Below is a collection of the questions we get asked most frequently about our API or related parts of our platform.

Where / how can i access the sandbox?

Sandbox accounts are synchronized within roughly 6 hours after a user is created. Once your account has been synchronized you can access the sandbox at https://websb.checkissuing.com/ to get your sandbox api credentials and view/manage sandbox payments and accounts. ALL TESTING SHOULD BE DONE VIA THE SANDBOX

Is there a way to add a sandbox/prod funding source through the dashboard? And, what are the sandbox test bank account details?

You login to the sandbox panel at https://websb.checkissuing.com/ and add real bank accounts like you normally would. There is currently no fake/test accounts provisioned for sandbox usage only.

We want to start sending digital checks going forward. How can we do this via API?

You send digital checks the same as you would send a normal check, just provide the recipients email address instead of mailing address in the address parameter. Any checks with an email address for an address will be sent as a digital check.

We created a payment using payments/add but don't see it listed in the web based panel/can't find it anywhere? What did we do wrong, did we miss a step?

Yes. Once a payment is created using payments/add you must take the id that is returned in the result and call payments/confirm passing it. Payments will not show in the panel or get processed/sent nuless they are confirmed.

What are the differences between reference and memo on checks?

The memo parameter gets printed on the remittence area of the stub while reference gets printed on the actual check.

When sending an ACH payment is the payment[account_type] parameter supposed to be the account type of the funding account or the destination account? Is there any change in functionality when this is specified vs when it isn't?

This is the account type of the receiving account and must be one of the following values: CHECKING, SAVINGS, BUSINESS. It is required unless the payee's email address is provided as payment[payee_address] and you are collecting their account information via email.

Will what's listed in a bank accounts metadata object override what's listed directly on the account?

Yes, bank account metadata takes precedent.

Looking at the bank-accounts/metadata API for modifying a bank name of an existing account. It looks like this API modifies the metadata.bank_name, but not the account.institution_name. Is the metadata.bank_name the value that's ultimately printed on checks?

Yes, account.institution_name is provided by plaid and isn't always reliable. We print the user provided value from the metadata on the checks.

Speaking of bank account metadata, what is the fractional routing code and do i need it?

The fractional routing code is not needed by most banks. It is optional and we provide support only for those who wish to use it.

Some of our customers' banks require ACH-Company/Originator IDs for allowing ACH transfers. Can you share your ACH/originator ID?

Our ACH originator ID is 1472830841

What's the character limit for fields like bank_name or other metadata.

Generally it's 255 characters storage wise. As for printing we will wrap values that are too long. We do not see bank names get wrapped except in very rare cases so you're most likely safe at any reasonable length.

When something is "kicked back", does that generally mean the payment is put into some "bad state" status like "cancelled" or back to "pending release"?

It ultimately depends on why it was "kicked back" / returned. If it's a printed check and we are processing returns it will go to the 'Returned' status. ACHs may go to returned depending on if we get feedback from our banking partners about it being returned.

When would an email be sent to a recipient if an email address is specified as the payments address.

All digital check recipients will receive an email. ACH recipients will receive an email asking them to provide account information if none is provided or an email telling them that they have been sent an ACH payment if account information was provided.

Do you have any insight into what would happen if a check were printed using a funding bank account whose bank name is incorrect, but the routing number is correct? Will banks generally accept or reject those checks?

It's on a bank by bank basis. In our experience most banks will accept these checks, however we cannot garuntee it. It is in your best interest to ensure the bank name is correct on the account's metadata when the account is added. The more accurate this information is the better.

For ACH, is there any validation of payment-destination account/routing that happens? If something invalid slipped through our system, would we see an error in the payment-add response (not seeing any errors for invalid values in the sandbox), or would the payment enter a "cancelled" state?

Our error handling is a bit flexible on adding payments due to things like the ability to send an ACH w/ just an email address or cell # (or w/ account info) so it really depends on what it is that comes through if you get an error or not.

For checks,if an incorrectly formatted address was sent on check-payment-add (we sent a payment[address] field missing the state/zip piece for example), would the check still be printed with an incomplete address or would the payment be put in an error state?

Our address does some minor corrections on addresses so it really depends on how off the provided address is. If we cannot determine a valid address the payment will be marked as 'needing repaired' and you will receive a notification (if payment flagging notifications are enabled) and a webhook request letting you know (if you have a webhook url configured) so that you can edit the payment and correct the issue.

Are international ACH transfers supported?

Currently they are not supported.

Are there any limitations around mailing checks outside of the country?

We don’t restrict international checks, it is up to our customers to comply with OFAC standards since the money is being transferred from their bank accounts. Please make sure your address that is passed with that countries address conventions, otherwise it will be returned.

What exactly is the bank_addr field used for when adding a bank account?

This is the address printed under the banks name on checks.

Does the 9AM MST cutoff for checks and 8PM EST cutoff for ACH also apply on weekends, or are both of these only processed on weekdays? If it’s weekdays only, will everything created after Friday’s cutoff be processed on Monday? Do bank holidays have an impact on ACHs and checks?

Those cutoff times apply to only weekdays, not weekends. As far as the weekdays, checks are not sent out on holidays that the USPS is not open and ACH’s are not processed on banking holidays. And yes, everything created after Friday’s cutoff be processed on Monday.

For mailing checks, what are the "payment[postage_type]" options?

There is a full list of available postage codes in the resources section of this documentation. Click here to view them.

Is there a limit to how far in the future we can schedule a payment (sent as payment[send_date]) ?

There’s no limit on how far into the future a payment can be scheduled on our end.

What's the expected formatting of the "address_on_checks" and "return_address" fields when creating a bank account? Do these expect you to add escaped newlines to split the street address and state lines?

No, you can pass them as a standard address. Our system will parse them and intelligently split them into seperate lines. If you would like more control over the lines, you can cause a newline by using a | character. Addresses containing a | will not be parsed/split automatically.

When creating an ACH payment will the payment[memo] field be the text that appears on bank statements? If not, is there a different field that will be used?

This will be passed to the receiving bank as the addenda. How much of it/what exactly shows on the bank statements varies bank to bank but generally atleast a certain amount of this field will show.