Payment Flows
Checkbook offers flexible payment flows to accommodate various business needs and integration levels. This section outlines the common pathways for sending and receiving payments using our platform. The specific flow you choose will depend on factors like your integration method (no-code, low-code, API), your desired speed, and whether you are paying individuals or businesses.
Funds flows
Standard
Our standard funds flow primarily supports the ACH rail. First, a digital payment is sent to the recipient. When a recipient enters their bank account information, Checkbook will pull the funds from the sender and then deposit the funds to the recipient’s account. This process takes ~3 business days.
Pre-debit
To reduce some of the latency from the recipient’s point of view, the pre-debit flow will initiate a debit from the sender’s account as soon as the payment is sent to the recipient. Unlike the standard flow, the pre-debit flow does not wait until the recipient has entered their bank info to start the movement of funds from the recipient to the sender.
Prefund
For the fastest funds delivery to the recipient, the prefund flow requires senders to maintain a wallet balance on the Checkbook platform. Funds can be added to the wallet ahead of disbursement time using ACH, wire transfer, RTP or FedNow.
Payment statuses
The Checkbook API and dashboard provide clear and informative statuses for each payment throughout its lifecycle. Understanding these statuses is crucial for tracking your payments, troubleshooting issues, and building reliable integrations. Here’s a breakdown of the common payment statuses you might encounter:
Initial/Pending States
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| UNPAID | This an initial status of a newly created payment. It indicates that the payment has been initiated but requires the recipient to select their preferred deposit option. |
| IN_PROCESS | This an initial status of a newly created payment. It indicates that the Checkbook is processing the payment, and no action is required by the sender or recipient. |
Successful States
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| MAILED | This status indicates that the physical check has been sent to the recipient’s mailing address. |
| PRINTED | For digital checks, this status confirms that the recipient has successfully generated the PDF of the printable check for deposit (either electronically or by printing and depositing). |
| PAID | This is a final successful state indicating that the payment process is fully finished and Checkbook has sent funds to the recipient’s account. |
Failed/Error States
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| FAILED | The payment could not be processed or completed due to an error. The specific reason for failure can often be found in the payment details or error messages associated with the payment object (via API or dashboard). Common reasons include insufficient funds, invalid recipient details, or bank processing errors. |
| EXPIRED | The payment could not be processed within the validity period of the payment. |
| REFUNDED | The payment was successfully canceled by the sender before it was completed, and the funds have been returned to the sender. |
| VOID | The payment was successfully canceled by the sender before any funds transfers. |