Verify bank account ownership using the Plaid Auth product

domain: plaid.com/docs/auth · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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In-depth guide

Plaid webhook verification — the full failure-mode walkthrough related to plaid.com/docs/auth, checked against official docs, with linked verified routes.

Steps

  1. Initialize a Link token server-side via /link/token/create with products set to ['auth'] and the user's client_user_id; pass the link_token to your frontend.
  2. Launch Plaid Link on the frontend; the user authenticates with their bank and grants access; on success, Plaid Link returns a public_token.
  3. Exchange the public_token for an access_token server-side via /item/public_token/exchange; store the access_token and item_id securely.
  4. Call /auth/get with the access_token to retrieve the user's account numbers (ACH routing and account numbers) and the owner identity information.
  5. Match the retrieved account owner name against the name the user provided during onboarding to confirm account ownership before initiating ACH transfers.
  6. Handle ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED errors (requiring re-authentication) via the Plaid Link update mode flow.

Known gotchas

Related routes

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