Migrating ACH Direct Debit from Charges to newer APIs

Learn why and how to migrate from the Charges API.

Stripe will soon remove support for ACH Direct Debit on the Charges API. If you create ACH Direct Debit payments using the Charges API through the API, Invoices, or Subscriptions, you must migrate to the Payment Intents API or Checkout Sessions API. Before we formally remove support, we’ll email you with more details.

Reasons to migrate

ACH Direct Debit on Stripe’s newer APIs offers the following improvements:

Support for prebuilt payment UIs, including Stripe Checkout and Payment Element.
Stripe Checkout and Payment Element support.
Faster settlement options, cross-border capabilities, and built-in instant bank verification.
Advanced fraud prevention.
Unified reporting and payouts

API differences

The following compares Stripe’s newer APIs and the Charges API:

Feature	Charges API	Payment Intents API or Checkout Sessions API
Checkout support	No	Yes
Payment Element support	No	Yes
Dynamic payment method support	No	Yes
Settlement speed	T+6	T+4 (T+2 when using faster settlement)
Instant bank account verification	Only available through custom, third-party integrations	Instant verification with Financial Connections
Microdeposits	Two microdeposits made up of random, small amounts for verification	One cent microdeposit with a descriptor code or two microdeposits made up of random, small amounts for verification
Fraud Prevention	No	Radar for ACH Balance checks using Financial Connections Smart Retries
Mandate collection and storage	Outside of Stripe	Within Stripe
Supported countries	US	US, EU, and UK
Balance type	Bank account (`source_type=bank_account`)	ACH payments share the same balance type as cards and other payment methods (`source_type=card`)

Compare the Checkout Sessions and Payment Intents APIs

Stripe offers two newer APIs to accept ACH Direct Debits payments: Payment Intents and Checkout Sessions APIs.

Checkout Sessions API: Supports common checkout workflows with built-in features that remove the need for custom code and is recommended for most developers.
Payment Intents API: Lets you use custom code for more granular control over the checkout process, but requires more integration code and maintenance.

Learn more about the differences, and how to evaluate which is right for you.

Build an ACH Direct Debit integration

To build an ACH Direct Debit integration on PaymentIntents:

Enable ACH Direct Debit in your Payment methods settings.
To collect and use new payment methods, integrate with ACH on Payment Intents.
For bank accounts previously collected using the Tokens API, you can continue to use saved BankAccount objects as PaymentMethod objects with the Payment Intents API. To learn more, see Migrate existing bank accounts from the Charges API.
Test your integration.
Gradually migrate all payments using existing bank accounts to the Payment Intents API.
Remove your integration with the Charges API.