Skip to main content

​
Payments — Moving Money to Pay Down Debt

​
What Payments Enable

Payments are where Method’s platform closes the loop from data to action. After discovering a user’s liabilities and retrieving their current account data, Payments enable your application to actually move money — initiating paydowns from your platform’s corporate funding account to your users’ creditors. This is the capability that transforms Method from a data platform into a complete debt management infrastructure. Without Payments, you can show users what they owe. With Payments, you can help them do something about it.

​
What’s Required Before a Payment Can Be Made

1

A verified Entity

The user must have completed identity verification. This is a non-negotiable compliance and fraud prevention requirement.
2

A destination liability account

The credit card, loan, or other debt being paid down, typically discovered through Connect. This is where the money goes.
3

A verified funding source

Your platform’s corporate bank account (checking or savings), linked via ACH and verified through micro-deposits, Plaid, MX, or Teller. This is where the money comes from.
4

Webhook handling

Because payment processing is asynchronous (it takes time for money to move through the banking system), your application must listen for webhook notifications to track the payment’s progress through its lifecycle.

​
Payment Processing and Timing

Method supports electronic push payments to liability accounts. When a payment is submitted, funds are initiated from your platform’s verified funding account and delivered to the creditor. Processing typically takes 2–3 business days, though the exact timing varies by institution. Payments are processed in defined windows throughout the business day, so the time you submit a payment relative to the next processing window affects when it begins moving. Payments submitted outside of processing windows are held until the next window. Settlement and posting times are ultimately controlled by the receiving creditor, not by Method. Some creditors apply payments same-day upon receipt; others may take additional time. This means your product should set user expectations appropriately: “Your payment has been sent and will be applied by your creditor, typically within a few business days.” Avoid making hard promises about exact posting dates.