
   purpose	✓	Purpose of the transaction. Maximum 128 characters.

2. You can also pass the processingDetail object, which carries additional processing instructions for your transaction. While optional as a whole, certain fields within it may be required depending on your Program Manager configuration.

   Parameter	Required	Description
   processingDetail.processingMode	Recommended	Processing mode for the transaction. Possible values: FORWARD (default) – Settles next business day (end-of-day batch); SAME_DAY – Settles same day if submitted before cutoff, else next business day.
   processingDetail.companyName	Recommended	The payee name populated in the NACHA file. Defaults to Program Manager configuration if not provided. Maximum 16 characters.
   processingDetail.companyDescription	Recommended	Short description shown on the recipient's bank statement. Common examples: PAYROLL, PURCHASE. Defaults to Program Manager configuration if not provided. Maximum 10 characters. Per NACHA rules (effective March 20, 2026), set to PAYROLL for PPD credit transactions for wages or salaries, and PURCHASE for WEB debit transactions authorized for online consumer purchases.
   processingDetail.authType	Conditional	Authorization type for the transaction. Possible values: WRITTEN – Signed authorization; PHONE – Recorded call authorization; ONLINE – Digital or web authorization. Mandatory if no default is configured at the Program Manager level.
   processingDetail.addenda	Recommended	Additional reference data for reconciliation. Examples: Invoice number, customer reference ID, order ID. Maximum 80 characters.
   processingDetail.location.id		Unique identifier of a location to be linked to the transaction, assigned by Passport.

3. Once the request is submitted, our system performs a series of system-level validations before sending the transaction for processing. These validations check for:

   1. Missing or invalid required fields
   2. Incorrect parameter formats or values
   3. Program Manager configuration or permission issues

   If any validation fails, the request is rejected immediately and an error response is returned. You must correct the issue and resubmit the request. For a complete list of validation errors and how to resolve them, refer to the Error Codes & Messages section.

4. If all validations pass, the transaction is submitted for processing. You can track the outcome by:

   1. Retrieving the transaction via GET /v1/customer/id/{id}/transaction/id/{id} (or externalId) API endpoint
   2. Subscribing to Transaction webhooks

   Check the status field to understand the current state of the transaction.

5. For every successfully created transaction, store:

   1. id – Unique transaction identifier assigned by Passport
   2. externalId – Your reference identifier (if provided)

   These are required for tracking, reconciliation, and any follow-up actions such as cancellations.

Optional: Refund a completed ACH payout

Use this flow when you need to refund a previously completed ACH payout.

To refund a previously completed ACH payout, set type to REFUND and reference the original transaction using processingDetail.parent.id. Source and destination do not need to be passed for refund transactions because the system derives them from the parent transaction.

Example Request

{
  "method": "ACH",
  "type": "REFUND",
  "processingDetail": {
    "achRefundCompanyName": "AMEX LTD",
    "achRefundCompanyDescription": "756766876",
    "parent": {
      "id": "3317"
    }
  },
  "amount": "05.00",
  "purpose": "Card Refund",
  "reason": "ON_CUSTOMER_REQUEST"
}

Transaction Statuses

The table below describes the possible statuses of an ACH Send transaction and the reasons associated with each.

Best Practices