Accept an ACH Direct Debit payment

Build a custom payment form or use Stripe Checkout to accept payments with ACH Direct Debit.

Web

Mobile

Use the Payment Element to embed a custom Stripe payment form in your website or application and offer payment methods to customers. For advanced configurations and customizations, refer to the Accept a Payment integration guide.

Before you use ACH direct debit in your Payment Element integration, learn about the following ACH direct debit-specific considerations:

Learn about mandate collection.
Choose how you verify bank accounts.

Mandate collection

When accepting ACH payments, you need to understand mandates.

Unless you use a direct API integration, Stripe handles mandate collection and storage for your business to make sure that regulatory requirements are met. When a customer accepts the mandate during the payment process, Stripe automatically stores this information and it becomes available for you to access from your Dashboard.

Set up Stripe
Server-side

To get started, create a Stripe account.

Use our official libraries for access to the Stripe API from your application:

Collect payment details
Client-side

Use the Payment Element to collect payment details on the client. The Payment Element is a prebuilt UI component that simplifies collecting payment details for various payment methods.

The Payment Element contains an iframe that securely sends payment information to Stripe over an HTTPS connection. Avoid placing the Payment Element within another iframe because some payment methods require redirecting to another page for payment confirmation.

The checkout page address must start with https:// rather than http:// for your integration to work. You can test your integration without using HTTPS, but remember to enable it when you’re ready to accept live payments.

Set up Stripe.js

The Payment Element is automatically available as a feature of Stripe.js. Include the Stripe.js script on your checkout page by adding it to the head of your HTML file. Always load Stripe.js directly from js.stripe.com to remain PCI compliant. Don’t include the script in a bundle or host a copy of it yourself.

checkout.html
<head>
  <title>Checkout</title>
  <script src="https://js.stripe.com/basil/stripe.js"></script>
</head>

Create an instance of Stripe with the following JavaScript on your checkout page:

checkout.js
// Set your publishable key: remember to change this to your live publishable key in production
// See your keys here: https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys
const stripe = Stripe('pk_test_TYooMQauvdEDq54NiTphI7jx'
);

Add the Payment Element to your checkout page

To add the Payment Element to your checkout page, create an empty DOM node (container) with a unique ID in your payment form:

checkout.html
<form id="payment-form">
  <div id="payment-element">
    <!-- Elements will create form elements here -->
  </div>
  <button id="submit">Submit</button>
  <div id="error-message">
    <!-- Display error message to your customers here -->
  </div>
</form>

You can manage payment methods from the Dashboard or manually list the payment methods you want to be available when you create the Payment Element.

checkout.js
const options = {
  mode: 'payment',
  amount: 1099,
  currency: 'usd',
  // Fully customizable with appearance API.
  appearance: {/*...*/},
};

// Set up Stripe.js and Elements to use in checkout form
const elements = stripe.elements(options);

// Create and mount the Payment Element
const paymentElementOptions = { layout: 'accordion'};
const paymentElement = elements.create('payment', paymentElementOptions);
paymentElement.mount('#payment-element');

You can customize the Payment Element to match the design of your site by passing the appearance object into options when creating the Elements provider.

Collect addresses

By default, the Payment Element only collects the necessary billing address details. To collect a customer’s full billing address (to calculate the tax for digital goods and services, for example) or shipping address, use the Address Element.

Verify bank accounts

Bank account verification uses automatic verification to collect payment information through Financial Connections by default. No changes are required to use it. You can change your verification_method to instant to make all users verify their bank accounts with Financial Connections. See the Financial Connections docs to learn how to configure Financial Connections and access additional account data to optimize your ACH integration. For example, you can use Financial Connections to check an account’s balance before initiating the ACH payment.

By default, collecting bank account payment information uses Financial Connections to instantly verify your customer’s account. If instant verification isn’t possible, it falls back to manual account number entry and microdeposit verification.

Note

To expand access to additional data after a customer authenticates their account, the customer needs to re-link their account with expanded permissions. This authentication occurs one time per customer, and the permission it grants is reusable.

Microdeposit verification
Not all customers can verify their bank account instantly. This section only applies if your customer has elected to opt out of the instant verification flow in the previous step. In these cases, Stripe sends 1-2 microdeposits to a customer’s bank account for verification instead. These deposits take 1-2 business days to appear on the customer’s online statement.

There are two types of microdeposits:

Descriptor code (default): Stripe sends a 0.01 USD microdeposit to the customer’s bank account with a unique 6-digit descriptor_code that starts with SM. Your customer uses this code to verify their bank account.
Amount: Stripe sends two, non-unique microdeposits to the customer’s bank account, with a statement descriptor that reads ACCTVERIFY. Your customer uses the deposit amounts to verify their bank account.

