Getting Started

Every commerce integration begins the same way: represent your user, verify their identity, and discover their credit cards. For commerce, the primary goal is connecting the user’s credit cards for linking, transactions, or tokenization.

Create an Entity

Every end user maps to an Entity in Method. Create one with the user’s identifying information. This is the foundational object that verification, card discovery, and all downstream products attach to.

curl https://production.methodfi.com/entities \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "individual",
    "individual": {
      "first_name": "Emily",
      "last_name": "Park",
      "phone": "+13105550789",
      "email": "emily.park@email.com",
      "dob": "1995-11-08"
    },
    "address": {
      "line1": "789 Sunset Blvd",
      "line2": null,
      "city": "Los Angeles",
      "state": "CA",
      "zip": "90028"
    }
  }'

{
  "id": "ent_BzirqpLEm3BW7",
  "type": "individual",
  "individual": {
    "first_name": "Emily",
    "last_name": "Park",
    "phone": "+13105550789",
    "dob": "1995-11-08",
    "email": "emily.park@email.com",
    "ssn_4": null,
    "ssn": null
  },
  "error": null,
  "address": {
    "line1": "789 Sunset Blvd",
    "line2": null,
    "city": "Los Angeles",
    "state": "CA",
    "zip": "90028"
  },
  "status": "incomplete",
  "verification": {
    "identity": {
      "verified": false,
      "matched": false,
      "latest_verification_session": null,
      "methods": [
        "element",
        "kba"
      ]
    },
    "phone": {
      "verified": false,
      "latest_verification_session": null,
      "methods": [
        "sms",
        "sna",
        "byo_sms"
      ]
    }
  },
  "connect": null,
  "credit_score": null,
  "products": [
    "identity"
  ],
  "restricted_products": [
    "connect",
    "credit_score",
    "attribute"
  ],
  "subscriptions": [],
  "available_subscriptions": [
    "connect",
    "credit_score"
  ],
  "restricted_subscriptions": [],
  "metadata": null,
  "created_at": "2025-12-10T14:22:31.024Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-12-10T14:22:31.024Z"
}

The Entity is created in incomplete status. Before you can discover Emily’s credit cards, you need to verify her identity.

Verify Identity

Method requires phone verification before card discovery. Initiate an SMS verification session — this sends a one-time code to Emily’s phone number on record.

curl https://production.methodfi.com/entities/ent_BzirqpLEm3BW7/verification_sessions \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "phone",
    "method": "sms",
    "sms": {}
  }'

{
  "id": "evf_nKLp7WzQdR4mF",
  "entity_id": "ent_BzirqpLEm3BW7",
  "status": "in_progress",
  "type": "phone",
  "method": "sms",
  "sms": {},
  "error": null,
  "created_at": "2025-12-10T14:23:12.271Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-12-10T14:23:12.271Z"
}

After Emily receives and submits the SMS code, the verification session transitions to verified. Once both phone and identity verification are complete, the Entity status updates to active and Connect becomes available.

For a complete overview of all verification methods (SMS, SNA, BYO-SMS, KBA), see the Identity Verification guide.

Connect Credit Cards

With verification complete, call Connect to discover Emily’s credit cards via a soft-pull credit report. This has no impact on the user’s credit score.For commerce use cases, the key discovery is credit cards — these are the accounts you’ll use for card linking, brand enrichment, transaction streaming, and tokenization.

curl https://production.methodfi.com/entities/ent_BzirqpLEm3BW7/connect \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc"

{
  "id": "cxn_7hTmRvXkYpN3w",
  "entity_id": "ent_BzirqpLEm3BW7",
  "status": "completed",
  "accounts": [
    "acc_LxwEqNicr66yP",
    "acc_4m9amk4KFiaQX",
    "acc_XtKTpHLGhD9Qn",
    "acc_GAzrD99cUqGEN"
  ],
  "requested_products": [],
  "requested_subscriptions": [],
  "error": null,
  "created_at": "2025-12-10T14:24:45.645Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-12-10T14:24:45.645Z"
}

Method discovered 4 credit card accounts for Emily:

Account ID	Card
`acc_LxwEqNicr66yP`	Chase Sapphire Preferred (Visa)
`acc_4m9amk4KFiaQX`	Amex Gold (Amex)
`acc_XtKTpHLGhD9Qn`	Citi Double Cash (Mastercard)
`acc_GAzrD99cUqGEN`	Capital One Venture X (Visa)

These accounts are now ready for card brand enrichment and payment instrument tokenization.

What’s Next

Card Linking & Checkout

Enrich cards with brand art, tokenize for checkout, and create card-on-file instruments.

Entities

Identity Verification

Connect

Accounts

Updates

Payments

Additional Products

Use Cases: Commerce

Use Cases: Lending

Use Cases: PFM

Getting Started

What’s Next

Card Linking & Checkout

​What’s Next

Card Linking & Checkout

What’s Next