Payouts to your bank
How often your money leaves for your bank account, how to track each payout, and what to do if one stops.
What a payout is
When your customer pays by card, bank transfer (SPEI or with a reference), or bank debit, the payment first lands in the balance of your payments account, in your business’s name. A payout is the transfer of that balance to your bank account. Cord doesn’t hold the money or move it through an account of its own: you choose the pace and Cord shows you every movement.
Mercado Pago payments don’t go through here: they land in your Mercado Pago account and you withdraw them from there. Manual transfers don’t either, because the money is already in your bank.
Requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Plan | All plans. |
| Country | Mexico, United States, Canada, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, and France (where Cord Payments operates). |
| Account | A verified payments account with status Active. |
| Permission to configure | Payment settings, to change the frequency. Only the organization owner registers or changes the payout account. |
| Permission to view | Collections, to see the history in Revenue › Payments. |
| Currency | Payouts arrive in the currency of your payments account’s country: MXN in Mexico, USD in the United States, CAD in Canada, EUR in Spain, Germany, and France, GBP in the United Kingdom. |
Choose your payout frequency
- Open Settings › Payments › Payouts. The Payout frequency section appears once your account is active.
- Under Frequency, choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
- If you chose Weekly, pick the day of the week (Monday to Friday). If you chose Monthly, pick the day of the month, from 1 to 28.
- Click Save changes in that same section. Cord asks you to confirm your identity with your password or your two-step verification code: deciding how fast your money leaves is as sensitive as changing where it goes.
- You’ll see Payout frequency updated. What gets saved is what your payments account confirmed, not just what you picked.
Which option fits
| Frequency | When the money leaves | Use it if |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Every business day, whatever is available goes out. | You need constant liquidity. You pay each transfer’s fixed cost more often. |
| Weekly | Once a week, on the day you choose. | You reconcile weekly or pay suppliers on a fixed day. |
| Monthly | Once a month, on the day you choose. | You prefer to pool the money and reconcile once. The money stays away from your bank longer. |
The day of the month is capped at 28
Days 29, 30, and 31 don’t exist in every month: a payout scheduled for the 31st would silently skip February. That’s why Cord only accepts 1 through 28.
No manual frequency
Cord doesn’t offer a manual frequency: there is no way to request a one-off payout from the app, and the money would stay in your payments account balance. If your account was already on manual, the Payout frequency section tells you your payouts are on hold: choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly and save to resume them.
Payout statuses
Each payout appears in the Deposits widget of Revenue › Payments with its amount, currency, arrival date, and one of these statuses:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | The payout was created and is waiting its turn. |
| In transit | It left for your bank and arrival isn’t confirmed yet. |
| Deposited | Your bank received it. Final status. |
| Failed | The bank rejected it (for example, the account no longer exists or the holder doesn’t match). Final status. |
| Canceled | It was canceled before leaving. Final status. |
A final status never goes backwards: if a late notice arrives after a payout is Deposited, Cord doesn’t move it back to In transit.
In Settings › Payments › Payouts, the Balance and next payout section shows what’s Available, what’s Processing, the Next payout with its arrival date, and your last five payouts with their status. See payout history takes you to Revenue › Payments.
History
Cord stores every payout as its status changes. The history loads with the page, survives changes of frequency or account, and helps you reconcile against your bank statement: look for the same amount and arrival date.
What each payout includes
In Settings › Payments › Payouts, the What each payout includes section opens each payout with its transactions: every Payment, Refund, Chargeback, Fee or Adjustment, with its date, amount, the fee that was deducted and the net, plus the number of the Cord quote or invoice it belongs to, with its link. A payment that paid several invoices at once says how many. The nets add up to the payout. Download CSV gets every transaction in that payout, with the currency in its own column, so you can reconcile it against your bank statement.
The breakdown appears once the payout finishes processing. Only automatic payouts, the ones sent on your schedule, have one; payouts from before this feature are reconciled by their amount and arrival date.
Payout events
If you use the API or Workflows, Cord emits two events:
- A payout is paid to your bank (
payout.paid): with amount, currency, arrival date, and method. - A payout fails (
payout.failed): also includes the failure reason.
Use them to alert finance in Slack or record the payout in your accounting. See Workflow triggers and webhooks.
Without setting anything up, when a payout doesn’t reach your bank, Cord emails you and the admins with the amount, the account, and what the bank said. The money returns to your balance and isn’t lost. Cord also lets you know when payouts are paused and when they resume.
Negative balance
A refund or a lost dispute is deducted from your balance. If it’s larger than what’s there, the balance goes negative: there are no payouts until it’s covered, your next payments cover it first, and Cord emails you once, with the amount. Under the Payment Terms, the negative balance is the business’s responsibility and must be covered within five business days of that notice. In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the countries in the SEPA area, if your payments don’t cover it, it’s debited from your registered bank account; in Mexico it isn’t, so write to us if your payments aren’t enough.
