Balance Plus (beta)

Get faster and more accurate risk assessment with Balance Plus

Overview

Balance Plus (beta, US only) is an enhanced version of the existing Plaid Balance, integrated into the current /accounts/balance/get endpoint. Balance Plus is designed to improve performance and functionality while requiring minimal implementation work for existing Balance customers.

Balance Plus is currently in closed beta and is not accepting new customers. For a product offering similar functionality, including low-latency responses and more accurate ACH return assessment, see Signal.

Key features

Recurring balance updates and low-latency API responses: Balance Plus offers fast API responses (P95<1.8s) by conducting regular background balance updates (P90 frequency <48 hours) instead of real-time balance extraction, allowing for reduced latency on balance calls that occur after the initial Item add. Balance Plus will return the timestamp of the most recent balance update.
Real-time balance refresh option: While Balance Plus introduces a new method for balance updates, it also retains the option for a real-time balance refresh when calling /accounts/balance/get.
More accurate ACH return risk assessment: Balance Plus offers a risk assessment of individual ACH debit transactions, using Plaid's proprietary machine-learning models, which incorporate data such as the bank account's authentication history with Plaid, past ACH returns, and historical balance. In testing, customers have found the Balance Plus return risk assessment to be over 50% more accurate than a basic balance check.
Increased insight into the "why" behind assessments: When using Balance Plus, you will also receive a rationale behind the risk assessment for any ACH debit transactions deemed "risky", enabling you to take more targeted mitigation actions.

Use cases

Balance Plus may be used for evaluating transaction risk, speeding funds availability or holding funds, triggering further review, offering alternative payment methods (in the case of high or medium-high ACH return risk), or declining transactions if one or more of the following "decline conditions" are present: the exceeds_balance_threshold parameter in the response is true, or the risk code is BK01 (amount exceeds 90% of latest bank account balance), BK02 (total recent ACH transactions exceed 90% of latest bank account balance), or BK07 (frozen/closed account).

Balance Plus responses or underlying attributes may not be used to determine creditworthiness or eligibility. Examples of non-permitted uses include: making onboarding or rejection decisions about a user; determining their eligibility for credit, insurance, rental housing, or employment; setting credit or purchasing limits; building customer profiles; or declining for NSF risk unless a "decline condition" is present. Requiring that the user provide an alternative payment method to proceed with the transaction, instead of the original account linked, is not considered declining the transaction.

If you are unsure whether your use case is permissible, contact Sales or your Plaid account manager.

Migration guide for existing Balance users

The section below shows the new fields added to the Balance endpoint by Balance Plus and shows how an existing Balance user can upgrade to Balance Plus.

Update client library

For compatibility with Balance Plus, ensure you are using recent Plaid client libraries, from June 2024 or later. The minimum versions of the Plaid client library that should be used with Balance Plus are:

Node: 25.0.0
Python: 23.0.0
Ruby: 29.0.0
Go: 26.0.0
Java: 24.0.0

(DTM only) Add to additional consented products

If you have opted in to Data Transparency Messaging and are not already using a product that requests the Risk Info data scope, such as Signal or Account Risk (beta), you will need to request additional permissions from your end users to use Balance Plus. For existing Items, send the Item through update mode with balance_plus in the additional_consented_products array. For new Items, make sure balance_plus is listed in one of the products arrays (products, optional_products, required_if_supported_products, or additional_consented_products) when calling /link/token/create.

If you are not opted in to Data Transparency Messaging, you do not need to follow the steps above, but it is recommended to list balance_plus in one of the products arrays when calling /link/token/create to prepare your integration for the mandatory Data Transparency Messaging enrollment date (currently planned for Q4 2024).

Update the request

To enable Balance Plus on a request, send the payment_details object in the /accounts/balance/get request. All other API request fields remain the same. Populating the payment_details object incurs a Balance Plus billing event rather than the standard Balance request billing, while omitting it or setting it to null results in standard Balance data and Balance billing.

 
Select Language
1const request: AccountsBalanceGetRequest = {
2  access_token: accessToken,
3  payment_details: {
4    account_id: "BxBXxLj1m4HMXBm9WZZmCWVbPjX16EHwv99vp",
5    client_transaction_id: "my_unique_identifier",
6    amount: 102.05
7  }
8};
9try {
10  const response = await plaidClient.accountsBalanceGet(request);
11  const riskAssessment = response.data.payment_risk_assessment;
12} catch (error) {
13  // handle error
14}

In addition to the required fields above, you can also set the optional parameters requires_real_time_balance_refresh: true to force real-time Balance refresh, or customize the balance_threshold_percentage used to test whether the balance is adequate relative to the amount. For details, see the API reference.

