Payouts

Send money to an individual: winnings, seller balances, contractor pay.

A payout is not a refund. It goes to someone who may never have paid you, and it is a separate product with its own rails and rules.

Rails

Method	Goes to	Currencies	Speed	Can bounce
CPCard payout `card_payout`	card	Any	Instant	No
SEPA Instant `sepa_credit_transfer`	bank account	EUR	Seconds (SCT Inst)	Yes
Faster Payments `faster_payments`	bank account	GBP	Seconds to two hours	Yes
NPPAustralia (NPP) `au_npp`	bank account	AUD	Seconds (NPP)	Yes

1. Create a recipient

POST /v1/payout-recipients

{
  "type": "card",
  "first_name": "Ana",
  "last_name": "Silva",
  "date_of_birth": "1990-01-01",
  "country": "PT",
  "reference": "winner-001",
  "parent_payment_reference": "57-9-5091179"
}

A card recipient is created from a token issued by the provider, from a previous payment they made (the bank still holds the card, we hold a reference), or from the card number itself with its expiry, since some payout rails take the number directly. Card details are encrypted at rest and exist in memory only while the payout is being sent.

Required fields by rail

Rail	Required recipient fields
Faster Payments	`first_name`, `last_name`, `sort_code` (6 digits), `account_number` (8 digits)
SEPA	`first_name`, `last_name`, `iban`, and the address: `address_line1`, `city`, `postal_code`, `country`
Card payout	`first_name`, `last_name`, `date_of_birth`, the card (`card_number` + `expiry_month`/`expiry_year`), and the address: `address_line1`, `city`, `postal_code`, `country`
Australia (NPP)	`first_name`, `last_name`, `bsb` (6 digits), `account_number`, `contact_phone`, and the address: `address_line1`, `city`, `postal_code`, `country` (`AU`), `country_subdivision` (state, e.g. `NSW`)

SEPA and card payouts are refused with address_required (and card without a birth date with date_of_birth_required) if those are missing. Details are encrypted at rest; only the last four digits are kept readable.

2. Send the payout

POST /v1/payouts

{
  "recipient_id": "6d4ff39f-72fb-44c4-9e13-9c724683d40a",
  "method": "card_payout",
  "amount": 2500,
  "currency": "EUR",
  "reference": "PAYOUT-2026-0001"
}

States

created  →  submitted  →  sent  →  completed
                            │
                            ├──→  failed     (never left)
                            └──→  returned   (left, then came back)

returned is not failed. Failed means the money never left. Returned means it reached the recipient's bank and bounced, days later on SEPA, and your balance moved in between. Handle them differently.

Failure reasons

A failed or returned payout carries a failure object with a stable machine code and a human message. Branch on code and show the message. Treat any code you do not recognise as a plain failure — we may add more over time.

"failure": {
  "code": "insufficient_funds",
  "message": "The card has insufficient funds for this payout."
}

Code	Meaning
`payout_declined`	Declined by the card issuer
`insufficient_funds`	The card has insufficient funds
`invalid_card_number`	The card number is invalid
`invalid_details`	The payout details are invalid
`invalid_address`	The recipient address is invalid
`unsupported_card`	The card does not support payouts
`payout_not_permitted`	The payout is not permitted for this card
`restricted_card`	The card is restricted
`security_decline`	Declined for security reasons
`authentication_required`	Cardholder authentication was required
`card_inactive`	The card is closed or not yet active
`do_not_honor`	The issuer declined (do not honor)
`card_expired`	The card has expired or the expiry is incorrect
`card_lost_or_stolen`	The card was reported lost or stolen
`temporarily_unavailable`	Could not complete right now — retry shortly
`processing_error`	A temporary processing error — retry

The amount is credited back to your balance whenever a payout fails. A returned payout (money that left and then bounced, on SEPA or Faster Payments) carries the bank's return reason on its returned object instead.

Prefunded balance

Payouts spend a balance you hold with us, one per rail and currency. A payout draws its matching account down by the amount plus any fee, and one an account cannot cover is refused with insufficient_balance: we never send money that was not funded. Read what each account holds from GET /v1/balance.

GET /v1/balance

GET /v1/payouts

GET /v1/payouts/{id}

GET /v1/payout-methods

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