Accounts

In the Synctera platform, an account represents a bank account of your business or personal customer. This guide explains how to create and use accounts.

Types of Accounts

There are different types of accounts. SAVING and CHECKING are Demand Deposit Accounts (DDA) and represent funds accrued by the account holder. A LINE_OF_CREDIT account represents unsecured line of credit extended to the account holder. A CHARGE_SECURED account represents secured non-revolving credit extended to the account holder, secured by a linked DDA.

In addition to the various types of customer accounts, there are also:

Internal Accounts: a set of pre-defined general ledger accounts linked to the FinTech, not individual customers. See the Internal Account API.
External Accounts: a link to an account outside the Synctera platform. See the External Accounts guide.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you have:

created a personal customer or business customer
created a disclosure
verified a customer

Creating an Account

The following curl example will walk you through the creation of an account and getting it ready to use with other features such Cards and ACH. This assumes you have set up baseurl and apikey environment variables. See Base URL and Authentication for instructions.

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In order to open an account, all account holders, joint holders, and authorized signers are required to undergo KYC or KYB verification.

Call POST /v0/accounts to create the account, linking to the existing customer.

curl \
  -X POST \
  $baseurl/v0/accounts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '
    {
      "account_type": "SAVING",
      "relationships": [
        {
          "relationship_type": "PRIMARY_ACCOUNT_HOLDER",
          "customer_id": "{CUSTOMER_ID}"
        }
      ]
    }'

This will return a response with the created account, e.g.:

{
  "access_status": "ACTIVE",
  "access_status_last_updated_time": "2022-10-06T14:03:54.962704Z",
  "account_number": "790954299503",
  "account_number_masked": "790*****9503",
  "account_type": "SAVING",
  "balances": [
    {
      "balance": 0,
      "type": "ACCOUNT_BALANCE"
    },
    {
      "balance": 0,
      "type": "AVAILABLE_BALANCE"
    }
  ],
  "bank_routing": "112233445",
  "creation_time": "2022-10-06T14:03:54.963162Z",
  "currency": "USD",
  "customer_ids": [
    "110acc45-0b53-4d21-b624-29f88879c6a0"
  ],
  "customer_type": "PERSONAL",
  "id": "ce439ca4-8eb6-45e6-955c-46441af33770",
  "is_account_pool": false,
  "is_ach_enabled": false,
  "is_card_enabled": false,
  "is_p2p_enabled": false,
  "is_wire_enabled": false,
  "last_updated_time": "2022-10-06T14:03:54.963162Z",
  "status": "ACTIVE_OR_DISBURSED"
}

Account Relationships

A customer can be related to an account in different ways:

relationship_type	Description
PRIMARY_ACCOUNT_HOLDER	Required, must have one on the account. Requires an `ACCEPTED` verification status.
ACCOUNT_HOLDER	Deprecated alias for PRIMARY_ACCOUNT_HOLDER
JOINT_ACCOUNT_HOLDER	Has the same permissions as the Primary Account Holder. Requires an `ACCEPTED` verification status.
AUTHORIZED_SIGNER	The authorized signer is a person that can transact on the account but is not an account owner. Requires an `ACCEPTED` verification status.
AUTHORIZED_USER	The authorized user is a person that can only transact on the account. This person does not require an `ACCEPTED` verification status but an OFAC check will be completed by the platform using the customer's name and address. This means that you will not need to collect information typically used in KYC such as SSN, SIN, date of birth, but should collect name and address to minimize OFAC false positives.

You can add/update/delete the relationships using the /v0/accounts/relationships` endpoints.

The relationships should use the customer_id attribute if the account holder is a personal customer, and business_id if a business customer.

Status

The account object contains two status attributes:

access_status: can be set to FROZEN to temporarily freeze an account.
status represents the lifecycle of the account. A FinTech can progress the account from ACTIVE_OR_DISBURSED to IN_CLOSING to CLOSED if the balance of the account is zero. The Synctera platform also updates this attribute, e.g. setting it to RESTRICTED when the account holder has not been verified. Note that authorized signers do not need to be verified.
An account with a status of IN_CLOSING is only allowed to transition to CLOSED. Account status update to any other status from IN_CLOSING is not allowed.

To participate in money movement transactions, issue cards, etc, the account must have an access_status of ACTIVE and a status of ACTIVE_OR_DISBURSED.

Balance Floor and Ceiling

The optional balance_floor and balance_ceiling attributes control what happens when the account balance goes below or above a set level. This can be used to implement sweep accounts. Please see the Balance Floor and Ceiling guide.

Balances

Accounts have two types of balances: ACCOUNT_BALANCE and AVAILABLE_BALANCE.

For SAVING and CHECKING accounts:

ACCOUNT_BALANCE: the amount of money in the account. Equal to the sum of credits minus debits for all posted transactions.
AVAILABLE_BALANCE: the account balance minus any pending debits.