Parse new fields in the response

After enabling Balance Plus, the /accounts/balance/get response includes a payment_risk_assessment object providing detailed risk assessment for the requested transaction.

Payment risk assessment excerpt from response
1"payment_risk_assessment": {
  "risk_level": "HIGH",
  "risk_reasons": [
    {
      "code": "BK01",
      "description": "Requested ACH transaction amount exceeds 90% of latest bank account balance. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions  if the account balance is insufficient or exceeds-balance-threshold returns TRUE"
    }
  ],
  "exceeds_balance_threshold": true,
  "balance_last_updated": "2024-03-30T18:25:26Z",
  "attributes": {
      "unauthorized_transactions_count_7d": 0,
      "is_account_frozen_or_restricted": false,
      ... (plus 20+ more attributes)
  }

Enable data sharing

Balance Plus operates on Plaid's consumer-permissioned data network. Consistently sharing ACH returns and processing decision data after a Balance Plus API request improves the accuracy of Balance Plus results and is required for all Balance Plus customers.

To share data, use the following endpoints:

/signal/decision/report to report whether you allowed the transaction
/signal/return/report to report ACH returns

As a temporary option, you can also report this data via a .csv file that is uploaded to an SFTP server on a regular basis, such as weekly. For details, contact your account manager.

`/accounts/balance/get`

Retrieve real-time balance data

The /accounts/balance/get endpoint returns the real-time balance for each of an Item's accounts. While other endpoints, such as /accounts/get, return a balance object, only /accounts/balance/get forces the available and current balance fields to be refreshed rather than cached. This endpoint can be used for existing Items that were added via any of Plaid’s other products. This endpoint can be used as long as Link has been initialized with any other product, balance itself is not a product that can be used to initialize Link. As this endpoint triggers a synchronous request for fresh data, latency may be higher than for other Plaid endpoints (typically less than 10 seconds, but occasionally up to 30 seconds or more); if you encounter errors, you may find it necessary to adjust your timeout period when making requests.

accounts/balance/get

Request fields

access_token

requiredstring

The access token associated with the Item data is being requested for.

secret

string

Your Plaid API secret. The secret is required and may be provided either in the PLAID-SECRET header or as part of a request body.

client_id

string

Your Plaid API client_id. The client_id is required and may be provided either in the PLAID-CLIENT-ID header or as part of a request body.

options

object

Optional parameters to /accounts/balance/get.

account_ids

[string]

A list of account_ids to retrieve for the Item. The default value is null.
Note: An error will be returned if a provided account_id is not associated with the Item.

min_last_updated_datetime

string

Timestamp in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ) indicating the oldest acceptable balance when making a request to /accounts/balance/get.
This field is only necessary when the institution is ins_128026 (Capital One), and one or more account types being requested is a non-depository account (such as a credit card) as Capital One does not provide real-time balance for non-depository accounts. In this case, a value must be provided or an INVALID_REQUEST error with the code of INVALID_FIELD will be returned. For all other institutions, as well as for depository accounts at Capital One (including all checking and savings accounts) this field is ignored and real-time balance information will be fetched.
If this field is not ignored, and no acceptable balance is available, an INVALID_RESULT error with the code LAST_UPDATED_DATETIME_OUT_OF_RANGE will be returned.

Format: date-time

payment_details

object

To enable Balance Plus (beta), send this object as part of the /accounts/balance/get request. Only available to customers participating in the Balance Plus beta program; to enroll in the beta, contact your account manager. If this object is present in the request, the payment_risk_assessment object will be present in the response.

account_id

requiredstring

The Plaid account_id of the account that is the funding source for the proposed transaction. The account_id is returned in the /accounts/get endpoint as well as the onSuccess callback metadata.
This will return an INVALID_ACCOUNT_ID error if the account has been removed at the bank or if the account_id is no longer valid.

client_transaction_id

requiredstring

The unique ID that you would like to use to refer to this transaction. For your convenience mapping your internal data, you could use your internal identifier for this transaction.

Min length: 1

Max length: 36

amount

requirednumber

The transaction amount, in USD (e.g. 102.05)

Format: double

balance_threshold_percentage

integer

If the amount multiplied by the balance_threshold_percentage (as a percentage) exceeds the balance in the account, then payment_risk_assessment.exceeds_balance_threshold in the response will be true, otherwise, it will be false. For example, if the amount is 200 and the balance_threshold_percentage is 90, then the account balance must be at least 180 for exceeds_balance_threshold to be false.
By default, the available balance will be used for this calculation; if it cannot be obtained, the current balance will be used.
This field is particularly useful for customers using indirect Items and who do not have direct access to raw balance data.

