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This guide covers the action layer of a PFM integration: streaming transaction data for spend management, and initiating payments from your platform’s corporate funding account to pay down user liabilities. All examples use Sarah Chen’s accounts from the Getting Started guide.

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Transaction Stream & Spend Management

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Listing Transactions

Transactions provide transaction-level detail for connected Visa and Mastercard credit card accounts. Once subscribed, you can query historical transactions and receive new ones in real time via webhooks. Retrieve recent transactions for Sarah’s Chase Sapphire Reserve card: 
curl "https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw/transactions?from_date=2025-09-01&to_date=2025-09-15" \
  -X GET \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc"
Sarah’s recent transactions show $6.75 at Blue Bottle Coffee, $87.43 at Whole Foods, and $52.18 at Shell. All amounts are in cents. The merchant_category_code enables spend categorization (5814 = restaurants, 5411 = grocery, 5541 = gas stations).

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Subscribing to Transactions

Transaction data requires an active subscription. Enroll Sarah’s Chase card to receive transaction events in real time: 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw/subscriptions \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "enroll": "transaction"
  }'
With the subscription active, Method fires webhook events for both authorization events (when Sarah swipes her card) and settlement events (when the transaction clears). This enables real-time spend alerts, budget tracking, and transaction feeds.
Transaction streaming is available for Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Not all card accounts will support transactions — check the account’s products array to confirm transaction is available.

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Bill Pay & Debt Repayment

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Getting a Fresh Balance Before Payment

Before initiating a payment, pull the latest balance to ensure accuracy. If you’ve already subscribed to updates (covered in the Dashboard & Insights guide), you’ll have recent data. Otherwise, request an on-demand update: 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw/updates \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc"
The completed update confirms Sarah’s Chase card balance is $800.00 (80000 cents) with a minimum payment of $25.00 due on October 1st. She decides to pay $500.00 toward the balance.

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Creating a Payment

Payments move money from your platform’s verified funding account (ACH) to a liability account. Your corporate funding account acc_hmap9mbgfLcf9 serves as the payment source for all user payments. 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/payments \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "amount": 50000,
    "source": "acc_hmap9mbgfLcf9",
    "destination": "acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw",
    "description": "Chase Pmt"
  }'
The payment is created with status: "pending" and an estimated completion date of September 18th. The description field (max 10 characters) appears on the user’s bank statement.
All amounts are in cents. 50000 = $500.00. The description field has a maximum length of 10 characters.

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Payment Lifecycle

Payments move through a lifecycle from creation to settlement. Track progress via webhook events: Once the payment settles, the status transitions to posted: 
{
  "id": "pmt_VeCfmkwGKb",
  "source": "acc_hmap9mbgfLcf9",
  "destination": "acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw",
  "amount": 50000,
  "description": "Chase Pmt",
  "status": "posted",
  "estimated_completion_date": "2025-09-18",
  "source_trace_id": "203942084920",
  "source_settlement_date": "2025-09-16",
  "source_status": "posted",
  "destination_trace_id": "304820184832",
  "destination_settlement_date": "2025-09-18",
  "destination_payment_method": "paper",
  "destination_status": "posted",
  "reversal_id": null,
  "error": null,
  "metadata": null,
  "created_at": "2025-09-15T16:00:00.000Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-09-18T12:00:00.000Z"
}

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Payoff Quotes for Loans

For installment loans (auto loans, personal loans, student loans), your app may want to show payoff quotes — the exact amount needed to pay off the loan in full as of a specific date. Payoff amounts often differ from the current balance due to accrued interest, fees, or early payoff penalties.

Payoff Quotes Guide

How to request and use payoff quotes for loan accounts.

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Putting It All Together

With transactions and payments, Sarah’s PFM experience is complete:
CapabilityProductExample
View all debtsConnect6 liabilities discovered automatically
Real-time balancesUpdatesChase card: $800.00 balance, $25.00 minimum due
Card visualsCard BrandChase Sapphire Reserve card art
Credit scoreCredit ScoresVantageScore 4.0: 734
Financial healthAttributes22% utilization, 100% payment history
Spending activityTransactionsCoffee, groceries, gas — categorized in real time
Bill payPayments$500 payment to Chase, settled in 3 days

Payments Lifecycle

Deep dive into payment states, timing, and error handling.

Payment Errors

Understanding and handling payment failures and reversals.