Wire

What is a Wire?

Wires are one of the most effective and quickest ways to move money electronically from one entity to another.

Sometimes, customers need to send money somewhere fast. In these scenarios, Wires transfers are typically the way to go. They cost a bit more and take more effort than other methods of sending money, but you'll have peace of mind that your payment is moving on one of the most secure and fastest rails out there.

There are two main types of wire transfers: domestic and international. Plastiq Connect currently supports domestic wires in the United States. Domestic wire transfers generally get processed the same day the wire goes out.

📘

Surcharge Fees

Sometimes banks charge a surcharge fee to process wires on behalf of their customers. Plastiq does not have control of the fees assessed by the receiving bank and we recommend your customer is aware that the Recipient may be charged a fee if wishing to send a Payment via Wire.

Wire as a Receiving Method

In Plastiq Connect, Wire-funded Recipients can be created by designating the type of recevingMethod as Wire. This informs Plastiq Connect to fulfill Payments to the Recipient as same-day wire transfers.

Similar to ACH, in order to ensure that your customer's Payment to a Wire-funded Recipient is successful, make sure the beneficiaryName is the name on the Recipient's bank account.

🚧

Wire Returns

Due to the high sensitivity nature of Wire transfers, Wires are occasionally subject to higher levels of scrutiny by bank participants and will sometimes be returned if the Payer's Payment instructions do not closely match the Recipient's funding information.

Plastiq Connect recommends customers are aware of the importance of providing high fidelity Payment instructions.

Routing Numbers

A routing number is a unique, nine-digit number that functions as an address for your bank. It is used for electronic Payments such as funds transfers, direct deposits, and digital checks, etc.

However, be aware that banks may have more than one routing number, and more often than not, routing numbers that process ACH payments do not process Wire payments, and vice-versa.

When finding the Wire routing number to set up your Recipient, please ensure that the routing number accepts Wire transactions. As an additional precaution, Plastiq Connect will validate that the wire routing number you've provided is valid for use and will provide you feedback if we deem that the funding instructions you've provided are invalid.

📘

Tip: Dealing with Wire-Only Routing Numbers

In the instance that we deem your funding instruction as invalid, we recommend you reach out to your Recipient to verify that the routing number accepts Wires. Alternatively, you can check https://www.frbservices.org/resources/routing-number-directory to see if the bank's routing number is a Fedwire participant.

Using Plastiq Connect APIs, integrating platforms will have the flexibility to design their experiences to capture this information upfront upon Recipient creation or asynchronously after a Payment to the Recipient has been submitted.

If you choose to collect this information upfront, you'll be able to supply beneficial owner information in the beneficialOwner sub-object when creating the Recipient. The beneficial owner sub-object will consist of a firstName and lastName fields.

Using the receivingMethod Property

Beneficial Ownership and International Wire Transfers

A beneficial owner is an individual who owns or controls more than 25% of a company’s shares or voting rights, or who otherwise exercises control over the company or its management.

The Financial Action Task Force, also known as FATF, an international regulatory body that sets standards for anti-money laundering practices and counter-terrorist financing, has made the collection of beneficial ownership information mandatory for sending out international Wire transfers.

👍

Minimizing Customer Friction Through Global Data Sources

Although the collection of beneficial owner information is mandatory for initiating international Wire Payments, Plastiq Connect leverages global data sources where possible to fill in information gaps and lessen customer requests to enable Payment submission while firmly adhering to global regulatory guidelines.

Collecting Beneficial Owner Information at Recipient Creation

Using Plastiq Connect APIs, integrating platforms will have the flexibility to design their experiences to capture this information upfront upon Recipient creation or asynchronously after a Payment to the Recipient has been submitted.

If you choose to collect this information upfront, you'll be able to supply beneficial owner information in the beneficialOwner sub-object when creating the Recipient. The beneficial owner sub-object will consist of a firstName and lastName fields.

Collecting Beneficial Owner Information After Payment Submission

Alternatively, if you wish not to collect this information upfront at the time of Recipient creation or it is not provided prior to Payment submission, and Plastiq is unable to determine the beneficial owner associated with the Recipient entity, then a Payment webhook status notification containing the Payment identifier and a status of `UNDER_REVIEW' will be emitted to notify you that the Payment needs intervention.

Additionally, a Recipient status webhook will be emitted containing a unique Recipient identifier and the specific action that will need to be fulfilled in order to continue processing the transaction.

In this scenario, when beneficial owner information is required, the Recipient webhook will emit a status of PENDING_BENEFICIAL_OWNER.

In order to release the transaction, the end-user will have to provide beneficial owner details and update the Recipient object. Using PATCH Recipients, API consumers will be able to update the firstName and lastName of the beneficial owner. Upon successfully updating the beneficial owner attributes, the Payment should move to its next fulfillment step of IN_TRANSIT and you should receive a Payment status webhook notification as a confirmation.