Minimum: 1

Default: 90

requires_real_time_balance_refresh

boolean

A boolean that determines whether the balance has to be refreshed in real time as part of the API call when using Balance Plus. Setting this to field to true will result in more recent balances, but latency may be up to 30 seconds or more. If making a regular (non-Balance Plus) Balance call, without the payment_details object present, /accounts/balance/get will always return real-time balances.

Default: false

/accounts/balance/get
Select Language
1const request: AccountsBalanceGetRequest = {
2  access_token: accessToken,
3  payment_details: {
4    account_id: "BxBXxLj1m4HMXBm9WZZmCWVbPjX16EHwv99vp",
5    client_transaction_id: "my_unique_identifier",
6    amount: 102.05
7  }
8};
9try {
10  const response = await plaidClient.accountsBalanceGet(request);
11  const riskAssessment = response.data.payment_risk_assessment;
12} catch (error) {
13  // handle error
14}

accounts/balance/get

Response fields and example

accounts

[object]

An array of financial institution accounts associated with the Item. If /accounts/balance/get was called, each account will include real-time balance information.

account_id

string

Plaid’s unique identifier for the account. This value will not change unless Plaid can't reconcile the account with the data returned by the financial institution. This may occur, for example, when the name of the account changes. If this happens a new account_id will be assigned to the account.
The account_id can also change if the access_token is deleted and the same credentials that were used to generate that access_token are used to generate a new access_token on a later date. In that case, the new account_id will be different from the old account_id.
If an account with a specific account_id disappears instead of changing, the account is likely closed. Closed accounts are not returned by the Plaid API.
Like all Plaid identifiers, the account_id is case sensitive.

balances

object

A set of fields describing the balance for an account. Balance information may be cached unless the balance object was returned by /accounts/balance/get.

available

nullablenumber

The amount of funds available to be withdrawn from the account, as determined by the financial institution.
For credit-type accounts, the available balance typically equals the limit less the current balance, less any pending outflows plus any pending inflows.
For depository-type accounts, the available balance typically equals the current balance less any pending outflows plus any pending inflows. For depository-type accounts, the available balance does not include the overdraft limit.
For investment-type accounts (or brokerage-type accounts for API versions 2018-05-22 and earlier), the available balance is the total cash available to withdraw as presented by the institution.
Note that not all institutions calculate the available balance. In the event that available balance is unavailable, Plaid will return an available balance value of null.
Available balance may be cached and is not guaranteed to be up-to-date in realtime unless the value was returned by /accounts/balance/get.
If current is null this field is guaranteed not to be null.

Format: double

current

nullablenumber

The total amount of funds in or owed by the account.
For credit-type accounts, a positive balance indicates the amount owed; a negative amount indicates the lender owing the account holder.
For loan-type accounts, the current balance is the principal remaining on the loan, except in the case of student loan accounts at Sallie Mae (ins_116944). For Sallie Mae student loans, the account's balance includes both principal and any outstanding interest. Similar to credit-type accounts, a positive balance is typically expected, while a negative amount indicates the lender owing the account holder.
For investment-type accounts (or brokerage-type accounts for API versions 2018-05-22 and earlier), the current balance is the total value of assets as presented by the institution.
Note that balance information may be cached unless the value was returned by /accounts/balance/get; if the Item is enabled for Transactions, the balance will be at least as recent as the most recent Transaction update. If you require realtime balance information, use the available balance as provided by /accounts/balance/get.
When returned by /accounts/balance/get, this field may be null. When this happens, available is guaranteed not to be null.

Format: double

limit

nullablenumber

For credit-type accounts, this represents the credit limit.
For depository-type accounts, this represents the pre-arranged overdraft limit, which is common for current (checking) accounts in Europe.
In North America, this field is typically only available for credit-type accounts.

Format: double

iso_currency_code

nullablestring

The ISO-4217 currency code of the balance. Always null if unofficial_currency_code is non-null.

unofficial_currency_code

nullablestring

The unofficial currency code associated with the balance. Always null if iso_currency_code is non-null. Unofficial currency codes are used for currencies that do not have official ISO currency codes, such as cryptocurrencies and the currencies of certain countries.
See the currency code schema for a full listing of supported unofficial_currency_codes.

last_updated_datetime

nullablestring

Timestamp in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ) indicating the oldest acceptable balance when making a request to /accounts/balance/get.
This field is only used and expected when the institution is ins_128026 (Capital One) and the Item contains one or more accounts with a non-depository account type, in which case a value must be provided or an INVALID_REQUEST error with the code of INVALID_FIELD will be returned. For Capital One depository accounts as well as all other account types on all other institutions, this field is ignored. See account type schema for a full list of account types.
If the balance that is pulled is older than the given timestamp for Items with this field required, an INVALID_REQUEST error with the code of LAST_UPDATED_DATETIME_OUT_OF_RANGE will be returned with the most recent timestamp for the requested account contained in the response.