Microdeposit verification failure
When a bank account is pending verification with microdeposits, verification can fail in several ways:

The microdeposits fail to arrive in the customer’s bank account (this usually indicates a closed or unavailable bank account or incorrect bank account number).
The customer exceeds the limit of verification attempts for the account. Exceeding this limit means the bank account can no longer be verified or reused.
The customer didn’t complete verification within 10 days.

Create a PaymentIntent
Server-side

Run custom business logic immediately before payment confirmation

Navigate to step 5 in the finalize payments guide to run your custom business logic immediately before payment confirmation. Otherwise, follow the steps below for a simpler integration, which uses stripe.confirmPayment on the client to both confirm the payment and handle any next actions.

When the customer submits your payment form, use a PaymentIntent to facilitate the confirmation and payment process. Create a PaymentIntent on your server with an amount and currency. To prevent malicious customers from choosing their own prices, always decide how much to charge on the server-side (a trusted environment) and not the client.

Included on a PaymentIntent is a client secret. Return this value to your client for Stripe.js to use to securely complete the payment process.

Submit the payment to Stripe
Client-side

Use stripe.confirmPayment to complete the payment using details from the Payment Element.

Provide a return_url to this function to indicate where Stripe redirects the user after they complete the payment. Your user might be initially redirected to an intermediate site, such as a bank authorization page, before being redirected to the return_url. Card payments immediately redirect to the return_url when a payment is successful.

If you don’t want to redirect for card payments after payment completion, you can set redirect to if_required. This only redirects customers that check out with redirect-based payment methods.

checkout.js
const form = document.getElementById('payment-form');
const submitBtn = document.getElementById('submit');

const handleError = (error) => {
  const messageContainer = document.querySelector('#error-message');
  messageContainer.textContent = error.message;
  submitBtn.disabled = false;
}

form.addEventListener('submit', async (event) => {
  // We don't want to let default form submission happen here,
  // which would refresh the page.
  event.preventDefault();

  // Prevent multiple form submissions
  if (submitBtn.disabled) {
    return;
  }

  // Disable form submission while loading
  submitBtn.disabled = true;

  // Trigger form validation and wallet collection
  const {error: submitError} = await elements.submit();
  if (submitError) {
    handleError(submitError);
    return;
  }

  // Create the PaymentIntent and obtain clientSecret
  const res = await fetch("/create-intent", {
    method: "POST",
  });

  const {client_secret: clientSecret} = await res.json();

  // Confirm the PaymentIntent using the details collected by the Payment Element
  const {error} = await stripe.confirmPayment({
    elements,
    clientSecret,
    confirmParams: {
      return_url: 'https://example.com/order/123/complete',
    },
  });

  if (error) {
    // This point is only reached if there's an immediate error when
    // confirming the payment. Show the error to your customer (for example, payment details incomplete)
    handleError(error);
  } else {
    // Your customer is redirected to your `return_url`. For some payment
    // methods like iDEAL, your customer is redirected to an intermediate
    // site first to authorize the payment, then redirected to the `return_url`.
  }
});

OptionalHandle post-payment events

Stripe sends a payment_intent.succeeded event when the payment completes. Use the Dashboard, a custom webhook, or a partner solution to receive these events and run actions, like sending an order confirmation email to your customer, logging the sale in a database, or starting a shipping workflow.

Listen for these events rather than waiting on a callback from the client. On the client, the customer could close the browser window or quit the app before the callback executes, and malicious clients could manipulate the response. Setting up your integration to listen for asynchronous events also helps you accept more payment methods in the future. Learn about the differences between all supported payment methods.

Handle events manually in the Dashboard
Use the Dashboard to View your test payments in the Dashboard, send email receipts, handle payouts, or retry failed payments.
Build a custom webhook
Build a custom webhook handler to listen for events and build custom asynchronous payment flows. Test and debug your webhook integration locally with the Stripe CLI.
Integrate a prebuilt app
Handle common business events, such as automation or marketing and sales, by integrating a partner application.

Test your integration

Learn how to test scenarios with instant verifications using Financial Connections.

Send transaction emails in a sandbox

After you collect the bank account details and accept a mandate, send the mandate confirmation and microdeposit verification emails in a sandbox.

If your domain is {domain} and your username is {username}, use the the following email format to send test transaction emails: {username}+test_email@{domain}.

For example, if your domain is example.com and your username is info, use the format info+test_email@example.com for testing ACH Direct Debit payments. This format ensures that emails route correctly. If you don’t include the +test_email suffix, we won’t send the email.

Common mistake

You need to activate your Stripe account before you can trigger these emails while testing.