For LINE_OF_CREDIT accounts:

ACCOUNT_BALANCE: the amount of credit currently in use. Equal to the sum of debits minus credits for all posted transactions.
AVAILABLE_BALANCE: the amount of credit available. Equal to the credit limit minus ACCOUNT_BALANCE minus any pending debits.

Account Products and Templates

Synctera supports the concepts of Account Products and Account Templates to so you don't need to specify all the details when creating similar accounts.

Account Products

An account product is a set of attributes that define how interest is calculated for accounts. The account product resource acts as a profile that can apply to multiple accounts. Changes to the account product affects all accounts that reference it. Only interest-bearing accounts need to reference an account product. Details about interest calculation can be found here in the Interest Guide

Using an account product is optional. If no account product is specified when creating the account, no interest will be calculated.

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It is not currently possible to change the account product on an account.

The v0 API spec also includes a preview of fee product types. This product type is not yet supported - account fees will be implemented in the future.

To create an interest product_type, use POST /v0/accounts/products. Specify how you want the interest calculated (e.g. COMPOUNDED_MONTHLY), accured (e.g. DAILY) and paid (e.g. MONTHLY). You can specify that the interest rate varies over time by including multiple periods with different rates. The rate is specified using basis points (bps), i.e. 125 represents 1.25%.

curl \
  -X POST \
  $baseurl/v0/accounts/products \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '
    {
      "product_type": "INTEREST",
      "description": "Sample interest request body",
      "calculation_method": "COMPOUNDED_MONTHLY",
      "accrual_payout_schedule": "MONTHLY",
      "rates": [
        {
          "valid_from": "2021-06-15",
          "rate": 100,
          "accrual_period": "DAILY"
        },
        {
          "valid_from": "2021-06-01",
          "valid_to": "2021-06-15",
          "rate": 100,
          "accrual_period": "DAILY"
        }
      ]
    }'

This will return a response with the created account product, e.g.:

{
  "accrual_payout_schedule": "MONTHLY",
  "calculation_method": "COMPOUNDED_MONTHLY",
  "description": "Sample interest request body",
  "id": "52c80838-90b3-4afb-b3ff-98a97b5df96b",
  "product_type": "INTEREST",
  "rates": [
    {
      "accrual_period": "DAILY",
      "rate": 100,
      "valid_from": "2021-06-01",
      "valid_to": "2021-06-15"
    },
    {
      "accrual_period": "DAILY",
      "rate": 100,
      "valid_from": "2021-06-15"
    }
  ]
}

Note the returned id attribute. This is used for when creating an account template.

Account Templates

Account templates contain predefined values for creating an account. When creating an account, the Accounts API copies all the template values to the account resource. Once you create an account, the API no longer references the template used to create it, and updates won’t affect existing accounts. To create an account template, call POST /v0/accounts/templates.

All account creation uses an account template. As a convenience, the account_template_id does not need to be specified if there is a single account template that matches the requested account's type. As part of initial the FinTech setup, a simple account template for each account type is automatically created.

You can override template values in the POST /v0/accounts request when creating an account. However, the account type in the template and the POST request must agree.

To create an account template, specify the type of account (CHECKING, SAVING, LINE_OF_CREDIT or CHARGE_SECURED), and the attributes for that type. The is_enabled attribute must be set to true to use this template when creating an account. This example will use a SAVING account.

Note the is_ach_enabled, is_card_enabled, is_external_card_enabled, is_p2p_enabled and is_wire_enabled attributes. Synctera will enforce these controls as money movement requests could be generated both via the API and by your ops team on apps.synctera.com.

curl \
  -X POST \
  $baseurl/v0/accounts/templates \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '
    {
      "name": "sample template",
      "description": "Sample account template",
      "is_enabled": true,
      "template": {
        "account_type": "SAVING",
        "bank_country": "US",
        "currency": "USD",
        "is_ach_enabled": true,
        "is_card_enabled": true,
        "is_p2p_enabled": true,
        "interest_product_id": "{ACCOUNT_PRODUCT_ID}",
        "overdraft_limit": 0
      }
    }'

This will return a response with the created account template, e.g.:

{
  "description": "Sample account template",
  "id": "{ACCOUNT_TEMPLATE_ID}",
  "is_enabled": true,
  "name": "sample template",
  "template": {
    "account_type": "SAVING",
    "bank_country": "US",
    "currency": "USD",
    "interest_product_id": "{ACCOUNT_PRODUCT_ID}",
    "is_ach_enabled": true,
    "is_card_enabled": true,
    "is_p2p_enabled": true,
    "overdraft_limit": 0
  }
}

Note the returned id attribute. This is used for when creating an account.

Additional details:

interest_product_id is optional, and if specified, should be a valid ID for an account product resource.
spending_limits is deprecated. To limit spending for an account, use the spend_control_ids field and refer to the spend controls guide.
balance_floor and balance_ceiling are optional attributes that control what happens when a transaction would bring the account balance below or above a set amount. This can be used to implement sweep accounts. Please see the Balance Floor and Ceiling guide.

