Pay via ACH sends funds from a Passport Account to an external bank account over the ACH (Automated Clearing House) network. Use it for vendor payments, payroll disbursements, and refunds. You pay a third party saved as a Contact, or a one-time recipient. For the full field list, jump to the Request reference.

Moving funds to your own bank account is a transfer of your own money, not a payout. See Transfer funds.

Common use cases

• Pay vendors, suppliers, or service providers
• Disburse payroll to employees
• Refund or pay a one-off recipient

Make your first payout

The fastest way to see it work: pay a saved vendor (Contact) with the minimal fields below. The full set of options is in the Request reference.

POST /v1/customer/id/{id}/transaction

{
  "externalId": "ach-first-payout-001",
  "method": "ACH",
  "amount": "1200.00",
  "purpose": "Vendor Payment",
  "source": { "account": { "externalId": "passport-account-001" } },
  "destination": {
    "contact": {
      "externalId": "vendor-contact-001",
      "externalAccount": { "externalId": "vendor-bank-001" }
    }
  }
}

You'll get back a transaction with status: SCHEDULED. Store the returned id and your externalId to track it and for follow-up actions.

Scenarios

Every ACH payout follows the transaction lifecycle. The only thing that changes per scenario is the destination, so pick the one that matches the problem you're solving.

sequenceDiagram
    participant You as Your Application
    participant PCE as PCE
    participant ACH as ACH Network
    participant Bank as Recipient's Bank

    You->>PCE: POST /v1/customer/id/{id}/transaction (method: ACH)
    PCE->>PCE: Validate balance + destination
    PCE-->>You: 201 Created (status: SCHEDULED)
    PCE->>ACH: Submit ACH credit — PROCESSING
    ACH->>Bank: Route funds to beneficiary
    Bank-->>ACH: Credit confirmation
    ACH-->>PCE: Settlement complete
    PCE-->>You: Webhook (status: COMPLETED)

Before you begin (all scenarios)

• The Passport Account you're paying from is active and has enough balance to cover the payout.

Each scenario below adds one requirement specific to its destination.

Scenario 1: Pay a vendor or contractor you pay regularly

(third-party recipient saved as a Contact)

Use this to pay a vendor, supplier, contractor, or employee you'll pay again. Save their bank details once as a Contact, then reference the contact on every payout.

You'll also need: the recipient saved as a Contact with a linked external bank account.

Request

POST /v1/customer/id/{id}/transaction

{
  "externalId": "ach-contact-2dd0",
  "method": "ACH",
  "type": "REGULAR",
  "amount": "1200.00",
  "purpose": "Vendor Payment",
  "source": { "account": { "externalId": "passport-account-001" } },
  "destination": {
    "contact": {
      "externalId": "vendor-contact-001",
      "externalAccount": { "externalId": "vendor-contact-bank-001" }
    }
  },
  "processingDetail": { "processingMode": "SAME_DAY", "authType": "WRITTEN" }
}

Response

{
  "resourceName": "transaction",
  "url": "/v1/customer/id/4225975/transaction/id/230491510",
  "id": 230491510,
  "externalId": "ach-contact-2dd0",
  "status": "SCHEDULED",
  "statusDate": "06/29/2026 14:20:55",
  "amount": 1200,
  "method": "ACH",
  "purpose": "Vendor Payment",
  "type": "REGULAR",
  "transactionClass": "SEND",
  "statusReason": "On User Request",
  "source": {
    "account": { "resourceName": "account", "id": 9915272, "url": "/v1/customer/id/4225975/account/id/9915272" }
  },
  "destination": {
    "contact": { "resourceName": "contact", "id": 4019600, "url": "/v1/customer/id/4225975/contact/id/4019600" }
  }
}

Scenario 2: Make a one-time payout to a new recipient

(bank details passed inline, nothing saved)

Use this for a one-off payment when you don't want to save the recipient, such as a refund or a single disbursement. You pass the bank details directly in the request.

You'll also need: the recipient's holderName, routingNumber, and accountNumber, verified.