Test account numbers

Stripe provides several test account numbers and corresponding tokens you can use to make sure your integration for manually-entered bank accounts is ready for production.

Account number	Token	Routing number	Behavior
`000123456789`	`pm_usBankAccount_success`	`110000000`	The payment succeeds.
`000111111113`	`pm_usBankAccount_accountClosed`	`110000000`	The payment fails because the account is closed.
`000000004954`	`pm_usBankAccount_riskLevelHighest`	`110000000`	The payment is blocked by Radar due to a high risk of fraud.
`000111111116`	`pm_usBankAccount_noAccount`	`110000000`	The payment fails because no account is found.
`000222222227`	`pm_usBankAccount_insufficientFunds`	`110000000`	The payment fails due to insufficient funds.
`000333333335`	`pm_usBankAccount_debitNotAuthorized`	`110000000`	The payment fails because debits aren’t authorized.
`000444444440`	`pm_usBankAccount_invalidCurrency`	`110000000`	The payment fails due to invalid currency.
`000666666661`	`pm_usBankAccount_failMicrodeposits`	`110000000`	The payment fails to send microdeposits.
`000555555559`	`pm_usBankAccount_dispute`	`110000000`	The payment triggers a dispute.
`000000000009`	`pm_usBankAccount_processing`	`110000000`	The payment stays in processing indefinitely. Useful for testing PaymentIntent cancellation.
`000777777771`	`pm_usBankAccount_weeklyLimitExceeded`	`110000000`	The payment fails due to payment amount causing the account to exceed its weekly payment volume limit.

Before test transactions can complete, you need to verify all test accounts that automatically succeed or fail the payment. To do so, use the test microdeposit amounts or descriptor codes below.

Test microdeposit amounts and descriptor codes

To mimic different scenarios, use these microdeposit amounts or 0.01 descriptor code values.

Microdeposit values	0.01 descriptor code values	Scenario
`32` and `45`	SM11AA	Simulates verifying the account.
`10` and `11`	SM33CC	Simulates exceeding the number of allowed verification attempts.
`40` and `41`	SM44DD	Simulates a microdeposit timeout.

Test settlement behavior

Test transactions settle instantly and are added to your available test balance. This behavior differs from livemode, where transactions can take multiple days to settle in your available balance.

Error codes

The following table details common error codes and recommended actions:

Error code	Recommended action
`payment_intent_invalid_currency`	Enter a supported currency.
`missing_required_parameter`	Check the error message for more information about the required parameter.
`payment_intent_payment_attempt_failed`	This code can appear in the last_payment_error.code field of a PaymentIntent. Check the error message for a detailed failure reason and suggestion on error handling.
`payment_intent_authentication_failure`	This code can appear in the last_payment_error.code field of a PaymentIntent. Check the error message for a detailed failure reason and suggestion on error handling. This error occurs when you manually trigger a failure when testing your integration.
`payment_intent_redirect_confirmation_without_return_url`	Provide a `return_url` when confirming a PaymentIntent.

OptionalAccess data on a Financial Connections bank account

You can only access Financial Connections data if you request additional data permissions when you create your Payment Intent.

After your customer successfully completes the Stripe Financial Connections authentication flow, the us_bank_account PaymentMethod returned includes a financial_connections_account ID that points to a Financial Connections Account. Use this ID to access account data.

Common mistake

Bank accounts that your customers link through manual entry and microdeposits don’t have a financial_connections_account ID on the payment method.

To determine the Financial Connections account ID, retrieve the Payment Intent and expand the payment_intent.payment_method attribute:

{
  "payment_intent": {
    "id": "{{PAYMENT_INTENT_ID}}",
    "object": "payment_intent",
    // ...
    "payment_method": {
      "id": "{{PAYMENT_METHOD_ID}}",
      // ...
      "type": "us_bank_account",
      "us_bank_account": {
        "account_holder_type": "individual",
        "account_type": "checking",
        "bank_name": "TEST BANK",
        "financial_connections_account": "{{FINANCIAL_CONNECTIONS_ACCOUNT_ID}}",
        "fingerprint": "q9qchffggRjlX2tb",
        "last4": "6789",
        "routing_number": "110000000"
      }
    }
    // ...
  }
}

OptionalResolve disputes
Server-side

Customers can generally dispute an ACH Direct Debit payment through their bank for up to 60 calendar days after a debit on a personal account, or up to 2 business days for a business account. In rare instances, a customer might be able to successfully dispute a debit payment outside these standard dispute timelines.

When a customer disputes a payment, Stripe sends a charge.dispute.closed webhook event, and the PaymentMethod authorization is revoked.

In rare situations, Stripe might receive an ACH failure from the bank after a PaymentIntent has transitioned to succeeded. If this happens, Stripe creates a dispute with a reason of:

insufficient_funds
incorrect_account_details
bank_can't_process

Stripe charges a failure fee in this situation.