Format: date-time

mask

nullablestring

The last 2-4 alphanumeric characters of an account's official account number. Note that the mask may be non-unique between an Item's accounts, and it may also not match the mask that the bank displays to the user.

name

string

The name of the account, either assigned by the user or by the financial institution itself

official_name

nullablestring

The official name of the account as given by the financial institution

type

string

investment: Investment account. In API versions 2018-05-22 and earlier, this type is called brokerage instead.
credit: Credit card
depository: Depository account
loan: Loan account
other: Non-specified account type
See the Account type schema for a full listing of account types and corresponding subtypes.

Possible values: investment, credit, depository, loan, brokerage, other

subtype

nullablestring

See the Account type schema for a full listing of account types and corresponding subtypes.

Possible values: 401a, 401k, 403B, 457b, 529, auto, brokerage, business, cash isa, cash management, cd, checking, commercial, construction, consumer, credit card, crypto exchange, ebt, education savings account, fixed annuity, gic, health reimbursement arrangement, home equity, hsa, isa, ira, keogh, lif, life insurance, line of credit, lira, loan, lrif, lrsp, money market, mortgage, mutual fund, non-custodial wallet, non-taxable brokerage account, other, other insurance, other annuity, overdraft, paypal, payroll, pension, prepaid, prif, profit sharing plan, rdsp, resp, retirement, rlif, roth, roth 401k, rrif, rrsp, sarsep, savings, sep ira, simple ira, sipp, stock plan, student, thrift savings plan, tfsa, trust, ugma, utma, variable annuity

verification_status

string

The current verification status of an Auth Item initiated through micro-deposits or database verification. Returned for Auth Items only.
pending_automatic_verification: The Item is pending automatic verification
pending_manual_verification: The Item is pending manual micro-deposit verification. Items remain in this state until the user successfully verifies the micro-deposit.
automatically_verified: The Item has successfully been automatically verified
manually_verified: The Item has successfully been manually verified
verification_expired: Plaid was unable to automatically verify the deposit within 7 calendar days and will no longer attempt to validate the Item. Users may retry by submitting their information again through Link.
verification_failed: The Item failed manual micro-deposit verification because the user exhausted all 3 verification attempts. Users may retry by submitting their information again through Link.
database_matched: The Item has successfully been verified using Plaid's data sources. Only returned for Auth Items created via Database Match.
database_insights_pass: The Item's numbers have been verified using Plaid's data sources and have strong signal for being valid. Only returned for Auth Items created via Database Insights. Note: Database Insights is currently a beta feature, please contact your account manager for more information.
database_insights_pass_with_caution: The Item's numbers have been verified using Plaid's data sources and have some signal for being valid. Only returned for Auth Items created via Database Insights. Note: Database Insights is currently a beta feature, please contact your account manager for more information.
database_insights_fail: The Item's numbers have been verified using Plaid's data sources and have signal for being invalid and/or have no signal for being valid. Only returned for Auth Items created via Database Insights. Note: Database Insights is currently a beta feature, please contact your account manager for more information.

Possible values: automatically_verified, pending_automatic_verification, pending_manual_verification, manually_verified, verification_expired, verification_failed, database_matched, database_insights_pass, database_insights_pass_with_caution, database_insights_fail

verification_insights

object

Insights from performing database verification for the account. Only returned for Auth Items created via Database Insights.

network_status

object

Status information about the account and routing number in the Plaid network.

has_numbers_match

boolean

Indicates whether we found at least one matching account for the ACH account and routing number.

is_numbers_match_verified

boolean

Indicates if at least one matching account for the ACH account and routing number is already verified.

previous_returns

object

Information about known ACH returns for the account and routing number.

has_previous_administrative_return

boolean

Indicates whether Plaid's data sources include a known administrative ACH return for account and routing number.

account_number_format

string

Indicator of account number format validity for institution.
valid: indicates that the account number has a correct format for the institution.
invalid: indicates that the account number has an incorrect format for the institution.
unknown: indicates that there was not enough information to determine whether the format is correct for the institution.