Your payout account
The account is registered in the Bank account step when you connect your account and uses your business country’s banking format. Cord checks the format before sending it, so a mistyped digit is flagged by Cord instead of a bank rejection days later.
| Country | What you enter | What Cord checks |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | CLABE (18 digits) | Length and check digit. |
| Spain, Germany, and France | IBAN | Structure and check digits (mod 97). |
| United States | Routing number (ABA, 9 digits) and account number (4 to 17 digits) | Length and the routing number’s check digit. |
| United Kingdom | Sort code (6 digits) and account number (8 digits) | Length and format. The sort code has no check digit. |
| Canada | Transit number (5 digits), institution number (3 digits), and account number (5 to 12 digits) | Length and format. |
Besides the number, you enter the account holder name. The account must be in the name of the business or its legal representative.
Change your payout account
- Open Settings › Payments › Payouts as the organization owner. Admins see the bank and the last four digits of the account, but can’t change it.
- In the Bank account section, click Change next to the account (or Edit bank account if you haven’t registered one yet).
- Enter the full new account and the holder name. For security, Cord never shows the previous account again, only its last four digits.
- Confirm your identity when Cord asks.
- The next payouts go to the new account, after the waiting period explained below. The Bank account section shows the bank and the last four digits.
Waiting period after changing the account
When you replace an account that already existed, payouts wait 72 hours before going to the new account. Changing the account is the first thing someone who got into your session without permission would try, and the wait gives the owner, who receives the change email, time to reverse it. During the wait:
- Payments keep landing in your balance; only their payout to the bank is held.
- Settings › Payments › Payouts shows the date and time it ends, and so does the change email.
- If you change the frequency, Cord saves it and applies it when the wait ends.
- If you change the account again, the wait starts over.
- The previous account is kept until the wait ends. The owner’s email includes the It wasn’t me link: it moves payouts back to that account and your frequency, deletes the new one and signs out the sessions that were open with the owner’s account. If the new account was the first one, payouts stay on hold until you add yours.
When it ends, payouts go back to your frequency on their own (Cord checks every hour). The first account you register has no waiting period.
Cord doesn’t store the payout account number: your payments account does, and Cord only shows the bank and the last four digits. Every change is recorded in your organization’s audit log, and Cord emails the owner and the admins with the last four digits of the new account, who changed it, from which IP and how long the wait lasts. Changing the payout account doesn’t change the Manual bank transfer details your customers see: only the owner edits those, in Settings › Payments › Payment methods.
Paused payouts
If the frequency section says Payouts are paused until verification completes, Settings › Payments › Account shows Payouts: Paused, or the Account status widget shows Payouts: Inactive, your payments account may still have pending requirements. Meanwhile, payments keep accumulating in your balance but don’t leave for your bank.
The usual causes:
- A pending or overdue verification requirement, such as an unreadable photo, an expired document, or an unverified person. The Account status widget shows how many requirements are missing and their deadline; Manage takes you straight to them.
- A rejected payout account, for example a closed account or one in someone else’s name. Register a valid account.
- A review of the payments account. If the widget says your account is temporarily paused, review the requirements to reactivate it.
Once you complete what’s pending, payouts resume at the frequency you had.
Limits
- Frequency and account can only be configured when the payments account is Active, and only in the seven Cord Payments countries.
- The weekly day ranges from Monday to Friday; the monthly day from 1 to 28.
- No instant or on-demand payouts from Cord.
- The transaction breakdown only exists for automatic payouts sent after this feature.
- The country and currency of the payments account can’t be changed after it’s created.
Common problems
I don’t see the frequency section. Your account isn’t Active yet, your country doesn’t have Cord Payments, or you don’t have the Payment settings permission.
I can’t change the payout account. Only the organization owner can register or change it, even if you have the Payment settings permission.
I changed the account and payouts aren’t arriving. If you replaced an account that already existed, payouts wait 72 hours before going to the new one. Settings › Payments › Payouts shows until when.
I saved the frequency and it asked for my password again. Identity confirmation lasts a few minutes. If more time passed, Cord asks again.
A payout shows Failed. Check that the account is still open and in the correct holder’s name. If it changed, register it again. If the account is correct, write to us with the payout’s date and amount.
My balance grows but nothing reaches my bank. Check whether payouts are paused for verification or whether the Payout frequency section says they were on hold on manual.
The payout amount doesn’t match what I collected. Payouts are net: they already deduct fees, refunds, and amounts held by disputes. Check the Where every peso goes widget on the payments dashboard.