Closing an Account

As end customers unenroll from a fintech’s service, their accounts with Synctera will need to be closed. Synctera’s Initiate Closure API allows fintechs to close a customer account as well as all products in use by the customer and ensure all underlying transactions are handled appropriately, with just one API call. Once the call is placed - Synctera will payout any interest that is due to the customer and transfer the funds to a destination. Additionally, Synctera will deactivate cards and tokens, end recurring transactions, write off negative balances and handle many other use cases. Any future transactions will not be allowed except for authorized payments and refunds, and interest will stop accruing.

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Integrating with Account Closure:

The following curl example will walk you through integrating with Synctera’s account closure functionality, via the Initiate Closure API. This assumes you have set up baseurl and apikey environment variables. See Base URL and Authentication for instructions.

Closing an account requires the following integrations:

Integrate with Synctera’s Initiate Closure API: This API call will start the closure process and the customer account’s status will be set to IN_CLOSING. The fintech will have to provide a destination account for customer funds to be transferred to.
Subscribe to the Account.UPDATED webhook: This webhook will transmit updates on the status of the account. Once any underlying transactions have completed and any products in use have been deactivated, the customer’s account will be set to a status of CLOSED.

The following example illustrates how to format an Initiate Closure request:

Call POST/v0/accounts/{account_id}/initiate_closure to close the account.

curl \
  -X POST \
  $baseurl/v0/accounts/{$ACCOUNT_ID}/initiate_closure \
  -H "Idempotency-Key $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '
    {
      "destination_id": "ebdc0c82-3dae-4a85-b941-7bb9f0abd829",
      "payment_method": "ACH",
      "reason": “CUSTOMER_REQUEST_TRANSFER”,
      "reason_details": “End customer is moving off our service ”,
   }’

The following example illustrates the format of an Initiate Closure response:

{
  "access_status": "ACTIVE",
  "access_status_last_updated_time": "2024-08-20T22:24:46.722385Z",
  "account_closure": {
    "case_ids": [],
    "destination_id": "ebdc0c82-3dae-4a85-b941-7bb9f0abd829",
    "payment_method": "ACH",
    "reason": "CUSTOMER_REQUEST_TRANSFER",
    "reason_details": "End customer is moving off our service",
    "validation_responses": []
  },
  "account_number": "203749521694",
  "account_purpose": "Demo account",
  "account_type": "CHECKING",
  "bank_account_id": "i7bc9089-3f5g-1cb0-a533-d19364fd2263",
  "bank_routing": "931937896",
  "creation_time": "2024-08-20T22:24:46.691379Z",
  "currency": "USD",
  "customer_type": "PERSONAL",
  "id": "a4cad06c-0b28-42ea-bcd7-dead9373b82d",
  "is_account_pool": false,
  "is_ach_enabled": true,
  "is_card_enabled": false,
  "is_eft_ca_enabled": false,
  "is_external_card_enabled": false,
  "is_p2p_enabled": true,
  "is_sar_enabled": false,
  "is_security": false,
  "is_synctera_pay_enabled": false,
  "is_wire_enabled": false,
  "last_updated_time": "2024-08-20T22:47:57.323435Z",
  "nickname": "ACCOUNT CLOSURE DEMO ACCOUNT",
  "open_date": "2024-08-20",
  "status": "IN_CLOSING",
  "tenant": "wrelqwerb_yhqwrkrp"
}

Please see the webhooks guide for further details on subscribing to the ACCOUNT.UPDATED webhook.

Account Closure FAQ’s

Will we be able to transfer the funds in multiple payments? Yes. We are able to transfer the funds in multiple payments.
Will the balance transfer happen immediately? If there are no transactions on hold and no pending transactions, then the transfer will happen immediately after the Initiate Closure API was called. If there are transactions on hold or pending transactions, then the transfer will occur after these clear and the account will be closed.
What happens if there is a return / refund after the account is closed? Synctera will manually send a check to the last known address for any funds that come in after the account is closed.
Can customers still raise a dispute after the account is closed? Yes, customers can raise a dispute after the account is closed. For card transactions, disputes can be filed up to 60 days from the statement date of the transaction in question. For ACH transactions, disputes can be raised up to 60 days from the settlement date of the transaction in question. If the investigation results in a chargeback, Synctera will manually send a check to the last known address for the transaction amount.
Will a statement be issued after the account is closed? Yes a statement will be issued at the end of the month, even after the account is closed. Smart cards will remain IN_CLOSING, until the customer pays off the balance listed in the statement generated at the end of the month.
Are there any controls to ensure that the funds are sent to a valid recipient? Although we enforce industry standard fraud controls in our platform, we do not verify that the recipient is valid. We encourage the fintech to verify the recipient is valid, using its own data and or third party platforms.
If you close an account without any underlying pending transactions or anything else that needs to be closed - how long until you receive the ‘closed’ webhook event? You will receive it the next business day.