Possible values: valid, invalid, unknown

persistent_account_id

string

A unique and persistent identifier for accounts that can be used to trace multiple instances of the same account across different Items for depository accounts. This field is currently supported only for Items at institutions that use Tokenized Account Numbers (i.e., Chase and PNC). Because these accounts have a different account number each time they are linked, this field may be used instead of the account number to uniquely identify an account across multiple Items for payments use cases, helping to reduce duplicate Items or attempted fraud. In Sandbox, this field may be populated for any account; in Production, it will only be populated for accounts at applicable institutions.

holder_category

nullablestring

Indicates the account's categorization as either a personal or a business account. This field is currently in beta; to request access, contact your account manager.

Possible values: business, personal, unrecognized

item

object

Metadata about the Item.

item_id

string

The Plaid Item ID. The item_id is always unique; linking the same account at the same institution twice will result in two Items with different item_id values. Like all Plaid identifiers, the item_id is case-sensitive.

institution_id

nullablestring

The Plaid Institution ID associated with the Item. Field is null for Items created without an institution connection, such as Items created via Same Day Micro-deposits.

institution_name

nullablestring

The name of the institution associated with the Item. Field is null for Items created without an institution connection, such as Items created via Same Day Micro-deposits.

webhook

nullablestring

The URL registered to receive webhooks for the Item.

auth_method

nullablestring

The method used to populate Auth data for the Item. This field is only populated for Items that have had Auth numbers data set on at least one of its accounts, and will be null otherwise. For info about the various flows, see our Auth coverage documentation.
INSTANT_AUTH: The Item's Auth data was provided directly by the user's institution connection.
INSTANT_MATCH: The Item's Auth data was provided via the Instant Match fallback flow.
AUTOMATED_MICRODEPOSITS: The Item's Auth data was provided via the Automated Micro-deposits flow.
SAME_DAY_MICRODEPOSITS: The Item's Auth data was provided via the Same Day Micro-deposits flow.
INSTANT_MICRODEPOSITS: The Item's Auth data was provided via the Instant Micro-deposits flow.
DATABASE_MATCH: The Item's Auth data was provided via the Database Match flow.
DATABASE_INSIGHTS: The Item's Auth data was provided via the Database Insights flow.
TRANSFER_MIGRATED: The Item's Auth data was provided via /transfer/migrate_account.
INVESTMENTS_FALLBACK: The Item's Auth data for Investments Move was provided via a fallback flow.

Possible values: INSTANT_AUTH, INSTANT_MATCH, AUTOMATED_MICRODEPOSITS, SAME_DAY_MICRODEPOSITS, INSTANT_MICRODEPOSITS, DATABASE_MATCH, DATABASE_INSIGHTS, TRANSFER_MIGRATED, INVESTMENTS_FALLBACK

error

nullableobject

Errors are identified by error_code and categorized by error_type. Use these in preference to HTTP status codes to identify and handle specific errors. HTTP status codes are set and provide the broadest categorization of errors: 4xx codes are for developer- or user-related errors, and 5xx codes are for Plaid-related errors, and the status will be 2xx in non-error cases. An Item with a non-null error object will only be part of an API response when calling /item/get to view Item status. Otherwise, error fields will be null if no error has occurred; if an error has occurred, an error code will be returned instead.

error_type

string

A broad categorization of the error. Safe for programmatic use.

Possible values: INVALID_REQUEST, INVALID_RESULT, INVALID_INPUT, INSTITUTION_ERROR, RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED, API_ERROR, ITEM_ERROR, ASSET_REPORT_ERROR, RECAPTCHA_ERROR, OAUTH_ERROR, PAYMENT_ERROR, BANK_TRANSFER_ERROR, INCOME_VERIFICATION_ERROR, MICRODEPOSITS_ERROR, SANDBOX_ERROR, PARTNER_ERROR, TRANSACTIONS_ERROR, TRANSACTION_ERROR, TRANSFER_ERROR

error_code

string

The particular error code. Safe for programmatic use.

error_code_reason

nullablestring

The specific reason for the error code. Currently, reasons are only supported OAuth-based item errors; null will be returned otherwise. Safe for programmatic use.
Possible values: OAUTH_INVALID_TOKEN: The user’s OAuth connection to this institution has been invalidated.
OAUTH_CONSENT_EXPIRED: The user's access consent for this OAuth connection to this institution has expired.
OAUTH_USER_REVOKED: The user’s OAuth connection to this institution is invalid because the user revoked their connection.

error_message

string

A developer-friendly representation of the error code. This may change over time and is not safe for programmatic use.

display_message

nullablestring

A user-friendly representation of the error code. null if the error is not related to user action.
This may change over time and is not safe for programmatic use.

