Unlocking revenue for SaaS platforms with embedded bank payments

Dana Weinstein
Product Manager, Plaid Transfer

Plaid Transfer powers billions in bank payments for businesses like Carvana, Kraken, and Public. But platforms serving networks of small and mid-market customers have been underserved by traditional providers. Today, we’re excited to announce Transfer for Platforms, a new solution that combines flexible, multi-rail money movement with Plaid’s trusted user experience and integrated risk tools. 

The result: faster onboarding, broader adoption of ACH, and fewer returns—all in one solution.

Introducing Transfer for Platforms

Transfer for Platforms is designed for vertical SaaS platforms to integrate seamless bill payments directly into their products. Whether your customers need to collect payments (like rent, medical bills, or tuition) or disburse funds for vendor payments, Transfer for Platforms delivers it all through a single solution:

• Onboard customers in minutes with API-driven flows, replacing weeks of manual paperwork.

• Move money across multiple rails (ACH, Same-Day ACH, RTP, FedNow) through one integration.

• Reduce failed payments with built-in balance checks and risk controls.

• Lower costs by up to 40% compared to cards.

• Gain full visibility and control across customers, transactions, and returns.

Without Plaid, payments are costly and complex; with Transfer, you get onboarding, risk, and payments all in one place. Customers like AdminiPay have reduced customer onboarding time from three weeks to under 30 minutes and reduced payment costs by 75%, demonstrating how platforms can turn payments into both a better customer experience and a growth driver.

Turning payments into a growth engine for platforms

Embedded payments turn a SaaS product into a more complete solution, creating opportunities to monetize beyond subscriptions.  When payments are integrated natively into workflows, customers get a smoother experience, platforms unlock new revenue streams, and the product becomes stickier. 

But for most platforms, payments aren’t a core competency, so building a seamless, scalable experience can be challenging.  Traditional processors slow growth with document-heavy onboarding and long approval times. Transfer for Platforms changes that by providing digital onboarding, real-time risk management, and multi-rail money movement that is built to scale.

Why platforms are choosing Plaid

Transfer for Platforms unifies onboarding, risk, and money movement in a single solution. With Plaid, platforms benefit from:

• 5x higher ACH adoption through Plaid’s trusted account linking experience

• Faster, more flexible payouts with Same-Day ACH and instant options

• Up to 75% fewer ACH returns when integrated with Plaid Signal

Plaid optimizes the entire payment flow—from onboarding to settlement—with the platform experience in mind.

Key Features

1. API-first onboarding, with full experience control
Most SaaS platforms want to own their customer experience, but legacy payment providers force them through third-party logins or separate onboarding portals. With Transfer for Platforms, the entire onboarding flow stays within your product so customers don’t have to double enroll. The API-first design allows you to onboard merchants in minutes instead of days, without unnecessary redirects or added friction.

2. Built for scale with operational flexibility
As platforms grow, so does the complexity of their operational and compliance needs. Transfer for Platforms supports customer-level fund tracking through:

• Sub-ledgers with fully routable virtual account numbers

• Configurable hold times and payout speeds

• Built-in risk tooling to help reduce ACH returns

• Integrated fee collection, for greater control over your business model and cash flow 

All of this is available via API so you can configure and manage your flows of funds programmatically, without relying on manual processes or separate systems.

3. Visibility and control through one dashboard
Managing a payment program across hundreds or thousands of customers shouldn’t require logging into multiple systems or pulling reports by hand. With Transfer for Platforms, you can track onboarding progress, payment activity, and key performance indicators from a single dashboard. Every transaction, balance, and return is viewable at the customer level.

Built for platforms like AdminiPay

AdminiPay provides payments and financing tools for merchants in industries like home services. Using Transfer for Platforms, they:

• Launched bank payments in weeks—not months

• Reduced onboarding from three weeks to under 30 minutes

• Shifted 20% of transactions to ACH, cutting processing costs by up to 75%

• Improved transparency with real-time payment status, lowering support requests

Read more about AdminiPay’s story.

Build better payments, faster

Transfer for Platforms is the easiest way for vertical SaaS platforms to launch, manage, and scale modern bill payments. Whether you’re powering collection or payouts, Plaid gives you the tools to do it all—with speed, confidence, and control.

FAQ

What are the benefits of bank payments for billing?

Bank payments can materially lower processing costs for billers by bypassing card networks and interchange, making them especially attractive for recurring billing and larger-ticket invoices. They’re also more durable for subscriptions and bill pay because bank accounts don’t expire, which helps reduce involuntary churn and failed payments over time. Businesses using Plaid have also seen improved success when customers link accounts: Wave payers were 5.6x less likely to make a mistake that leads to a failed payment. And because of Plaid’s trusted UX, customers are 5x more likely to adopt ACH than when manual entry is used, helping drive higher conversion for platforms.

What’s the process for onboarding customers to start collecting and sending bank payments?
With Transfer for Platforms, onboarding is API-driven and can be fully embedded into your existing UX. Platforms can get customers live in minutes without redirecting them to external sign up pages, keeping the entire flow inside their product. This streamlined process eliminates the need for multiple providers or lengthy manual reviews, helping platforms scale payments faster while delivering a frictionless experience for their customers.

What payment rails does Transfer for Platforms support?
Transfer for Platforms supports multiple rails, including ACH (standard and same-day), instant payouts via Real-Time Payments (RTP) and FedNow, as well as wires. By supporting a variety of rails, platforms can offer their customers faster settlement options, more redundancy, and the flexibility to choose the best payment method for each transaction type.

How does Transfer for Platforms help reduce payment costs for merchants?
Merchants save on average 40% compared to cards by implementing pay by bank. With lower fees, bank payments help merchants keep more of their revenue while still offering customers a secure, seamless payment experience. For high-volume or recurring billers, this cost reduction has a meaningful impact on margins and can help them grow more sustainably over time.

Does Transfer for Platforms include built-in risk management tools?
Yes. Transfer includes the Transfer Risk Engine, which enables platforms to configure program-level risk rules.  These rules are based on real-time balances, and can also incorporate machine-learning powered risk rules by integrating with Plaid Signal. By combining verification and machine learning-driven risk signals, platforms can minimize fraud and insufficient funds, while improving the success rate of every payment.

How can I get started with Transfer for Platforms?
You can join the waitlist today to be among the first to access Transfer for Platforms and learn about beta opportunities. Once accepted, you’ll get early access to product updates, documentation, and support to help you plan your rollout and start embedding bill payments into your platform. Join the waitlist.