Request

POST /v1/customer/id/{id}/transaction

{
  "externalId": "ach-onetime-91be",
  "method": "ACH",
  "type": "REGULAR",
  "amount": "750.00",
  "purpose": "Refund",
  "source": { "account": { "externalId": "passport-account-001" } },
  "destination": {
    "externalAccount": {
      "holderName": "Jane Doe",
      "accountNumber": "987654321098",
      "routingNumber": "021000089",
      "type": "CHECKING",
      "holderType": "CONSUMER"
    }
  },
  "processingDetail": { "processingMode": "FORWARD", "authType": "WRITTEN" }
}

Response

{
  "resourceName": "transaction",
  "url": "/v1/customer/id/4225975/transaction/id/230491521",
  "id": 230491521,
  "externalId": "ach-onetime-91be",
  "status": "SCHEDULED",
  "statusDate": "06/29/2026 16:04:30",
  "amount": 750,
  "method": "ACH",
  "purpose": "Refund",
  "type": "REGULAR",
  "transactionClass": "SEND",
  "statusReason": "On User Request",
  "source": {
    "account": { "resourceName": "account", "id": 9915272, "url": "/v1/customer/id/4225975/account/id/9915272" }
  },
  "destination": {
    "externalAccount": { "resourceName": "externalAccount", "id": 4019508, "url": "/v1/customer/id/4225975/externalAccount/id/4019508" }
  }
}

Scenario 3: Refund a payout you already sent

(reverse a completed payout)

Use this to return funds from a payout that has already completed, for example reversing a vendor payment. You reference the original transaction, and the source and destination are derived from it, so you don't pass them again. Set type to REFUND.

You'll also need: the original payout to exist and be COMPLETED (you can't refund one that's still processing).

Request

POST /v1/customer/id/{id}/transaction

{
  "externalId": "ach-refund-4c2e",
  "method": "ACH",
  "type": "REFUND",
  "amount": "5.00",
  "purpose": "Card Refund",
  "reason": "ON_CUSTOMER_REQUEST",
  "processingDetail": {
    "parent": { "id": "3317" },
    "achRefundCompanyName": "AMEX LTD",
    "achRefundCompanyDescription": "Refund"
  }
}

Response

{
  "resourceName": "transaction",
  "url": "/v1/customer/id/4225975/transaction/id/230491533",
  "id": 230491533,
  "externalId": "ach-refund-4c2e",
  "status": "SCHEDULED",
  "statusDate": "06/29/2026 20:02:50",
  "amount": 5,
  "method": "ACH",
  "type": "REFUND",
  "purpose": "Card Refund",
  "statusReason": "On User Request",
  "processingDetail": {
    "parent": { "id": 230491490 }
  }
}

Track the transaction

Subscribe to webhooks or GET the transaction to follow it to settlement. The statuses, the webhook payload, and the event types all live in Transaction lifecycle.

Request reference

The complete set of fields for the create-transaction request. Scenarios above use subsets of these.

Core parameters

Destination types

The destination object takes one of two shapes, matching the two scenarios above.

Saved Contact (pay a third party you've saved, Scenario 1)

Inline bank details (one-time payout, nothing saved, Scenario 2)

Processing detail

Optional as a whole, but certain fields may be required depending on your program's configuration (set by your Program Manager, the platform partner you onboarded through).

Refund fields

These apply only when type is REFUND (see Scenario 3). Source and destination are derived from the parent transaction, so you don't pass them.

Validation

The prerequisites above are the validations, and PCE enforces them when you submit. A submission is checked synchronously; if a check fails, the request returns an error and no transaction is created. Submission checks:

• Required fields are present and correctly formatted.
• The source Passport Account is active and has enough balance to cover the payout.
• The destination resolves (a saved Contact, or valid one-time bank details).

Other conditions can only be judged once the payout is in flight, such as an inactive or blocked account, a compliance hold, or a bank return. These surface after creation as PENDING or FAILED; see Transaction lifecycle. For error codes, see Error Codes and Messages.

Statuses

Pay via ACH uses the shared transaction lifecycle. See it for every status, the reasons, and how to track a transaction.

Go live

The shared pre-production checklist (production credentials, webhook subscription and signature validation, idempotency, and sandbox testing, including failure and bank-return paths) is in Getting Started. Specific to paying via ACH, also confirm:

• Settlement timing (FORWARD versus SAME_DAY cutoffs) is verified for your program.

Best practices

General practices (set a unique externalId, subscribe to webhooks, test in sandbox) are in Getting Started. Specific to paying via ACH:

Next steps

See also

• Save Payees as Contacts: save vendors for faster repeat payouts
• Transfer funds: move money to an account you own
• Pay via Wire (Domestic): same-day payouts
• Pay via Check and Pay via BOOK: other payout methods
• Error Codes and Messages: resolve a failed or returned payout