Introduction to Transfer and Transfer UI

Transfer enables developers to seamlessly initiate and manage bank-to-bank payments. Transfer makes ACH easy by providing a built-in authorization engine to minimize clawback of funds due to returns. All of this is accomplished with a simple set of APIs so you can get started with ACH quickly and easily.

Transfer is best suited for developers interested in building custom Nacha-compliant user interfaces that require full control of the transfer experience. For a simpler integration using a less customizable user experience, see Transfer UI.

Transfer is available only to senders and recipients within the US. To apply for Transfer, complete the Production access request form and select Transfer as a requested product. For more information, you can also contact Sales or, for existing customers, your Plaid Account Manager.

Transfer UI is an intuitive user interface that enables end users to authorize transfers within your application. It is easy to integrate and fully handles the transfer execution experience for you. It also utilizes the same built-in authorization engine used by Transfer to minimize return risks.

Transfer UI is best suited for developers interested in quickly launching a payments interface that is easy to use.

The process below is for Transfer only. For the Transfer UI process overview, see Transfer UI.

1. (Optional) Create a Payment Profile using /payment_profile/create and receive a payment_profile_token. While this step is optional, it is recommended to maximize conversion by allowing users to avoid re-entering payment information. We recommend using a Payment Profile if you are not using Transfer UI and do not need to use other Plaid Products with the Item you are creating. Payment Profiles cannot be used with Transfer UI.

2. Call /link/token/create, specifying transfer in the products parameter. If using a payment profile, provide the payment_profile_token in the transfer.payment_profile_token field and the user's phone number in the user.phone_number field.

3. Initialize a Link instance using the link_token created in the previous step. For more details for your specific platform, see the Link documentation.

4. The user will now go through the Link flow. The onSuccess callback will indicate they have completed the Link flow.

5. (If not using a Payment Profile) You will receive a public_token from the onSuccess callback. Call /item/public_token/exchange to exchange this public token for an access_token. You will also need to obtain the account id of the account you wish to transfer funds to or from; this can also be obtained from the onSuccess callback, within metadata.accounts, or by calling /accounts/get.

6. Determine the transfer failure risk by calling /transfer/authorization/create and providing either the access_token and account_id pair, or the payment_profile_token. /transfer/authorization/create will return an authorization object.

7. Check the authorization.decision. If it is declined, you cannot complete the transfer. If it is approved, check the authorization.decision_rationale field. If authorization.decision_rationale is null, proceed to the next step. If it is non-null, Plaid was unable to collect enough data to make a thorough risk evaluation; decide whether to proceed with creating the transfer based on your own risk assessment protocols.

8. Create the transfer by calling /transfer/create using the authorization.id. Plaid will execute the transfer and automatically sweep funds into your account once they are available to be swept.

9. (Optional) To monitor the progress of the sweep, use /transfer/sweep/list and/or /transfer/sweep/get. For more information, see Sweeping funds.

10. (Optional) To monitor and sync transfer updates, use /transfer/list, /transfer/get, /transfer/event/list, and/or /transfer/event/sync. For more information, see Reconciling transfers.

Transfer is available only in the Sandbox and Production environments; it cannot be used in Development. You should automatically get access to Transfer in Sandbox after signing up for your free Plaid API keys. Transfer endpoints typically work the same in Sandbox as they do in Production; to get started with Transfer, see adding Transfer to your app. Plaid also offers a number of Sandbox-specific endpoints for testing Transfer; for more details, see the Sandbox API reference.

To request access to Transfer in Production, complete the Production access request form.