request_id

string

A unique ID identifying the request, to be used for troubleshooting purposes. This field will be omitted in errors provided by webhooks.

causes

array

In this product, a request can pertain to more than one Item. If an error is returned for such a request, causes will return an array of errors containing a breakdown of these errors on the individual Item level, if any can be identified.
causes will only be provided for the error_type ASSET_REPORT_ERROR. causes will also not be populated inside an error nested within a warning object.

status

nullableinteger

The HTTP status code associated with the error. This will only be returned in the response body when the error information is provided via a webhook.

documentation_url

string

The URL of a Plaid documentation page with more information about the error

suggested_action

nullablestring

Suggested steps for resolving the error

available_products

[string]

A list of products available for the Item that have not yet been accessed. The contents of this array will be mutually exclusive with billed_products.

Possible values: assets, auth, balance, balance_plus, beacon, identity, identity_match, investments, investments_auth, liabilities, payment_initiation, identity_verification, transactions, credit_details, income, income_verification, standing_orders, transfer, employment, recurring_transactions, transactions_refresh, signal, statements, processor_payments, processor_identity, profile, cra_base_report, cra_income_insights, cra_partner_insights, cra_network_insights, cra_cashflow_insights, layer, pay_by_bank

billed_products

[string]

A list of products that have been billed for the Item. The contents of this array will be mutually exclusive with available_products. Note - billed_products is populated in all environments but only requests in Production are billed. Also note that products that are billed on a pay-per-call basis rather than a pay-per-Item basis, such as balance, will not appear here.

products

[string]

A list of products added to the Item. In almost all cases, this will be the same as the billed_products field. For some products, it is possible for the product to be added to an Item but not yet billed (e.g. Assets, before /asset_report/create has been called, or Auth or Identity when added as Optional Products but before their endpoints have been called), in which case the product may appear in products but not in billed_products.

consented_products

[string]

A list of products that the user has consented to for the Item via Data Transparency Messaging. This will consist of all products where both of the following are true: the user has consented to the required data scopes for that product and you have Production access for that product.

Possible values: assets, auth, balance, balance_plus, beacon, identity, identity_match, investments, investments_auth, liabilities, transactions, income, income_verification, transfer, employment, recurring_transactions, signal, statements, processor_payments, processor_identity, cra_base_report, cra_income_insights, cra_partner_insights, cra_cashflow_insights, layer

consent_expiration_time

nullablestring

The date and time at which the Item's access consent will expire, in ISO 8601 format. If the Item does not have consent expiration scheduled, this field will be null. Currently, only institutions in Europe and a small number of institutions in the US have expiring consent. Closer to the 1033 compliance deadline of April 1, 2026, expiration times will be populated more widely. For more details, see Data Transparency Messaging consent expiration

Format: date-time

update_type

string

Indicates whether an Item requires user interaction to be updated, which can be the case for Items with some forms of two-factor authentication.
background - Item can be updated in the background
user_present_required - Item requires user interaction to be updated

Possible values: background, user_present_required

payment_risk_assessment

nullableobject

Provides a detailed risk assessment for the requested transaction. For this field to be returned, the client must be enrolled in the Balance Plus beta program and the payment_details object must have been sent in the request.

risk_level

string

A five-tier risk assessment for the transaction, based on the probability distribution of ACH returns, measured by the incident rate.
Each tier corresponds to a distribution with a different mean (average) probability.
HIGH: The mean probability of ACH return risk is above 40%. MEDIUM_HIGH: The mean probability of ACH return risk is 15%-40%. MEDIUM: The mean probability of ACH return risk is 5-10%. MEDIUM_LOW: The mean probability of ACH return risk is 1%-2%. LOW: The mean probability of ACH return risk is below 1%.
Note that these tiers correspond to probability distributions and not to discrete probabilities.
These tier definitions are specific to Balance Plus and do not apply to risk tiers generated by other Plaid endpoints.

Possible values: HIGH, MEDIUM_HIGH, MEDIUM, MEDIUM_LOW, LOW

attributes

object

Contains additional data that can be used to assess the ACH return risk

unauthorized_transactions_count_7d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to unauthorized transactions over the past 7 days from the account that will be debited

unauthorized_transactions_count_30d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to unauthorized transactions over the past 30 days from the account that will be debited

unauthorized_transactions_count_60d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to unauthorized transactions over the past 60 days from the account that will be debited

unauthorized_transactions_count_90d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to unauthorized transactions over the past 90 days from the account that will be debited

nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_7d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to non-sufficient funds/overdrafts over the past 7 days from the account that will be debited

nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_30d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to non-sufficient funds/overdrafts over the past 30 days from the account that will be debited

nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_60d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to non-sufficient funds/overdrafts over the past 60 days from the account that will be debited

nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_90d

nullableinteger

The number of possible past returns due to non-sufficient funds/overdrafts over the past 90 days from the account that will be debited

days_since_first_plaid_connection

nullableinteger

The number of days since the first time the Item was connected to an application via Plaid

plaid_connections_count_7d

nullableinteger

The number of times the Item has been connected to applications via Plaid over the past 7 days

plaid_connections_count_30d

nullableinteger

The number of times the Item has been connected to applications via Plaid over the past 30 days

total_plaid_connections_count

nullableinteger

The total number of times the Item has been connected to applications via Plaid

is_savings_or_money_market_account

nullableboolean

Indicates if the ACH transaction funding account is a savings/money market account

phone_change_count_28d

nullableinteger

The number of times the account's phone numbers on file have changed over the past 28 days

phone_change_count_90d

nullableinteger

The number of times the account's phone numbers on file have changed over the past 90 days

email_change_count_28d

nullableinteger

The number of times the account's email addresses on file have changed over the past 28 days

email_change_count_90d

nullableinteger

The number of times the account's email addresses on file have changed over the past 90 days

address_change_count_28d

nullableinteger

The number of times the account's addresses on file have changed over the past 28 days

address_change_count_90d

nullableinteger

The number of times the account's addresses on file have changed over the past 90 days

plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_3d

nullableinteger

The number of non-OAuth authentication attempts via Plaid for this bank account over the past 3 days

plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_7d

nullableinteger

The number of non-OAuth authentication attempts via Plaid for this bank account over the past 7 days

plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_30d

nullableinteger

The number of non-OAuth authentication attempts via Plaid for this bank account over the past 30 days

failed_plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_3d

nullableinteger

The number of failed non-OAuth authentication attempts via Plaid for this bank account over the past 3 days

failed_plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_7d

nullableinteger

The number of failed non-OAuth authentication attempts via Plaid for this bank account over the past 7 days

failed_plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_30d

nullableinteger

The number of failed non-OAuth authentication attempts via Plaid for this bank account over the past 30 days

is_account_closed

nullableboolean

Indicates if the receiver bank account is closed

is_account_frozen_or_restricted

nullableboolean

Indicates if the receiver bank account is either frozen or restricted

balance_last_updated

string

Timestamp of the last successful balance update, in ISO 8601 format.

Format: date-time

risk_reasons

[object]

An array of objects, each representing a specific reason contributing to the risk assessment of an ACH transaction. This field is only supplied for transactions classified as HIGH, MEDIUM-HIGH, or MEDIUM risk.

code

string

A code that represents the type of risk associated with the proposed transaction.
The codes are from PL01 to PL08 and from BK01 to BK07. For a full listing of risk reason codes, see Risk codes.

description

string

A human-readable description explaining the risk code associated with the proposed transaction and some recommended actions. This field is subject to change; any programmatic logic should be based on the code field instead.

exceeds_balance_threshold

boolean

Whether the proposed transaction exceeds the balance threshold set in the request. true indicates higher risk; false indicates lower risk. If the amount multiplied by the balance_threshold_percentage (as a percentage) exceeds the balance in the account, then exceeds_balance_threshold will be true, otherwise, it will be false. For example, if the amount is 200 and the balance_threshold_percentage is 90, then the account balance must be at least 180 for exceeds_balance_threshold to be false.
By default, the available balance will be used for this calculation; if it cannot be obtained, the current balance will be used.
This field is particularly useful for customers using indirect Items and who do not have direct access to raw balance data.

request_id

string

A unique identifier for the request, which can be used for troubleshooting. This identifier, like all Plaid identifiers, is case sensitive.

