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With FBO funding, a Method-managed for-benefit-of (FBO) Account supplies funds for a group of Payments. You can fund it in two ways:
  • Push: You send funds to the FBO Account by ACH or wire.
  • Pull: Method debits your verified disbursement Account by ACH and moves the funds to the FBO Account.
Method uses the FBO Account’s available balance to disburse Payments to eligible liabilities.
Method configures the FBO Account, funding instructions, and operating requirements during implementation. You do not select a funding model in POST /payments.

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Flow and schedule

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Daily schedule

The Payment creation cutoff determines which Payments enter the batch. The later time is the deadline to initiate funding for that batch, not when the funds must arrive.At 4:30 PM CT, Method starts to disburse funded Payments. On the next banking day, reconcile the FBO balance, Payments, and funded reversals.
ACH funding: Do not wait for the 3:35 PM CT reports. Use the funding target configured during implementation, the outstanding Payments in your own ledger at the 1:30 PM CT cutoff, and the FBO Account’s available_balance to size the ACH credit. Use the reports to reconcile the batch after funding.Wire funding: Push summary and itemized Report Schedules run at 3:35 PM CT, after the 3:30 PM CT Payment cutoff. Compare the summary with the FBO Account’s available_balance to size the wire due by 4:15 PM CT.
Method confirms the transfer instructions and any bank-specific lead time during implementation. Initiate funding early enough for the FBO Account to be funded before disbursement starts.
The schedules apply on banking days and exclude banking holidays.

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Reserves, prefunding, and holds

Your FBO setup may include a reserve requirement, a prefunding requirement, or a funding hold.
  • Reserve: A required balance held in a separate Method-managed reserve Account outside the operating flow of funds. It covers failures when Method pulls funds from the source Account, such as an ACH debit returned for insufficient funds (NSF). This helps protect your organization and Method from the resulting funding shortfall.
  • Prefunding: Additional funds that you send to the FBO Account before Method disburses Payments to decrease potential funding hold time.
  • Funding hold: A delay before disbursement while Method waits for source funds to clear.
Method confirms the requirements for your program during implementation.

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Set up FBO funding

1

Confirm the funding method

Method confirms whether you push funds to the FBO Account or Method pulls funds from your verified disbursement Account.
2

Receive the FBO instructions

Method provides the required Account IDs, funding instructions, and operating schedule.
3

Check each destination

Confirm that payment is in the liability Account’s products before you create a Payment.
4

Create the Payments

Call POST /payments. For push funding, use the FBO-backed Account as source. For pull funding, use the verified disbursement Account as source.
5

Fund the FBO Account

For push funding, send funds by ACH or wire. For pull funding, Method initiates the ACH debit after you create the Payment.
Seeing payment in an Account’s products list means that the Account is eligible for Payments. Method checks eligibility and your team’s setup again when you create each Payment. A listed product does not guarantee that the create request will succeed.

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Reconcile

  1. For push funding, compare the Managed Account available_balance with payments.outstanding_summary.push_daily. Use payments.outstanding_itemized.push_daily to identify the included Payments.
  2. For pull funding, use payments.outstanding_summary.pull_daily and payments.outstanding_itemized.pull_daily. Retrieve each Payment to check source_status, source_settlement_date, and source_trace_id.
  3. Use POST /reports for an on-demand report, or configure Report Schedules to generate the reports on each banking day.
  4. For push funding, use team_fbo_balance.created.previous_day and reversals.push_funded.previous_day for prior-day activity.
  5. Consume payment.create and payment.update webhooks. Treat sent as the terminal status for successful Payment delivery, and continue to handle later status changes.

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Handle returned funds

Returned funds go to the Payment’s reversal_account. If you set reversal_account in POST /payments, that Account is used. Otherwise, Method uses your team’s configured reversal Account when one is set, or the Payment’s source Account. For push funding, returned funds that go to the FBO-backed source Account can fund later Payments. If Method must configure another reversal Account, contact Method and provide that Account’s ACH details.