Keeping Account Data Fresh and Accurate
What an Update Is
An Update is the mechanism through which Method delivers the latest state of a connected account, current balance, payment due date, minimum payment amount, interest rate, credit limit, and other relevant fields depending on the account type. If Connect is how you discover accounts, Updates are how you keep those accounts’ data current over time.
The freshness and accuracy of your account data directly impacts the quality of your product experience. A debt repayment app that shows last month’s balance feels broken. A payment scheduler that uses stale due dates risks missed payments. Updates are how you ensure your product reflects financial reality, not an outdated snapshot.
Two Sources of Truth: Snapshot vs. Direct
Updates come from two fundamentally different data sources, and choosing between them is an important product decision:
Pull data from the user’s credit report. Credit reports are compiled by the major bureaus and updated when creditors submit their reporting data, typically on a monthly cycle. Snapshot data is available for the broadest range of accounts and returns instantly (synchronously), but it’s only as fresh as the most recent creditor report.| Attribute | Detail |
|---|
| Freshness | Monthly (credit report cycle) |
| Response | Instant (synchronous) |
| Coverage | Broadest — works for virtually every account |
curl https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_yVf3mkzbhz9tj/updates \
-X POST \
-H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"type": "snapshot"}'
Pull data directly from the financial institution in real time. This means the data reflects the account’s current state as of the moment the institution responds, including very recent payments, daily interest accrual, and same-day balance changes. Direct Updates are asynchronous (you submit a request and receive the result via webhook when it completes) and take longer, but the data is significantly more current.| Attribute | Detail |
|---|
| Freshness | Real-time (as of institution response) |
| Response | Async (webhook delivery) |
| Coverage | Narrower — depends on institution support |
curl https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_yVf3mkzbhz9tj/updates \
-X POST \
-H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"type": "direct"}'
Many products use both: snapshot data as the default display, with direct Updates triggered when the user takes an action that requires current data (like preparing to make a payment).
Billing Lifecycle and Data Availability
Financial institutions determine which data fields are returned for Updates based on the cardholder’s billing lifecycle stage. The four common cardholder states:
- Bill Created — A new statement has been generated. All billing fields are available.
- Bill Due — A payment is owed. Balance, minimum payment, and due date are present, but no last payment information has been reported yet.
- Bill Paid — A payment has been made. Last payment amount and date are available, but the next due date has not yet been generated.
- Dormant — The account is open but shows minimal activity. Typically only balance (and sometimes available credit) is returned.
| Field | Created | Due | Paid | Dormant |
|---|
| available_credit | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| balance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| last_payment_amount | ✓ | | ✓ | |
| last_payment_date | ✓ | | ✓ | |
| next_payment_minimum_amount | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| next_payment_due_date | ✓ | ✓ | | |
