Estimated reading time: 3 minutes ThryvPay FAQs

PLAID

What is Plaid?

Plaid is a safe and secure way to validate your customer's banking account information and funds availability.  Ensuring there is money in the account and expediting your payment. 

Why use Plaid? 

Using Plaid expedites merchant funding and also ensures that the funds are available, and the account number is active and correct.  ACH and Plaid can save merchants on transaction fees, and non-sufficient fund fees by validating account details and funds availability. 

Is Plaid easy for consumers to use? 

Yes, validating your account with Plaid is very simple, you simply type in your bank, and log into the account.  Plaid will validate that the account is correct, and that there are funds available for the transaction. 

What if my customer can’t find their bank or their log in isn’t working? 

While most banks will be available, there may be smaller banks not included in the Plaid directory.  In these cases, or in the situation where your customers are having an issue logging in, they can enter their routing and account number details directly.  Just know that if they manually enter it will extend the timeline you will receive your funds to 5 business days. 

Do I have to use Plaid? 

No, you can choose to offer only ACH, ACH with Plaid or only credit cards or all of the above.  Simply make that determination under ThryvPay Settings and choose the combination that’s right for you. 

Does Plaid instantly authenticate accounts? 

Yes, Plaid retrieves account and routing numbers when users connect their checking or savings accounts using bank credentials 

Does Plaid connect accounts from any US bank?

Yes, Plaid allows ACH transfers from any bank or credit union in the US.  There could be smaller banking institutions that are not accessible.  In that case, manual verification will be required. 

Does Plaid verify user identities using bank data (used during merchant onboarding to validate merchant checking information and identity)? 

Yes, only during onboarding.  Plaid retrieves usernames, phone numbers, addresses, and emails for individual and joint accounts—data can be used to complement KYC procedures to ensure we are depositing money in the correct bank account. 

Does Plaid verify account number and funds availability for transactions? 

Yes, if a merchant elects to accept ACH payments and also agrees to use Plaid account and fund verification, Plaid will validate the client's bank information is correct and that there are funds available to pay the transaction.

Is Plaids Information secure? 

Plaid’s information security program is designed to meet or exceed industry standards, and they use many different controls to help keep your personal information safe.  

Data encryption 

The combination of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES 256) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) help keep sensitive data safe. Modern web and mobile applications use a technology called Transport Layer Security (TLS) to help protect data in-transit from unauthorized third parties. Plaid uses TLS for all information exchanges between the Plaid API, financial institutions, and Plaid customers. We also encrypt sensitive data-at-rest whenever we store it using AES 256 encryption at object and volume levels, which helps sensitive data remain protected even in the event of a database compromise. 

Multi-factor authentication 

Plaid uses Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as an additional layer of authentication beyond usernames and passwords for all critical internal systems. This helps prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to your data.