Future payments reusing this PaymentMethod return the following error:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "This PaymentIntent requires a mandate, but no existing mandate was found. Collect mandate acceptance from the customer and try again, providing acceptance data in the mandate_data parameter.",
    "payment_intent": {
      ...
    }
    "type": "invalid_request_error"
  }
}

This error contains a PaymentIntent in the requires_confirmation state. To continue with the payment, you must:

Resolve the dispute with the customer to ensure future payments will not be disputed.
Confirm authorization from your customer again.

To confirm authorization for the payment, you can collect mandate acknowledgement from your customer online with Stripe.js or confirm authorization with your customer offline using the Stripe API.

Caution

If a customer disputes more than one payment from the same bank account, Stripe blocks their bank account. Contact Stripe Support for further resolution.

OptionalPayment Reference

The payment reference number is a bank-generated value that allows the bank account owner to use their bank to locate funds. When the payment succeeds, Stripe provides the payment reference number in the Dashboard and inside the Charge object.

Charge State	Payment Reference Value
Pending	Unavailable
Failed	Unavailable
Succeeded	Available (for example, 091000015001234)

In addition, when you receive the charge.succeeded webhook, view the content of payment_method_details to locate the payment_reference.

The following example event shows the rendering of a successful ACH payment with a payment reference number.

{
  "id": "{{EVENT_ID}}",
  "object": "event",
  // omitted some fields in the example
  "type": "charge.succeeded",
  "data": {
    "object": {
      "id": "{{PAYMENT_ID}}",
      "object": "charge",
      //...
    "paid": true,
    "payment_intent": "{{PAYMENT_INTENT_ID}}",
    "payment_method": "{{PAYMENT_METHOD_ID}}",
    "payment_method_details": {
      "type": "us_bank_account",
      "us_bank_account": {
        "account_holder_type": "individual",
        "account_type": "checking",
        "bank_name": "TEST BANK",
        "fingerprint": "Ih3foEnRvLXShyfB",
        "last4": "1000",
        "payment_reference": "091000015001234",
        "routing_number": "110000000"
        }
      }
      // ...
    }
  }
}

View the contents of the destination_details to locate the refund reference associated with the refunded ACH payments.

The following example event shows the rendering of a successful ACH refund with a refund reference number. Learn more about refunds.

{
  "id": "{{EVENT_ID}}",
  "object": "event",
  "type": "charge.refund.updated",
  "data": {
    "object": {
      "id": "{{REFUND_ID}}",
      "object": "refund",
      //...
    "payment_intent": "{{PAYMENT_INTENT_ID}}",
    "destination_details": {
      "type": "us_bank_transfer",
      "us_bank_transfer": {
        "reference": "091000015001111",
        "reference_status": "available"
        }
      }
      // ...
    }
  }
}

OptionalConfigure customer debit date
Server-side

You can control the date that Stripe debits a customer’s bank account using the target date. The target date must be at least three days in the future and no more than 15 days from the current date.

The target date schedules money to leave the customer’s account on the target date. You can cancel a PaymentIntent created with a target date up to three business days before the configured date.

Target dates that meet one of the following criteria delay the debit until next available business day:

Target date falls on a weekend, a bank holiday, or other non-business day.
Target date is fewer than three business days in the future.

This parameter operates on a best-effort basis. Each customer’s bank might process debits on different dates, depending on local bank holidays or other reasons.

Caution

You can’t set the verification method to microdeposits when using a target date, as the verification process could take longer than the target date, causing payments to arrive later than expected.

Accept an ACH Direct Debit payment

Build a custom payment form or use Stripe Checkout to accept payments with ACH Direct Debit.

Mandate collection

Set up StripeServer-side

Collect payment detailsClient-side

Set up Stripe.js

Add the Payment Element to your checkout page

Collect addresses

Verify bank accounts

Note

Create a PaymentIntentServer-side

Run custom business logic immediately before payment confirmation

Submit the payment to StripeClient-side

OptionalHandle post-payment events

Test your integration

Send transaction emails in a sandbox

Common mistake

Test account numbers

Test microdeposit amounts and descriptor codes

Test settlement behavior

Error codes

OptionalAccess data on a Financial Connections bank account

Common mistake

OptionalResolve disputesServer-side

Caution

OptionalPayment Reference

OptionalConfigure customer debit dateServer-side

Caution

Set up Stripe
Server-side

Collect payment details
Client-side

Create a PaymentIntent
Server-side

Submit the payment to Stripe
Client-side

OptionalResolve disputes
Server-side

OptionalConfigure customer debit date
Server-side