Create a Plaid Transfer authorization to evaluate ACH debit risk before originating funds movement

In-depth guide

Steps

1. POST to /transfer/authorization/create with client_id, secret, access_token, account_id, type ('debit' or 'credit'), network ('ach', 'same-day-ach', or 'rtp'), amount, ach_class (required for ACH, e.g. 'ppd' or 'ccd'), and user.legal_name
2. The response contains an authorization object with an id and a decision field; decision can be 'approved', 'permitted', or 'declined'
3. An 'approved' decision means Plaid's risk engine has evaluated and approved the transfer; 'permitted' means Plaid has no blocking signal but cannot fully guarantee funds; 'declined' means do not proceed
4. The authorization is valid for approximately 1 hour; create the transfer within that window
5. Inspect decision_rationale.code and decision_rationale.description for the reason behind a non-approved decision
6. Include an idempotency_key to prevent duplicate authorizations from network retries