API Object
1{
"accounts": [
  {
    "account_id": "BxBXxLj1m4HMXBm9WZZmCWVbPjX16EHwv99vp",
    "balances": {
      "available": 100,
      "current": 110,
      "iso_currency_code": "USD",
      "limit": null,
      "unofficial_currency_code": null
    },
    "mask": "0000",
    "name": "Plaid Checking",
    "official_name": "Plaid Gold Standard 0% Interest Checking",
    "persistent_account_id": "8cfb8beb89b774ee43b090625f0d61d0814322b43bff984eaf60386e",
    "subtype": "checking",
    "type": "depository"
  },
  {
    "account_id": "dVzbVMLjrxTnLjX4G66XUp5GLklm4oiZy88yK",
    "balances": {
      "available": null,
      "current": 410,
      "iso_currency_code": "USD",
      "limit": 2000,
      "unofficial_currency_code": null
    },
    "mask": "3333",
    "name": "Plaid Credit Card",
    "official_name": "Plaid Diamond 12.5% APR Interest Credit Card",
    "subtype": "credit card",
    "type": "credit"
  },
  {
    "account_id": "Pp1Vpkl9w8sajvK6oEEKtr7vZxBnGpf7LxxLE",
    "balances": {
      "available": null,
      "current": 65262,
      "iso_currency_code": "USD",
      "limit": null,
      "unofficial_currency_code": null
    },
    "mask": "7777",
    "name": "Plaid Student Loan",
    "official_name": null,
    "subtype": "student",
    "type": "loan"
  }
],
"payment_risk_assessment": {
  "risk_level": "HIGH",
  "risk_reasons": [
    {
      "code": "PL03",
      "description": "High number of recent Plaid authentication attempts detected. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days or decline transactions at 'HIGH' risk level."
    },
    {
      "code": "PL05",
      "description": "Requested ACH transaction amount exceeds 90% of latest bank account balance. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions at 'HIGH' risk level."
    }
  ],
  "exceeds_balance_threshold": true,
  "balance_last_updated": "2024-03-30T18:25:26Z",
  "attributes": {
    "unauthorized_transactions_count_7d": 0,
    "unauthorized_transactions_count_30d": 0,
    "unauthorized_transactions_count_60d": 1,
    "unauthorized_transactions_count_90d": 1,
    "nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_7d": 0,
    "nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_30d": 0,
    "nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_60d": 1,
    "nsf_overdraft_transactions_count_90d": 1,
    "days_since_first_plaid_connection": 380,
    "plaid_connections_count_7d": 2,
    "plaid_connections_count_30d": 5,
    "total_plaid_connections_count": 8,
    "plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_3d": 3,
    "plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_7d": 5,
    "plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_30d": 7,
    "failed_plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_3d": 2,
    "failed_plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_7d": 4,
    "failed_plaid_non_oauth_authentication_attempts_count_30d": 4,
    "phone_change_count_28d": 0,
    "phone_change_count_90d": 1,
    "email_change_count_28d": 0,
    "email_change_count_90d": 1,
    "address_change_count_28d": 0,
    "address_change_count_90d": 1,
    "is_savings_or_money_market_account": false,
    "is_account_closed": false,
    "is_account_frozen_or_restricted": false
  }
},
"item": {
  "available_products": [
    "balance",
    "identity",
    "investments"
  ],
  "billed_products": [
    "assets",
    "auth",
    "liabilities",
    "transactions"
  ],
  "consent_expiration_time": null,
  "error": null,
  "institution_id": "ins_3",
  "institution_name": "Chase",
  "item_id": "eVBnVMp7zdTJLkRNr33Rs6zr7KNJqBFL9DrE6",
  "update_type": "background",
  "webhook": "https://www.example.com/webhook",
  "auth_method": "INSTANT_AUTH"
},
"request_id": "LhQf0THi8SH1yJk"
116}

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Risk codes

Code	Description
PL01	Insufficient Plaid connection history suggests the bank account may be new. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
PL02	Bank account dormant since last Plaid connection. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
PL03	High number of recent Plaid authentication attempts detected. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
PL04	High number of recent Plaid authentication failures observed. Recommendation: Re-verify user identity and hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
PL05	Frequent recent ACH transactions, per recent Plaid requests from the same bank account suggest multiple pending debit transactions. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
PL06	Multiple IPs linked to bank account during recent Plaid connections. Recommendation: Re-verify user identity and hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
PL07	Multiple user agents linked to bank account during recent Plaid connections. Recommendation: Re-verify user identity and hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
PL08	Multiple HTTP clients/browsers linked to bank account during recent Plaid connections. Recommendation: Re-verify user identity and hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
BK01	Requested ACH transaction amount exceeds 90% of latest bank account balance. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
BK02	Total recent ACH transactions, as per recent Plaid requests, exceed 90% of latest bank account balance. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
BK03	Recent change in address detected. Recommendation: Re-verify user address and hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
BK04	Recent change in phone number detected. Recommendation: Re-verify user phone number and hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
BK05	Recent change in email address detected. Recommendation: Re-verify user email and hold funds for 3-5 days, or decline transactions if the account balance is insufficient or `exceeds_balance_threshold` is `true`.
BK06	Account identified as a savings or money market account. Recommendation: Hold funds for 3-5 days, or ask for a checking/demand deposit account instead.
BK07	Account may be closed or frozen/restricted. Recommendation: ask for a different bank account.